Cacao has always been an integral part of Mesoamerica, which takes up most of Central America and Southern Mexico. It has had major impacts in their history, health and food, and rituals.

            Cacao is an important part of the history of Mesoamerica. Mayan royalty were buried with cocoa, many communities fought wars over it, and artists even made stone and ceramic sculptures devoted to it. Cacao was a part of marriages, births, deaths, and gifts to the gods (including sacrifices).

            Charles Wagley, a leading pioneer in the development of Brazilian anthropology, wrote in 1949 that cacao seeds were formerly exchanged in marriage ceremonies in Santiago Chimaltenango, Guatemala. Eventually, though, the city became too poor to use the seeds in their ceremonies. This ceremonial practice is just one specific example of how the use of the products of the Cacao has been greatly reduced since pre-Columbian times. This decline is also due to changes at both the regional and local levels, illustrated by the replacement of cacao with coffee in many places. One case of this replacement of the use of Cacao happened in Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala. A fermented beverage of T. cacao and T. bicolor stopped being produced after the Guatemalan army came and murdered many members of the community, in the 1970s, during the Guatemalan civil war.

            Today, in Mesoamerica Cacao tree products are used in drinks, foods, topical creams, and an ingredient in medicine. Cacao has been generally used as a fermented or unfermented drink, which is made with the pulp or seeds. Cacao as a medicine is often used as a soothing agent, antiseptic, stimulant, snakebite remedy, or weight gain supplements (as many Americans unwillingly use it). As a food, however, only the fruit pulp and seeds are consumed. Fair Trade practices have brought cacao back to indigenous farmers. Foreign chocolate companies that have engaged in Fair Trade have assured Belizean, and other Central and South American growers, a fair price for their product.

            There are many rituals in Mesoamerica that still involve the Cacao tree. For example, there is a rain ritual in a Ch’orti’ Maya community in Quetzaltepeque, Guatemala that involves offering cacao to a spring. Mesoamericans also use cacao seeds and chile peppers in the k’ex curing ceremonies of traditional Yukatek healer. It is supposed to be tied to sexuality and fertility and it attracts good and repels evil. Offerings of cacao beverages to sacred springs encourage a good growing season and Cacao trees themselves are said to promote a healthy environment.