The Star That Comes in the Afternoon

Quetzalcoátl's gift of chocolate has been referred to a couple of times this week. To end our theme of Mexico and chocolate, it is worth getting the full story. Pause now and get yourself a brimming, frothy, hot chocolate. Savour the taste, then sit back and enjoy. It is story-line.


Quetzalcoátl came to Earth in the afternoon. He had been seen before, of course, up in the sky, represented by the star that we now call Venus. But this was the first time that He had deigned to step on the ground and walk amongst humanity. The people stopped and stared. It was obvious that He was a God. No mere man looked like that!

Some Gods, when they come to Earth, do so disguised as carpenter's sons or travellers on the road. The point is that they blend in (give or take a penetrating stare and an aura of other). Not so Quetzalcoátl. He was a God, so He came as a God, with all the trappings of Godliness and symbolical items of office clutched in His Godly hands. It was all a bit disconcerting for a sunny afternoon; but, on the bright side, at least He hadn't arrived in His aspect of the man-devouring feathered serpent.


Imagine that same scene now. A bona fide God turning up in a shopping mall, or appearing in a flash of light, in the middle of a games stadium. Human beings aren't good with coming face to face with deity. They tend to either prostrate themselves or else attack, as a mob, and crucify their God. The ancient Toltecs were not much different to us. Self-preservation took over and they took the prostrating themselves option.

Moreover, they had that horrible moment, when they realised that their icons to other Gods were on full view. A few minutes smashing up clay pots and statues and the place was downright God-free. Obviously give or take the huge, live one, standing in the middle of their town. But, while this might have been good for Quetzalcoátl and good manners on the part of the people, there were other beings who were not at all impressed. The other Gods for a start.


Sometimes it's good politics to side with the flavour of the month, even if He was a usurper responsible for yourself being side-lined. One by one, the other Gods and Goddesses lined up to welcome Quetzalcoátl and to acknowledge Him as their leader. In response, Quetzalcoátl told them to teach the people nice things, like how to grow corn successfully and how to measure the march of the constellations.

The Toltec people immediately made plans for a huge temple to be built in Quetzalcoátl's honor. It would be their biggest architectural endeavour to date and it would tower over every other building in their town. It would have five sides to represent the five-pointed star, that was Quetzalcoátl in the sky. Atlantes warrior statues guarded its frontage and summit. (The remains of it survive to this day, at Tula de Allende, Hidalgo, in Mexico, where it is, unsurprisingly, called the Temple of Quetzalcoátl.)


Even now, the other Gods and Goddesses were merely seething, but then Quetzalcoátl went a step too far. To celebrate His temple, He asked for a cup of chocolate. The human population were nonplussed. They had never heard of this wonder. But the deities most certainly had. Chocolate was the drink of the Gods. It came from the beans of the cacao tree, which only grew in the Garden of Life. No human had access to them. "Oh!" said Quetzalcoátl, "We'll soon fix that!" And off he went to collect the beans and a few trees.

The deities present exchanged shocked glances. He was really going to allow mere mortals to taste the sacred drink?!

Quetzalcoátl did more than that. He taught the people how to cultivate the trees and process the beans, so that they could produce a plentiful supply of chocolate. It was an amazing coup for the people. It was war for the Gods.

They were organized by Tezcatlipoca, the God of Darkness and Night. He had his allies in the Tzitzimimeh, the all-female, humanity-devouring star dwellers. His ire had already infected them and they were just looking for an excuse to attack Quetzalcoátl. Tezcatlipoca came to Earth, in the guise of a spider, and entered Toltec country. There he altered his form again, blending in as a travelling merchant. He quickly found Quetzalcoátl and enquired after his health.

"I'm a bit down actually." Quetzalcoátl informed him. "I think that the other Gods and Goddesses are plotting against me."

"Surely not!" The God of Darkness and Night replied. "But I have just the person to cheer you up."

Thus Tezcatlipoca introduced Quetzalcoátl to Mayahuel and... well, that story has already been told: Mezcal.


Quetzalcoátl returned to the stars after that, allowing the other Gods and Goddesses to regain their former prominence in the hearts of the people. But Quetzalcoátl would always be special for the Mexicans. He left behind him chocolate, tequilia, corn and knowledge of the night skies. It's a gift that we're still very much enjoying.

Mezcal

Ask anyone to name a Mexican alcoholic drink and the answer will come back, "¡Tequila!" Ask for a second and the response is most likely to be, "¡Mezcal!"


The two tipples have many similarities, not least that they are both exported around the world, as Mexico's contribution to drinks cabinets globally. (The Prague Post, in the Czech Republic, is currently featuring a Mezcal based cocktail recipe: 'From the Bartender: Mezcalihna'.) The USA and Japan remain the biggest buyers of Mezcal from Mexico.

Tequila and Mezcal are also both distilled from the agave plant. In fact, the name Mezcal is derived from the Nahuatl words, 'Melt' and 'Ixcalli', which translate as 'oven-cooked agave'. In this way, tequila is a form of Mezcal too, though it tends to be considered separately. This is where the drinks start to diverge. Tequila is made from blue agave and it is twice fermented. Mezcal is made from maguey agave and it is only fermented once.


Milking a Maguey Plant
The maguey agave plant is huge. It can stand up to 2m (6.6ft) tall, with thick, spreading leaves reaching out another 4m (13ft). When it is in flower, the petals stretch a further 8m (26ft). With such a towering structure, even the younger plants can dwarf a human being. It's an impressive sight and it has attracted its legends and folklore too.

Maguey is often referred to as the Divine Plant; in great part because it was born from the remains of the Goddess Mayahuel. The story comes to us from the Atzec people, who honored her as one of their most important deities. There are carvings of Her in the Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan (now Mexico City). She is associated with truth, fertility, nourishment, inner journeys and, of course, the agave plant.

Mayahuel lived in the sky, with her Tzitzimitl grandmother. The all female, warrior Tzitzimimeh were seen as stars, particularly those only apparent around the sun, during a solar eclipse. This was also when they were most dangerous.

Ordinarily, the Tzitzimimeh were the protectoresses of women; but they also created all mankind. Particles of stardust reached the Earth and formed themselves into humanity. (Interestingly enough, it is now scientific fact that life on Earth is possible because of the elements forged in the stars.)

However, when there was a solar eclipse, the Tzitzimimeh could descend to Earth and devour human beings.

Mayahuel grew up amongst them, but She, Herself, was not Tzitzimitl. Yet, from Her home in the starry paradise of Tamoanchan, She could watch all that happened below and all who lived there. She could also see the Gods and Goddesses. In particular, She spotted the feathered serpent God, Quetzalcoatl. Mayahuel fell in love. At the very next solar eclipse, as the doors of Tamoanchan opened to emit the Tzitzimimeh on their deadly pillage, Mayahuel rushed out too.

The lovers met and ran away together, determined to live out all eternity in each other's arms. But no-one had asked the permission of the Tzitzimimeh and they saw everything. The couple transformed themselves into trees, side by side, to escape notice. It was too late. They had been seen. The star deities swooped down and tore Mayahuel limb from limb.

Quetzalcoatl tearfully took her remains and buried them in the ground. Immediately something began to push back through the soil. It was the first, mighty maguey plant, with a glorious flower reaching back towards the skies. Mayahuel lived again, anchored into the ground from Her roots, and filled with the divine love of Quetzalcoatl.


Mayahuel by Ehecatzin
Mayahuel is a dark goddess now. She saw all from the stars and She is the beloved of a God. She can see inside our very souls and give us visions to access our spiritual journeys. It is said that She grew 400 breasts to nourish rabbits with Her milk. The first drink made from the sap of the maguey was pulque. It was the ritual draft used in Atzec ceremonies, inducing wild hallucinations and the ecstatic dance.

This same milk is now distilled to create Mezcal. Despite common misconception, it does not contain mescaline nor any other hallucinogenic substance. It's produced in an entirely different way to pulque.

While on the subject of misconceptions about Mezcal, let's deal with the worm. For a start, it's not a worm. It's the lavae form of a moth. Hypopta agavis is the correct name for this moth, which lives, feeds and breeds in the manguey plant. This is usually at the distress of farmers, as the presense of the moth means that there is an infestation and the crop is ruined.


A worm in the Mezcal!!11!!!!1!!
During the 1940s, some bright spark in Oaxaca apparently had the gift of the gab. Who knows how the lavae got into the Mezcal? Perhaps it fell in during the bottling process. Perhaps someone tried to sabotege the sale. Perhaps it was someone's idea of a joke. Maybe it was even a warning. However it happened, the lavae was in this batch of Mezcal, which was already of lower quality than normal, because of the infestation. Yet he managed to sell it. Bravo the salesman!

Except now no-one can sell Oaxaca Mezcal without a lavae in it, because the urban myth is that the 'worm' adds to the flavour and proves that it's fit to drink. The distillers have to collect tubs of the insects, from infested farms, in order to drop a lavae into bottles of their own high-grade Mezcal. It has long since become one of the most successful marketing ploys ever. It doesn't add to the flavour. It doesn't do anyting. It's killed, scrubbed, sanitized, sterilized and dropped into alcohol. There it stays, mostly for the shock value and people daring each other to eat it.

The Oaxava Annual International Mescal Fair takes place in July. This year's arrangements haven't been made public yet, but they will be announced on official website. It regularly attracts over 50,000 visitors; and it is an excellent place to be introduced to the country's finest Mezcal. ¡Salud!