BY GEORGE NAVA TRUE II
THIS IS the concluding part of my two-part series. Today, discover why ancient cultures believed chocolate and blood were similar.
While we think of chocolate today as something good to eat, the ancient Olmecs, Mayans, and Aztecs associated it with blood, death, and human sacrifice.
In “Chocolate-Coated Sacrifices: A History of Cacao and Blood in Mesoamerica”, ChocolateClass.com said that cacao was an important part of the religious beliefs of these people.
Of the three, the Aztecs integrated chocolate with their rituals of human sacrifice. This is because cacao pods resembled the human heart and both contained precious fluids – chocolate and blood respectively.
Human sacrifices were carried out yearly in the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan. Before a slave was offered to the gods, he would dance to the rhythm of beating drums to indicate his happiness before dying.
Special chocolate potion
If he didn’t dance joyously, the shamans and priests would give him a special drink called “itzpacaltl”, according to Sarah Troop in “Christmas, Human Sacrifice, and Chocolate” published in NourishingDeath.com. This potion was made from the human blood of the last slave who was sacrificed. Blood was washed off from sacrificial knives and mixed with chocolate and pumpkin.
After drinking the potion, the slave would reach an ecstatic state and continue dancing again, with no memory that he was about to be killed. His heart would then be cut out of his body using the holy knives and this was presented to the gods.
Fortunately, the days of human sacrifices are gone and there’s enough chocolate for everyone to enjoy nowadays. But the ones who continue to suffer to give us this sweet pleasure are none other than the overworked and underpaid cacao farmers.
Overworked and underpaid workers
In “8 Unbelievable Facts About the $103 Billion Chocolate Industry” published in Insider.com, Abigail Abesamis Demarest revealed that these tireless workers earn less than a dollar per day from the billion-dollar business.
Farmers bear the brunt of cultivating and harvesting cacao. They work in harsh conditions under the heat of the sun and are constantly exposed to high levels of pesticides. Ironically, they get only six percent from every chocolate bar sold. In contrast, manufacturers and retailers keep a whopping 80 percent.
Deforestation is another major concern. In West Africa, where most of the world’s cocoa comes from, tropical rainforests are vanishing at an accelerated rate. Over the last 50 years, Demarest said the Ivory Coast has lost 80 percent of its forests. This is because poor farmers have to cut down other trees to plant more cacao to meet the growing demand for chocolate.
But the most disturbing aspect of the chocolate industry is child labor – something that big manufacturers have failed to stop.
Work is beneficial if it allows children to develop skills and prepare them for the future. The International Labour Organization (ILO) said child labor is work that is “mentally, physically, socially, or morally dangerous and harmful to children.” ILO said this kind of work stops kids from going to school or requires them to attend school and do long and dangerous work.
Child slavery and trafficking
The high demand for cocoa and chocolates puts many kids at risk. In 2016, Fortune magazine reported that the West African cocoa industry employs over two million children. The US Department of Labor said these child laborers are between five to 11 years old. Of this number, ILO revealed that about 800,000 do dangerous work like transporting heavy loads, spraying insecticides, and using machetes and other sharp tools.
In addition to hazardous situations, authorities added that child laborers are exposed to illegal and exploitative practices and forced labor.
Commercial cocoa, coffee, and cotton farms in the Ivory Coast are also notorious for child slavery and trafficking, according to a 2000 BBC documentary. The US Department of State said an estimated 15,000 child slaves live there.
Victims of poverty
Most of these children come from poor families and were bought for a few dollars to work in other countries. Their parents were told that the kids would send money once they started working. But they were often sold as slaves and weren’t paid at all.
Officials from Mali, the eight largest country in Africa, rescued boys who were not paid for five years. Worse, they were beaten if they tried to escape. Child beggars at bus stations were also recruited as slaves.
In 2018, The Conversation reported that most slaves working in cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast and Ghana came from Mali and Burkina Faso. These are considered two of the poorest nations on earth.
The next time you bite into your favorite chocolate bar, think about these sobering statistics. And remember that your gooey chocolate treat is likely a product of child labor.
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National Press Club and Philippine Dental Association awardee George N. True II has written two bestsellers based on his popular column that has been running for almost 40 years. For questions about health, email georgenavatrue@yahoo.com./PN
