Pichucalco: Origin, tradition and culture of cacao
The great colonial and Porfirian estates of Pichucalco are heirs to the ancient indigenous tradition of cacao harvesting of the Zoque peoples, whose knowledge and tradition found continuity through the centuries and on to our times.
The first settlers of Pichucalco, coming from the Mixe-Zoque culture, identified at the foot of the mountains the ideal conditions of humidity, altitude and richness of soil for the harvest of cacao. Later on during colonial times and Mexico’s independence this knowledge became very relevant for its special conditions for cacao harvest, as well as its privileged geographical location, which possessed navigable rivers which signified access to the commercial routes of the Gulf of Mexico.
In Pichucalco’s modern life and memory, the stories and legends of the great families, their estates and the great extensions of the cacao harvests of old are present. The culture and lineage of cacao originated in their heyday remain alive in the working hands of the people of Pichucalco, in the old mansions and their fine and aromatic grains of cacao that grow in these mountains.
Text: Mario Cantoral, “Cacao of Pichucalco”
The first settlers of Pichucalco, coming from the Mixe-Zoque culture, identified at the foot of the mountains the ideal conditions of humidity, altitude and richness of soil for the harvest of cacao. Later on during colonial times and Mexico’s independence this knowledge became very relevant for its special conditions for cacao harvest, as well as its privileged geographical location, which possessed navigable rivers which signified access to the commercial routes of the Gulf of Mexico.
In Pichucalco’s modern life and memory, the stories and legends of the great families, their estates and the great extensions of the cacao harvests of old are present. The culture and lineage of cacao originated in their heyday remain alive in the working hands of the people of Pichucalco, in the old mansions and their fine and aromatic grains of cacao that grow in these mountains.
Text: Mario Cantoral, “Cacao of Pichucalco”
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