Today, chili pepper seeds and
fruits are used by the Maya as a treatment for an impressive array of diseases
including tuberculosis, delayed parturition, diarrhea, blood in the stool or
urine, earache, hemorrhoids, skin sores, arthritis, and asthma [58–61]. Faust
and Lopez [62] record that Yucatec Maya healers bury chili pepper fruits in a
hole dug into the floor of a home to ward off illness and to expel “bad winds”
that may be the cause of disease. In addition to the dietary and medicinal
uses, the Maya have employed chilis in a broad range of religious ceremonies
such as the ritual of the Bacabs (Maya deities) by the Yucatec Maya [61] and
the god pot renewal, first fruit and u horɂor ik ceremonies by the Lacandon
Maya [63]. Chili peppers are often incorporated into Yucatec food bundles for
ceremonies and festivals [64]. These pungent fruits also are added to the mix
when the Lacandon brew their balche, an essential beverage in almost all of
their rituals [63]. Similar to the Faust and Lopez observations [62], Maya
shamans and sorcerers use chilis to prevent future illnesses and negative
outcomes caused by a disharmony with one’s surroundings or for protection
against malevolent witchcraft [58,65]. In addition, chili peppers are listed in
the Dresden Codex as part of a “shamanic divination” ritual. (David L. Lentz et
al., “ Psychoactive and other ceremonial plants from a 2,000-year-old Maya
ritual deposit at Yaxnohcah, Mexico,” PLoS ONE 19, no. 4 [2024]: 10)
Commenting on the presence of chili peppers from a cache
dating 2,000 years ago:
The presence of chili peppers
indicates that the deposit may have been part of a healing ceremony, a
food offering, a component in balche, or as part of a divination ceremony.
According to Maya cosmological tradition, houses and other structures are
animate entities that require adequate sustenance. (David L. Lentz et al., “ Psychoactive
and other ceremonial plants from a 2,000-year-old Maya ritual deposit at Yaxnohcah,
Mexico,” PLoS ONE 19, no. 4 [2024]: 11, emphasis in bold added)