HOME

POPULAR CULTURE

ALL ABOUT TEQUILA

TYPES OF TEQUILA

TEQUILA TASTING and RATINGS

EVENTS

Background music "Tell Your Momma" courtesy of Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers. For more details, scroll down to SOURCES.

"Octli" or "Pulque" the early ancestor of "Mezcal," is a fermented drink made from the "Maguey"plant (of the agave variety). There is some debate as to the precise time and location of the origin of pulque. Possibly the discovery occurred in what is now known as the state of Oaxaca, south of Mexico City, around the year 1000AD. Others believe it is depicted in Native American stone carvings from as early as AD 200. It certainly occurred long before arrival of the Conquistadors in the 1500s. A process similar to that used to make Mezcal was later adopted to make Tequila, but substituting the Weber Blue Agave for the Maguey variety.
Legend has it that pulque originated back in the time of Aztecs and their deities and gods. In ancient times, the leaves of the maguey were used by the natives for a variety of purposes, but the"piña," or heart of the plant was discarded. The tribesman witnessed a lightening bolt descending from the sky directly striking an agave plant, cooking the heart. Once the fire subsided and the agave heart (or piña) cooled, the natives approached with curiosity and caution to find a syrup-like substance oozing from the core. They noticed the sap from the cooked agave smelled and tasted sweet. They began using it as a food source to sweeten their water. It was by accident the natives discovered this mixture if left alone would naturally ferment to develop into a unique beverage with powerful properties. It was believed this drink was a gift from the gods, and when consumed gave the natives the ability to communicate with the gods. Aztec legend further explains the fermented agave juice was generally reserved for priests and nobility. Priests of the "Chichimecas," "Otomie," "Toltocan"and "Nahuatl" Indian tribes used this spiritual beverage during religious ceremonies. The fermented drink was consumed by the natives with fear and reverence as offering to their deities and gods.

The legend of how tequila came to be according to the Aztecs... As told by Brenda Martinez, Tequila Regulatory Council.

The Aztecs believed that when the earth began there was a goddess in the sky. She was called "Tzintzimitl" but she was an evil goddess and she devoured light. She had the earth in darkness and forced the natives to do human sacrifices in order to give them a little light.

One day "Quetzalcoatl" was tired of it and he decided to do something about it. Quetzalcoatl believed in honor so he ascended to the sky to fight the evil goddess Tzintzimitl and he started to look for her. But instead, what he found was her granddaughter who was kidnapped by the evil goddess, "Mayahuel." Mayahuel is the goddess of fertility, she was portrayed as the goddess with four hundred breasts. He found her and fell in love with her. Instead of killing the evil goddess he brought Mayahuel down to earth to live with him.

When the evil goddess found that out, she got extremely mad and started to look for them. So they were forced to run from one place to another to hide from her. One day they decided that because there was no where else to hide they would become trees. There were two trees, one beside the other one, so that when there was wind their leaves could caress one another.

They lived like that but the evil goddess kept up her search and sent out her light devouring stars and finally they found them. The evil goddess came down and there was a big fight in which "Mayahuel" was killed. Quetzalcoatl, when he found that out, he was very, very mad and of course very, very sad. So he buried the remains of his lover, flew to the sky and killed the evil goddess.

So the light came back to the earth. But he had lost a loved one. Every night he would go to her grave and cry and cry. The other gods saw this and thought they should do something for him. In the burial site a plant began to grow and they would give special properties to that particular plant. They were going to give it some hallucinogenic properties which would comfort the soul of "Quetzalcoatl." From then on he could drink the elixir that came from that plant and have comfort.

That is how the Nahuatl believed that the agave came to be and the properties we now find in tequila to comfort the soul of those who have lost someone dear to their hearts.