top of page

What is a Cacao Ceremony?

Updated: Jul 11, 2022

Thousands of years ago (4500 years), indigenous people near the Amazon living in sacred harmony with nature, cultivated cacao plants growing wild in the jungles.

A cup of cacao
Island Sharks Ceremonial Cacao

It was so valued that even after another 2,000 years, the beans were traded and used as currency. They were equal to about $1 dollar in today’s money.

Nowadays, cacao beans cost anywhere from free to as much as $38 a pound in Hawai’i. Check out this ultra-rare Hawaiian Cacao by the indigenously owned 4 Manos y Cinco Volcanes.

The label for a ceremonial cacao brand
The Label From a New Ceremonial Cacao Brand In Hawaii

Getting back to history, its important to state the traditions have been passed down to today. People drink cacao in a ceremony sort of like if a bar was a church and all they served was chocolate. Some things never change, the sacred space that is held while imbibing, can still connect folks to their ancestors, to nature and to themselves.

Ancient Mayan Art, cocoa art, mayan cocoa
An Ancient Mayan Image Depicting Ceremonial Use of Cacao

This is largely because of the chemicals in cacao. It is also because of natural people's love of the Earth. It is Earth after all that provides all the chemicals in all our favorite foods and beverages. Ancient texts have been destroyed. Up to 90% of the all Mayan traditions were lost to the Spanish Conquistadors. Then the Spanish added sugar and chocolate was created. However the traditions were never lost in South America. Just watch this video about how the traditions are still standing.

You can drink our ceremonial chocolate bar here and connect to your body, mind and soul. It’s great to drink with others and allow them to connect as well. Anyone can facilitate a cacao ceremony. It’s a ritual of and a right of passage to self-love.

Chemically, the veins and lungs open more, up to 30%. Cacao fights Covid-19 and cancer. I cannot list all the benefits in this article so I will write about them here.


Cacao is an anti-depressant and so hopefully when people enjoy the medicinal benefits of this plant it will tap them in to their own sense of well being.


Cacao for medicinal use is basically the same thing as ceremonial use. The one thing to avoid is the opposite of this Divine drink, candy bars.


Hopefully in the present, chocolate lovers will forgo colonialism and taste cacao without sugar.

More info about it can be found in this awesome video.


With any luck, consumers all over the world, will reach for a beverage of chocolate instead of a bar. It’s the way it was originally consumed.


The most important thing however, whichever era you live in, is taste.


If it doesn’t taste good, you won’t take it.