Coca Leaves
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Coca is a plant that has complex amounts of mineral nutrients, essential oils, and many compounds with pharmacological effects. The coca leaf has been chewed and brewed in tea as a tradition for many centuries among people in the Andean region. Coca leaves do not cause any harm and is usually beneficial to human health. The method of traditionally chewing coca leaves is called acullico where a saliva-soaked ball of coca leaves is left in the mouth and mixed with an alkaline substance. Chewing and drinking coca leaves in tea occurs daily by the lives of many Peruvians without and problems. Although coca tea is widely drunk outside of the Andean region, it is considered sacred within the indigenous cultures. Coca leaves are used among all social classes and in many regions, such as in two of the Northern provinces of Argentina. Coca plants are usually cultivated in the lower altitudes of slopes or highlands of the Andes, specifically in Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru. However coca plants are fairly easy to grow, for in the 19th century when the plants were planted outside of their natural habitat they were still able to grow successfully.
The coca leaf has been rooted into the culture of Peru for as long as people have lived in that region of the world as it is a part of religious and spiritual ceremonies and family celebrations. The earliest coca leaves have been discovered in the Huaca Prieta settlement, dated back to 2500 BC. Coca leaves today still have a spiritual significance for they are used to give thanks for blessings or to make offerings to the gods. People pay tribute to the ancestors and to Mother Earth in the form of coca leaves by burying some underground for safe traveling. Also if these leaves are put over a blanket on the ground, they can be “read” to predict the future. The future of those who are born, will die, other marriages, and more are all solidified with rituals and exchanges that involve the coca leaves. An Aymaran legend tells about how Khono the god of snow and storm buried the land of vegetation in anger and the only plant left was the coca plant. The hungry Aymaran people ate it and discovered that it helped endure the cold. The Incas believed that the coca leaves are the divine plant, a gift of the sun god, Inti and the moon mother, Moma Quilla. Another legend from the Inca Empire states that Manco Capac, the founder of agriculture and the Inca Empire had brought the coca plant to the Incas as a reward for their hard work in the fields. The coca leaves at some point in the Inca Empire were so sacred that it could only be cultivated by the highest classes in rank. From its earliest other uses, coca leaves have always been present at all times of community life in Peru and today the history and traditional use of the coca leaf in Peru are a part of ethnic and national uses.
The coca leaf has been rooted into the culture of Peru for as long as people have lived in that region of the world as it is a part of religious and spiritual ceremonies and family celebrations. The earliest coca leaves have been discovered in the Huaca Prieta settlement, dated back to 2500 BC. Coca leaves today still have a spiritual significance for they are used to give thanks for blessings or to make offerings to the gods. People pay tribute to the ancestors and to Mother Earth in the form of coca leaves by burying some underground for safe traveling. Also if these leaves are put over a blanket on the ground, they can be “read” to predict the future. The future of those who are born, will die, other marriages, and more are all solidified with rituals and exchanges that involve the coca leaves. An Aymaran legend tells about how Khono the god of snow and storm buried the land of vegetation in anger and the only plant left was the coca plant. The hungry Aymaran people ate it and discovered that it helped endure the cold. The Incas believed that the coca leaves are the divine plant, a gift of the sun god, Inti and the moon mother, Moma Quilla. Another legend from the Inca Empire states that Manco Capac, the founder of agriculture and the Inca Empire had brought the coca plant to the Incas as a reward for their hard work in the fields. The coca leaves at some point in the Inca Empire were so sacred that it could only be cultivated by the highest classes in rank. From its earliest other uses, coca leaves have always been present at all times of community life in Peru and today the history and traditional use of the coca leaf in Peru are a part of ethnic and national uses.