Ek Chuah

Ek Chuah (in the standardized Yucatec Maya orthography Ek Chuaj, corresponding to God M of Paul Schellhas’s pioneering classification) is the venerated Maya deity of inter-regional trade, of merchant caravans, and the sacred patron of cacao cultivation (Theobroma cacao). Described in Spanish colonial chronicles and in post-Classic hieroglyphic codices as a being with a body painted black and a thick, drooping lower lip, Ek Chuah held a dual guardianship over economic activity: as god of the overland and river routes, he protected travelling merchants (the ppolm) against bandits and wild beasts along the stone roads (sacbeob); as agricultural patron of cacao, he ensured productive harvests from the seeds that served at once as the standard medium of exchange in Mesoamerica and as the base of the aristocratic drink of royal banquets. According to the sixteenth-century ethnographic account of Friar Diego de Landa, the owners of cacao plantations held one of the most sumptuous annual festivals of the Maya religious calendar during the month of Muan, in joint homage to Ek Chuah, the Chaacs and Hobnil, sacrificing a spotted dog the colour of cacao and burning copal incense in blue bowls.

5 min read · Reviewed on September 28, 2026 · How we research

The merchant's pack, the cacao pod, the spear and the dark skin

Primary sources

• Diego de Landa, Relación de las cosas de Yucatán. translation: Edition by Ángel María Garibay, Editorial Porrúa, Mexico, 1959.
• Anonymous (Yucatec Maya), Madrid Codex (Tro-Cortesianus Codex). translation: Facsimile edition by Thomas A. Lee Jr., Fundación Arqueológica Nuevo Mundo, 1985.

Studies

• Karl Taube, The Major Gods of Ancient Yucatan. Dumbarton Oaks, 1992.
• Sophie D. Coe e Michael D. Coe, The True History of Chocolate. Thames & Hudson, 1996.
• J. Eric S. Thompson, Maya History and Religion. University of Oklahoma Press, 1970.