Chocolate’s Dark Side

During the medieval times, Christianity and chocolates didn’t mix. The Catholic Church used to bracket together chocolate and heretical behavior like blasphemy and even witchcraft. Does it even make sense? Read on.

I bet if you’re the type who digs medieval anything or maybe you’ve heard it at school at a certain point in your student life, you probably know about ‘Inquisition’. Never heard? Well then, let me shed some light on you about this dreadful thing. The Inquisition, Inquisitio Haereticae Pravitatis (inquiry on heretical perversity), gives a picture of the heavy-handedness of religion during that certain time, persecution, and prejudice. It was the fight against heresy by the Roman Catholic Church.

You may be wondering by now what exactly it is about chocolate that connects such a morbid even to our beloved chocolate. For starters, even downing a chocolaty beverage while in a particular event can be included in heretical behaviors. Truth be told and as morose as it may seem, there were even stories told in which Charles II, King of Spain, supposedly drank chocolate while observing Inquisition victims being slain.

Document and papers about Inquisition even acknowledged some actions of chocolate merchants that are involved in anti-Christian behavior, chocolate was even utilized in seduction and witchcraft. Those documents also showed how people went on betraying one another either by choice or by force.

A lot of individuals during those tough times were laid blame on for using chocolate in “non-Christian” acts. Some chocolatiers were even denounced for being observant Jews.

Thankfully, nowadays, chocolate is tantamount to anything cheery, joyful, and festive. It was quite a transition and a very disheartening story to hear. But it’s a thing of the past. All we can do now is be grateful that we can enjoy chocolate freely!

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