The pozol de cacao drink in its presence in the Zoque carnival of San Fernando, Chiapas: A biocultural analysis with reflections for modern society

Objective: Analyze bioculturally the traditional and pre-Hispanic drink of pozol in the Zoque carnival of San Fernando, Chiapas to illustrate its environmentally and socially sustainable civilizatory qualities and to reveal the theoretical advantages of the biocultural paradigm and suggest that the study of bioculturality belongs to the emerging macro-paradigm of (planetary) complexity. We hope to demonstrate that it is essential to deepen our understanding of and to (re)value the traditional, communal, hand-crafted, local and the manifested human and nature relationship. Methodology: The study has an ethnographic, biocultural, and epistemologically reflexive nature. Results: The pozol drink in the carnival of San Fernando emerges from this analysis as being complex, polyvalent, polysemic and highly civilizatory: it is appetizing to drink, to contemplate, and to execute. Limitations: The study bears upon only one single ethnographic context and moment. Conclusions: The comprehension obtained from a biocultural perspective facilitates the giving of meaning to humanity and to our changing global civilization-society in a world of crisis.