There is a common misconception that Native American Indians had no exposure to alcohol before contact with the Europeans. This idea extends to imagining that AmerIndians were genetically less able to metabolize alcohol than the explorers from the Old World. In fact, neither of these ideas are true, as the laws and traditions of the Aztec peoples show.
In fact, well before the takeover of the Aztec Empire in 1521, the Aztecs were brewing an alcoholic beverage known as pulque, or _octli_, which comes from the agave plant. They used pulque frequently in religious rituals, but they also indulged for the same reasons people still do today, including enjoyment of a different state of consciousness. The Aztecs seem to have been deeply worried about people drinking too much, however. In manuscripts like the 16th-century _Codex Mendoza_, writers express concern about people losing their sense of duty and responsibility because of excessive intoxication. In the second slide, young men and a woman lie next to bowls of pulque. They have been executed because of drunkenness.
However, apparently the Aztecs thought it was fine for some groups to drink as much pulque as they wanted. Fascinatingly, old people were in this category. The first image shows an elderly woman consuming pulque, while younger people watch out to make sure she doesn’t hurt herself. The magic age of drinking with impunity was seventy — the Aztecs thought such people had obtained wisdom and had earned this sort of leniency.
Source(s): See @mexilore.co.uk, “Dangers of the ‘fifth cup’: the Aztec approach to alcohol,” Catherine R. DiCesare, Jan 21, 2018; @todayifoundout; “Native Americans Were Not Introduced to Alcohol by Europeans,” Nov 18, 2013, Melissa.
