MEXICAN PERFUMERY HERITAGE

Polyanthus Tuberose

By Ana Elena Sastrias, IPF Australia Chair and Natural Perfumery Teacher

An Olfactory Landscape Through History

In 2018 I decided to visit my family and friends back in Mexico and took the opportunity to get in contact with relevant people working with Mexican Botanical Raw Materials and producing Ethnobotanical Essential Oils from Mexican sourced plants, flowers, seeds, gums and resins at the Botanic Garden and Research Institute “Herbario CICY - Centro de Investigación Científica de Yucatán”, where I met up with Dr Luz María Calvo in Mérida, Yucatán. Among the most aromatic raw materials used in modern perfumery, it is the Mexican “Nardo” known as “Polyanthus Tuberose”. This flower “Nardo” or “Polyanthus Tuberose” was used by the Mayans as a Soap as this plant contains high levels of sapogenines and rizomas, ingredients that can make soap. In Nahuatl, this plant was called “amole” that means “soap” or “omixochitl” that means “boney flower”.
In Mexico, there are 20 species of “Polyanthus”. These “Polyanthus” have been grown and domesticated since the Pre-Hispanic Era among the Mayan Civilization. Its fine seductive floral fragrance is found all over the world in fine perfumes. The essential oil extracted from these flowers have the following properties: anti-fungal, anti- bacterial, used in wound healing treatments, it is also used as an insecticide and herbicide.
During that visit I also spent time reading relevant books about Aztec and Mayan Civilizations and their Olfactory Experiences in Rituals at the Hemeroteca Nacional, UNAM in Mexico City.

The Historical Research Institute in Mexico (IIH) states that in order to understand the History of Mexico, it is necessary to know the Aromas appropriate to each Period in History.
Dr Elodie Dupey García and Guadalupe Pinzón Ríos are working together in the reconstruction of smells from Ancient Times up to 20th Century in Mexico in order to recover the Olfactory Memory from each Period in time. They consider Olfaction, not just as a physiological activity, but also as a way to interact in Society and Culture triggered by different stimuli bringing a diversity of values in Society through time. The smells have a meaning in Society. For instance, a fresh clean smell compared to a smell of a warm “tortilla” or a fresh bread. The behaviour in humans and other species is definitively influenced by what we smell and this can trigger behaviours in our relationships and also can be part of our rituals.
This reconstruction of ancient olfactory landscape is being done through research on Ancient Texts, Nahuatl, Mayan and other Indigenous languages and Archeological Objects, aside of Ethnobotanical Research. Dr Elodie Dupey García recognises that it is quite challenging to recover the original smells of the Mesoamerican civilizations due to the length of time and the exposure to the wind.

Archeological, iconography and linguistic and historical sources have been useful as a base to learn more about the aromas that were characteristic of the Pre-hispanic Era.

In religious rituals, Aztec priests were scarifying themselves by offering their blood to be then incinerated to the gods. The remains of this type of smells can be described in pictograms from Codex as images of ancient practices and beliefs. The same as in the narrative stories from the Spaniards witnessing such sacrifices in the Fall of the Pre-Hispanic Civilizations.
​
After this collection of information, the questions that were important to ask for this research were:
- Which are the ideas behind the Aromas in the Pre-Hispanic Civilizations?
- Which kind of categorisation they assigned to Olfactive Sensations and which aromas were more relevant or bringing much attention to Pre-Hispanic society?
- With which kind of concepts they associated each aroma?
La Société Américaniste in Paris, France states that since the 18th and 19th Century, the intellectual elite put more importance to a Visual aspect of the world, more than the Tactile, Gustative, Olfactive aspects of our lives as a society. Since then, we have gradually been missing the use of our Sense of Smell and we now will need to re-train this important Sense.
Since “reading” has been a marker in society to learn science, develop technology and be part of a cultural landscape and participate in the workforce. The priorities to exercise senses aside of our Vision and Hearing, were left behind, regarded almost as a non- important.
It is since 2020 when Covid-19 pandemic started and we experienced as Humanity some of the effects of Covid-19 of losing the Sense of Smell, that Science is starting to catchup with studies and research in the consequences of losing the Sense of Smell in Human Beings and how to recover the Sense of Smell by doing Olfaction Training.​

Aromas and fragrances were sacred in Ancient Times in Mexico, pointing this smell to the “Sahumerio o Sahumador de Copal” (Copal’s Smoke recipients).
​The resin of Copal was burnt in diverse ritualistic contexts. The resulting fumes from burning the resin of Copal were fundamental to the rituals and ceremonies.

Copal

This Aromatic Offerings to the gods comprised herbs, gums and resins that were burnt and their combustion created aromatic smoke central to various rituals. The recipient used to burn the raw materials is called “Sahumador or Sahumerio”. They were of different kind, some were basic, some others more luxurious. Those artefacts were found in archeological sites.
Murals and Codex describe the various raw materials used to make aromatic smokes and the use of “sahumadores or sahumerios”. Also, they could give us some information of which characteristics the olfactory landscapes had in the Religious Festivities.
The aromas could be concentrated in the Ritual Activity derived by the raw materials used in the ceremonies taken places either in restrictive access places or open space ceremonies or around the reach of people participating in the ceremony.

The Offering of Fire was a ritual that burnt Copal resin in wood in front of the images of their deities.
​This Offering was executed by each family when the Sun rises, also in temples four times during the day, and five times during the night, this was done to celebrate the God of the Sun and the God of the Night respectively.
The aromas were given a Social, Medicinal and Ritualistic role associated with Cosmological beliefs in the Pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican Era.
The mesoamericans conceived the World of the Dead as a putrefactive smell.
Putting in perspective the importance of the Sense of Smell in Ancient Civilisation and Indigenous communities living in Jungles, it does make sense when being surrounded by a very thick lush and green jungle, our Vision will not be enough to detect any danger or find your way to reach out other community or designated destination. The smells of each community could be an identifiable factor to guide us in our journey. The smells of each town bring an identity that can be part of our olfactory memory map.

Dr Elodie Dupey García has been working on the Olfactory Sensitivity Project applied into the History of Smells in Mexico since 2014. Her book “De olfato. Aproximaciones a los Olores en la Historia de México” (Olfaction. Olfactory approximations to Aromas through out the History of Mexico) has been published since 2020.
References: Gaceta UNAM - Agosto 2021 - Frías, Leonardo
Olores y Sensibilidad Olfativa en Mesoamérica - Dupey García, Elodie
CICY Newsletter Article - Aromas de México para el mundo, el caso del Nardo: Polianthes Tuberosa - Calvo, Luz María