CHAPTER FOUR “Elder Brother Tobacco” Traditional Nicotiana Snuf Use among the Contemporary Tzeltal and Tzotzil Maya of Highland Chiapas, Mexico KEVIN P. GROARK Among the ancient Maya, Nicotiana was viewed as a sacred plant, closely asso- ciated with deities of earth and sky, and used for both visionary and therapeu- tic ends. Te contemporary Tzeltal and Tzotzil Maya of Highland Chiapas are heirs to this ancient ethnobotanical tradition of tobacco use and folklore. In Maya communities throughout the highlands, the tobacco plant is viewed as a primordial medicine and a powerful botanical “helper” or “protector” with uses both mundane and divine. Whole leaves are boiled, wilted, mashed, and bruised to prepare medicinal plasters and teas. Fresh leaves are mixed with slaked limestone and pounded into a green mash, yielding a potent oral snuf that serves as a medicine, a stimulant, an intoxicant, and a protective agent. Tis tobacco-lime snuf preparation—referred to in Tzotzil as “angel” (an- jel), “elder brother” (bankilal), “great old man” (muk’ta mol), or simply “to- bacco” (moy)—forms the prototypical referent for highland Maya thinking about tobacco. Stored and carried in small, highly polished gourds, this to- bacco snuf is part of an unbroken tradition of Maya tobacco use spanning thousands of years. In the pages that follow, I present a comprehensive ethno- graphic overview of contemporary highland Maya tobacco culture, exploring the therapeutic, protective, and ritual uses of Nicotiana tabacum in both Tzeltal and Tzotzil Maya communities. 1 Loughmiller_TXT1.indd 54 4/17/19 1:16 PM NOTE: Tis is an uncorrected pre-publication proof. If quoting, please refer to fnal published version. Cite as follows: Groark, Kevin P. 2019. ”Elder Brother Tobacco": Traditional Nicotiana Snuff Use among the Contemporary Tzeltal and Tzotzil Maya of Highland Chiapas, Mexico. Pp. 54-92 in Breath and Smoke: Tobacco Use Among the Maya (Jennifer A. Loughmiller-Cardinal and Keith Eppich, eds.). Albuquerque, NM : University of New Mexico.