And what about their Cocoa Ceremony (also Cacao Ceremony) and Fire Ceremony? Does anybody know anything about these ceremonies and their origins? (I tried Google, everything that came up led to New Age sites.)
Google Scholar
https://scholar.google.com/ is much more helpful with this. I tried search variations on cacao, religion, ceremonies etc. Then google on the author name to check out their credentials. Some of the items might be found online, other through library request.
This is just one example:
Although cacao no longer is used as frequently in Maya rituals today, it continues to function as a marker of important life events such as birth and marriage, and in agricultural ceremonies such as those documented among the Ch’ orti ’ Maya of Honduras [ 94, 95]. It is also an important component of the ceremonies involving offerings to the Lacandó n Maya “ g od pots, ” where it is characterized as a melding of the female (represented by cacao, because it is prepared by women) and the male (represented by a fermented drink called balch é , made by the men) [ 96]. This mirrors its use in feasts 1500 years ago, when it was also prepared and frothed by women, as illustrated by Classic period artists portraying life at royal Maya courts on ceramic vessels [97] .
Cacao use in Yucatan among the Pre-Hispanic Maya, Gabrielle Vail
Same type of research for fire ceremonies: lots of reading, learning the academic lay of the land, learning how to judge sources etc.
I wouldn't attend the events mentioned in this thread because they are charging $, sounds Nuage, out of context, and I don't know if the "spiritual leaders" are being exploited, or if they themselves are exploiting.
