Maquiltianguiztli Explained

In ancient mesoamerica, the market system was divided into local and regional markets that took place at specific times throughout the weeks and years. Because farmers were the majority of the people who would go to the market to both sell and buy goods for the household, the market was organized around the work schedule. Farming is time consuming and laborious work. Likewise, processing food into refined products like masa and pasta occupies much of the family’s time to simply grow and make the goods they’d take to market. To accommodate the routines of life and to support a bustling and diverse market, ancient American societies were organized around the work schedule of the farmer and producers of goods. 

Local growers and craftspeople would take time to plant, care for and harvest beans, corn, squash, chiles, hunt for meat, make clay products and all the other activities that made life possible for ancient civilizations. Meanwhile, members of another social class would engage in a very different but immensely important type of economic activity: trade. 

The pochteca, as they were known in the ancient language of Nahuatl, were the class of merchants that would trade goods sold at mercados in pueblos all over the region for fine items like exotic feathers, jade and obsidian stones, tobacco and even technology like metallurgy. Pochteca traveled to distant cities, passing through small villages along the way. They’d cross borders into new empires and city-states in order to engage in trade and cultural exchange. They shared stories and rituals, and traded for rare and hard to find goods that the people back home would pine for. This gave the pochteca an opportunity to not only expand their trade routes to new and far off lands, but also expand their influence in the markets of their hometowns. 

The Pochteca were known as the “señores del mercado” and were the chief patrons of the regional market known as the “Five Market” because it was scheduled regularly every 5 months. This was different from the local market where more common goods were traded, which was held every five days. This meant that local people could get their necessities every 5 days, and have access to more exotic items from further reaches and lands every 5 months.

Passport Destilados keeps this tradition of the Pochteca alive in the modern world. We, too, travel to large cities and pass through small towns along the journey to find the most unique hand truly handcrafted distillates in Mexico. We work only with maestros that produce small and even micro batches and share in carrying forward the pride of heritage and tradition of artisanal and ancestral production. We believe in deepening our personal relationships with producers with face-to-face contact, so not only do we get to buy their art but we also taste it in the land in which it is produced. That’s how we’re able to bring our members and guests the best quality and rare varieties of Mexican distillates. Every 5 months, we invite membership and select guests to taste, and join us to support our mission. 

Maquiltianguiztli is the Nahuatl word for the five-month market that we host. “Maquil” means “five” and “tianquiztli” means “market”. This is our tribute to our ancestors who lived have inhabited this continent for millenia, and have formed a deep and sacred relationship with the agave and other plants that yields these incredible distillates.