The life of the Pochteca, like other sectors of Aztec society, was strictly ordered by guidelines dictating such areas as proper dress, religious and social obligations. Wealthy merchants also hosted periodic banquets to help elevate their status within society and their guilds. The Pochteca participated in a perpetual cycle of rituals, both at home and on the road. These rituals marked the preparation for travel and a successful return from a trading expedition. Furthermore, the rituals were intended to pay debts to deities for ensuring safety and good fortune (Kristan-Graham 1993). In addition, to ritually sanction the economic relation between the emperor and the Pochteca (Kristan-Graham 1993). These rituals were very important for the Pochteca safety. If the rituals were not preformed the Pocheteca were doomed on their excurision out of the empire. Many ingredients for Pochteca rituals, including cacao, tobacco, copal, and rubber, came only from the moist tropical lowlands of the Gulf Coast and Maya area, the very regions with which the Aztec Pochteca heavily traded and exacted tribute (Kristan-Graham 1993). These items were very important for the spiritual and religious rituals not only for the Pochteca, but also, for every Aztec civilian. This also shows a little bit of the extent the Pochteca would travel on their journeys. There were different types of rituals for different events.
A description of the ceremonies before leaving on a long expedition were on the eve of their departure from Tenochtitlan, the Pochteca began an elaborate cycle of rituals. First, they wrapped paper, which is a scared item according to Franke J. Neumann, around their staves to honor Yacatecuhtli. Also, they made paper offerings to other deities, by sacrificing quail and allowing the blood to soak into the paper. From there, they burned the blood-spattered paper and copal incense in the center of a courtyard. After that, the Pochteca laid out paper offerings, and displayed some of the merchandise to be traded on the ensuing expedition (Kristan-Graham 1993). The ceremonies ended when the Pochteca host summoned other merchants to a banquet, where all were seated in order by rank against the walls to listen to speeches about proper Pochteca behavior (Kristan-Graham 1993). Subsequently then, the Pochteca could leave on their journey in the good graces of the gods. A return ceremony was quite different
A typical homecoming feast entailed the distribution of food and other goods. Followed by ritual precision. Many different items were offered for example flowers, food, chocolate, tubes of tobacco, and hallucinogenic mushrooms (Berdan 2005). The mushrooms were apart of the ritual to be able to see exotic visions and see the gods or deities. Throughout the night guest sing and dance and had wild visions induced by the mushrooms. As morning broke and throughout the next day the host and guest ate great quantities of food, drank chocolate, smoked more tubes of tobacco and enjoy the flowers from the day before (Berdan 2005). At the close of the feast, which was like a festival of goodwill, the elders decide how successful the feast was depending on how lavish or inadequately it was. Also, if goods were plentiful the host would distribute the leftovers to his guest and enjoyed high prestige. If it was a meagerly feast and there were no leftovers the host suffered shame (Berdan 2005).
