People of Corn

When I arrived in Guatemala and began to get to know our staff here in the office, our Legal Administrator, Set Quiñonez, told me one day that he is a man of corn and I am a man of wheat; he is Chapín and I am Gringo.  I had never thought of that, and found his comment interesting but strange. But as I have become more acquainted with the culture and customs here, particularly of the Mayan people, I have come to understand more of what he meant.  Corn or maize is everywhere, and the people eat corn tortillas with every meal.  A specialty is roasted corn on a stick, "elote", with various sauces and spices smeared on it.  The ears of corn are huge and with a different shape than we are used to seeing in the States, and they come in many different varieties and colors.  While doing some research yesterday on the indigenous people of Guatemala, I came across this article about the Mayan's fight against Monsanto. Here is a passage from the article that gives you an idea of just how endemic corn is in their culture:

Sacred crops

Sololá is one of the agriculture centers of Guatemala, with a majority of the population relying on the growing of maize, beans, coffee and other crops. The department also has one of the highest indigenous populations in the country, with 96 percent of the population identifying as Kaqchikel, T’zutujil, or Kiche Maya. Maize is sacred to the Maya; their cultures and societies revolve around it. According to the Kiche Maya creation story, the Popol Vuh, the gods made humans by grinding the different colors of maize.

As is written in the Popol Vuh, “There was a consensus (among the gods), and it was decided what would come of the red, yellow, black, and white maize; it is from these that they made our bones, our blood, and our flesh.”

The protection of seed is thus of the utmost importance for the indigenous peoples of Guatemala and across Mesoamerica. “We cannot live without our corn,” said Acetún of the indigenous municipality. “It makes up all of our lives. We consume it for our food, we sell it, it is us.”

Rafael, a campesino from the Kaqchikel Maya community of Pixabaj, Sololá, explained, “The people here are Maize … We are not French. We are not anything else. We are Maize; we are Maya.”

As the protests mounted, women took the lead in organizing for the defense of maize. In Sololá, women created a seed bank to archive and protect the various varieties of heirloom corn for future generations. “The women of Sololá have taken the lead in organizing to save and protect our heirloom seeds,” said Pocop. “It is our responsibility to preserve our traditional seed, and to pass along the traditional ways of doing things.”

http://wagingnonviolence.org/feature/guatemala-indigenous-communities-prevail-monsanto/