MAIZ CANCHA SERRANO

A journey through the rich history of corn, a sacred plant of the Incas

In the middle of the decade of the 70s, the anthropologist Juan Ossio lived with the villagers of Andamarca (Lucanas province, Ayacucho) considering, among other things, why the huge terraces that surround the area is fully developed according to Sara, the beautiful corn Quechua name.

These terraces of crops located to almost 3,500 meters above sea level were exploited to maximum advantage steep slopes of the mountains, and using every last drop of water thanks to an impressive irrigation system constructed expressly for corn.

But Ossio not understand why the villagers were planting Sara despite its low profitability in the local market and its extreme sensitivity to frost and climate changes. "Did not even sold," recalls the famous anthropologist. Later he realized that the corn was a vehicle of cultural identity andamarquinos: a collective defense mechanism to safeguard their ancestral worldview, affected by the interference of Western culture.

The reciprocal relationship between ayIlus and other forms of social ties revolved around this sacred plant of America.

Nearly three decades later, John Ossio invites us on a tour of its history in the exhibition Art and sacredness of Maize in the Andes, which opened last week at the Board of Banco Wiese Cultural Center, located in block 11 Larco Avenue , in Miraflores.

"The high cultures of the Andes and Mesoamerica are linked to maize," says Ossio. In both regions deserve a careful consumption and technology stimulated the development of a complex cultural garb associated with the sacred. " Scholars still do not agree on the origins and domestication of maize. On one hand, some argue that corn was imported from Mexico as a botanical source teosinte. Others have their own arguments to say that was domesticated in the Andes from a local wild species. In both cases, however, it is shown that the maize was planted seven thousand years ago and then was expanded up to 252 varieties,