The Trail of the Corn

Sonido

The Legend of the Cosmical Arepa

Remember, my friends, the voice of the great Chiminigagua: the primal creator. Remember the day, when floating in darkness, he thought it was time to paint it with light. He sent two black ravens to fly across the universe; carrying with them the essence of his sound. As they opened their beaks, his voice emanated in streams of golden vapour: filling the cosmos with life and with splendour.

Remember Bochica, his son, who many years later, when humans were young, arrived as a stranger and gave our forefathers the present of corn. Remember the footprint he left in the sand, as a remnant and a warning to follow his path. For balance is fragile and the land has demands. You must give what you take, you must do what is right... and find strength in the grain that is made out of light.

Don’t forget to pay tribute to the goddess Bachué, who emerged from the waters of a mountainous lake. She came down from her mountain and gave birth to our kind. She deciphered the secrets of the flame and the stone: bringing shelter and fire and the knowledge of gods.

Chiguachía is the window between the sun and the moon. It’s located in a valley where two rivers become one. In this place, long ago, two great kings went to war. With the passage of time the domains were divided. The cacique from the north had a treasure to hide, for the sparkle of gold casted a curse on the man. As his greed ate his trust, he called out for his shaman, who through magic and dealings with the spirits of nature, found a passage on the rock to the belly of the mountain. As he buried his gold, in the heart of the land, he believed that his treasure would be safe at last. The cacique from the south, nonetheless, was informed, and thus ordered his servants to take claim of the gold. When the tragedy struck and the men fell from grace, from the sadness and sorrow, there’s a moral that remained: for the mountain kept the gold and the river turned red.

Then it is said, my dear friends, that the message was lost, when the men from beyond, set their feet in new shores. They were cursed by the glare, they were blinded, they were lost; they were maddened by fever, by the fever of gold. Like the kings from the legend, their demise was foretold. But the knowledge of Bochica was remembered by his clan. And the spirit of the mother still lays dormant in the land, where the rivers meet the mountain and the secret passage hides.

It’s up to us now to remember once and for all, that the light of the creator shines the brightest in the corn. And the essence of its magic has been grinded and has been stored, in this bag that is from the ground and to the ground shall return. When you mix it with water: with the essence of Bachué, you can shape it as a saucer and remember one last story: as there is a version and there is a section of the population who believe, that Bochica was an alien who came to visit from the stars, in a cosmical arepa that brings happiness to the land.

Fitzroy's laneways (i)

imagery by Mauricio Rivera R.