孫小燕　羅　丹

Corn in Mexico

Corn originated in Mexico, “A gift of the gods” is how corn was regarded by the Indians of Mexico. In the past 5000 years,this amazing crop has been the third most important crop in the world because of the hard-working and wisdom of Mexican people.

The history of corn

The European settlers did not know what corn (called maize) was until they received gifts of corn from the local Indians. From then on,corn was gradually becoming part of their daily food.

4000 years ago,during Maya periods,corn was the main crop and food supplies. Archaeologists believe that corn was eaten by ancient Mexicans for as long as since 5,000 B.C.

Many a legend about the origin of corn is told in modern Mexican aboriginal. However, according to the evidence of archeology, corn was once a sort of wild millet growing in Mexico 5000 years ago. Nowadays, hundreds of kinds of corn have been developed by means of variation and evolution.

At present,corns planting and processing technique in Mexico is unexampled. It is the Mexican people who first develop and extend color corn,such as dark blue,red,yellow,white,green and so on.Foreigners who go shopping in Mexican supermarkets for the first time would be very surprised at the sight of thousands of kinds of corn food.

Nowadays corn is mostly grown in southern and central Mexico.Even though Mexico produces so much corn,it does not feed their growing population. Since most of the Mexican farmers have not applied modern techniques to their farms, their total outcome in corn is very small.

Mexican people thrive on corn. Today, this amazing crop is still a staple food for them and it is responsible for nearly half of their calories from daily food. However,with the extension of food structure,most large cities population has started to eat less corn.

Corn and religion

Corn is revered by the Mexican and American Indian peoples.In the traditional Navajo Indian wedding ceremony,the brides grandmother presents the couple with a basket of cornmeal and the couple exchanges a small handful with each other.

In the religion culture of ancient Indians,corn was honored by people.Many myths and legends about corn have passed from generation to generation in Mexico,several corn Gods are believed in by ancient Indians.Besides,in Maya myth,humans body is made of corn by God,Men of Corn has been a code name for the Indians in Central America in the agrestic culture.

Corn culture

Like Wine Culture and Tea Culture in other places,Mexican people shape their own Corn Culture,Corn Cuisine Culture is the most famous among them.According to statistics,there are more than 605 traditional food made from corn. The corn is ground into flour,mixed with water and made into tortillas.Mexican people have tortillas at their three meals every day.Therefore,Western people call tortillas as Mexicans bread.

Mexican people are very talented,they not only make good use of the fruit of corn,and they also make interesting crafts out of cornstalk. In the culture market of Mexico City,a lot of toys made of corn are available everywhere.

墨西哥是玉米的故鄉(xiāng)，在墨西哥印第安人的眼中，玉米就是神賜予他們的神圣禮物。在漫漫的5000年里，玉米這種神奇的黍類從過去的不為人知一躍成為世界第三大糧食來源，離不開墨西哥人的勤勞與智慧。

玉米的起源

當歐洲定居者到達墨西哥的這片土地上時，他們還不知道玉米是什么，直到他們收到當?shù)赜〉诎踩怂徒o他們用玉米做成的禮物。從那以后，玉米也慢慢成了他們?nèi)粘ｏ嬍车囊徊糠帧?/p>

4000年前的瑪雅時期，在印第安人的培育下，玉米已經(jīng)成為主要農(nóng)作物和糧食來源。更有考古學(xué)家認為，古墨西哥人早在公元前5000年就開始食用玉米了。

關(guān)于玉米的起源，在現(xiàn)代墨西哥土著居民中流傳著很多傳說。然而，據(jù)現(xiàn)代考古學(xué)證實，玉米起源于5000年前一種生長在墨西哥的野生種植在墨西哥的南部和中部黍類。如今，經(jīng)過數(shù)千年的變異和演化，今天的玉米已經(jīng)擁有數(shù)百品種。

現(xiàn)在的墨西哥人對玉米的種植和加工技術(shù)可以說是已經(jīng)發(fā)展到了極致。墨西哥人最先培育并推廣了彩色玉米，像深藍色、紅色、黃色、白色、綠色等。去墨西哥超市買東西的外國人，都會為種類繁多的玉米食品驚訝不已。

今天，墨西哥人主要把玉米種植在南部和中部，不過，即便墨西哥每年能生產(chǎn)大量的玉米，卻仍然無法滿足日益增長的人口的需要。由于大多數(shù)的墨西哥農(nóng)民還沒有采用現(xiàn)代種植技術(shù)，因此他們玉米的產(chǎn)量都不高。

玉米對于墨西哥人來說是生命的源泉。今天，玉米仍是墨西哥人的主食，玉米則提供了墨西哥人日常生活中近一半的熱量。不過，隨著食物結(jié)構(gòu)的拓展，一些大城市的居民已經(jīng)開始減少對玉米的食用量。

玉米與宗教

一直以來，墨西哥和美國的印第安民族對玉米懷著一種敬畏之情。在傳統(tǒng)的納瓦霍印第安人的婚禮上，新娘的奶奶會為新娘和新郎送上一籃子的玉米粉，然后新娘和新郎互相交換一把玉米粉。

在古代印第安人的宗教文化中，玉米已經(jīng)超出了普通食物的概念。墨西哥民間有流傳著許多關(guān)于玉米的神話和傳說,古代印第安人信奉的諸神中，也有好幾位玉米神。不僅如此，在瑪雅人的神話中，人的身體就是造物主用玉米做成的；在鄉(xiāng)土文化中，“玉米人”已經(jīng)成為對中美洲印第安人的一個代稱。

玉米文化

同其他地區(qū)的“酒文化”“茶文化”一樣，墨西哥人也醞釀出自己的“玉米文化”，其中最值得稱道的應(yīng)該是“玉米烹飪文化”。據(jù)統(tǒng)計，用玉米制作的小吃和菜肴總數(shù)有605種之多。墨西哥人把玉米磨成粉，加水混合做成傳統(tǒng)小吃“塔哥”。墨西哥的男女老幼一日三餐少不了“塔哥”。因此，西方人把“塔哥”稱作墨西哥人的面包。

墨西哥人的智慧不僅體現(xiàn)在對玉米果實的利用上，他們還利用玉米稈等制成生動有趣的手工藝品。在墨西哥城的文化市場上，各種以玉米為材料的小玩具隨處可見。