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On this Cinco de Mayo, I would like to honor the many Corn Mothers who sustain and nurture life. Too often, mothers are taken for granted. The many miracles and healing ceremonies they perform frequently go unnoticed. Sometimes women become invisible in American society, living only as memories in our minds and hearts. Corn Mother’s Day is a time to respect las madres who gave us life.
Elena Mercedes Macias Del Castillo was the first Corn Mother that crept out of the vestiges of my mind. My mother was a Tarascan Mexicana with strong cultural and historical roots from La Piedad, Michoacan, México. She was a simple woman of the earth, a woman who worked 33 years in un pacador so that her sons would have opportunities to become educated and give back to community, a value imbedded in her corazón. She guided her sons through many rites of passage, instilling values of self-respect and respect for others. She exited this world prematurely but her imprints remain etched on the many paths she crossed and inside of those hearts she touched during her short time on earth.
Based on Native American cultures that share stories about the beginning of life, Corn Mothers have become sacrosanct mythological beings. They are in spiritual union with Mother Nature, creating co-harmonious energy where wind, air, fire, earth, water and human beings become one. As sacred women providing direction to families and communities, they remain in tune con la tierra sagrada, intervening with Mother Nature, to create corn, a metaphor for sustenance. Many possess knowledge of natural medicine used to cure ailments, physically and spiritually.
We are always surrounded by Corn Mothers and many times have passed them by on street corners, in colonias, or tienditas never noticing the strength and beauty they bring to our world. Corn Mothers are the curanderas of the community, patching up wounded spirits disassociated from their bodies, often in flight, seeking forgiveness, unable to understand the melancholy of the times. Corn Mothers are guias with mysterious abilities and hidden conocimiento that emerges nonchalantly to provide understanding about life and its many challenges. They are consejeras de la comunidad whose magical powers mend bleeding hearts providing ameliorative support in times of need.
It is Corn Mothers, the givers of life that provide succorance when pain is present.
They never lose faith, rekindling hope when it begins to dissipate. They often sprinkle happiness onto dejected human spirits when all seems lost, majestically converting hate into love. Corn Mothers protect our spirits from meddling dreams that invade our souls. As spiritual protectors of the community and with impeccable timing, they spread colchas de curaciones over broken spirits. They stand with toallas in hands ready to wipe up tears or blood shed needlessly on barrio streets.
Corn Mothers are born every day. They are the carriers of traditions; some that need a repair job, anachronistic at best. As mothers, they leave indelible placas on our lives and fill our hearts with pearls of sabiduria. They come from all cultures and walks of life. Some are philosophers, writers, artists, historians, doctors and lawyers picking up the banner for social justice in nuestras comunidades. Other Corn Mothers have trekked down paths, sojourners crossing fictitious fronteras, women working in sweat shops, slaughterhouses and lettuce fields, caring for families in colonias y barrios with amor y carino.
Corn Mothers do not remain silhouettes against midnight skies. They are transformed into obsidian butterflies calling upon the powers of the universe to bring balance back to our lives.
Muralists have painted images of Corn Mothers in barrios but I am not so sure that we have paid attention to them. Artists have painted Corn Mothers sitting on the apex of historical pyramids as lideres, robed in cultural attire with corn at their sides, but we have been blind to them.
Our survival depends on being in communion with Mother Nature and sus hermanas, las mujeres.
As men, we have a filial responsibility to honor all women, especially those whose memories are forgotten. We have to create new cuentos in unison with women, obliterating the Master’s outdated narratives that lack understanding about what brown, black, white and red women have contributed to our cosmos. Those contributions are not just material in nature, they are the essence of life; values that cannot be touched only felt in our collective unconscious. Those values must be passed onto generations seven times de seguida.
¡Que Vivan las Madres de Maiz!
Ramón Del Castillo, Ph.D. is an independent journalist.
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