It is traditional in the Meseta de los Pueblos – from Masaya to Nandaime – to give food and drink to the devotees and visitors to their festivals. Most of these dishes are derived from corn.
During the festivals of Diriamba, Jinotepe and San Marcos, the famous dishes of picadillo, ajiaco and casserole dough or old Indian are given away.
En Masaya They excel with baked goods, doughnuts, corn chicha, ginger chicha, nacatamales, watery rice, pig's head with cooked yuca and beef soup.
In the patron saint festivals of the departments of the north, west and north-east of the country, this custom is limited, except for El Viejo, in Chinandega, the day of the Lavada de la Plata, on December 6, when they give away doughnuts and tea to visitors.
Corn: our root
One of the great contributions of the New World to humanity has been corn. The cradle of this ancient plant is located between Mexico and Central America, and legend attributes its discovery to Quetzalcoatl, a historical-mythical character, civilizing hero and guide of the Mesoamerican peoples, who put a grain of corn on the lips of the first man and the first woman so that, by eating it, "they could work and think." The influence of corn was so great in the development of the Mayan, Quiché and Inca cultures that it was present in the life of the humblest of men, from birth to death.
As corn cultivation spread across the continent, corn became a unifying element and a factor in social transformation. The development and increase in its production allowed for rapid progress in socioeconomic organization.
Maize was also attributed with magical-religious qualities. Sorcerers and priests used it in their rites and ceremonies, and the Tonalpohuali calendar, or magical succession of 18 months of 20 days each, dedicates the eighth month to the sacred rite of XILONEM, "Goddess of Tender Maize."
A beautiful legend tells that XILONEM was a beautiful princess who sacrificed herself during a terrible drought so that her people would not die of hunger. The decapitation of the slave-goddess is symbolically repeated every year by the priest-farmer, embodied in the peasant corn farmer, who removes the first tender ear of corn from the plant ("the chilote or xilote") so that the main fruit can develop fully and ensure a rich and abundant harvest.
Corn, Güirilas and Atol
In Nicaragua, corn is one of the country's staple foods, and much of its culinary culture incorporates it as an ingredient alone or mixed together. A huge variety of foods, drinks, sweets, etc., made with corn are part of the daily diet of Nicaraguans.
Corn is still sown as in the past. When the first distant flashes of lightning announce the rain, the fields are sown. A few weeks later, the corn feast can begin. When the corn is in the ear, the chilotes also appear, those ears of corn that, due to their position and size, will not form into grains. And how tasty they are! They are eaten roasted, boiled, in stew, in vinegar and even raw. The corn festival continues. Soon there will be new corn.
A delight from paradise. A tender corncob with curds, and tamales and atol, and if it turns sour, it's even better. And then the güirilas, and those who can, ask for them stuffed. And when the corn is ripe, it's easy to store. You bend the plant so that the cob points downwards, and the whole cornfield serves as a granary. Who could list all the uses of corn? Here, culinary imagination has no limits. But the broadest basis for its use requires, as a first requirement, the dough. It is corn nesquized with ash or lime, washed and ground. In all the neighborhoods the mills hum, in the huts of the villages, in the cabins of the countryside, the sound of the grinding stone can be heard. The large farms have mills driven by motors. From the dough is born the queen of corn: the tortilla.
The tortilla in all its sizes, from the one served as a snack, making delicious sandwiches, to the table tortilla that fights to keep its place against bread. The nacatamales are born from the dough, starting with the tamale made of dough, the tamal pisque, which has the advantage of being able to be preserved for several days, and therefore was the classic travel dressing, the stuffed ones, and, above all, the nacatamal. There are some from all environments: the Indian chieftain: strong, large, pure, without any foreignisms, with its good chili and adobo. The ladino: made of dough mixed with potatoes, rice and traces of grains, such as olives.
The nacatamal of high-life parties: with plums, raisins, capers, and strained dough that disappears in four bites. With a little curd in the dough, another vast horizon of corn delights opens up. The classic meatballs for fasting days, the delicious fritters with honey, the perrerreque, the rosquillas, the hojaldras, the viejitas, the rellenas, everything that is known as “things from the oven.” The pupusas from Jinotega are, without a doubt, the culmination of corn baked goods. Humble and modest is the pozol, made from cooked and ground corn; but with a piece of alfeñique, it becomes a drink capable of competing with a lofty tiste de panecillo, and far surpasses any cola drink.
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