Here is Gloria Showalter’s account of chicha making with the women at San Juan de Agua Rico:
It was 4:30 am. A handful of GC women huddled around a large wooden basin. We watched Silvia, our hostess, empty a pot of steaming yuca into the basin in front of us. We were making chicha, a traditional fermented drink common in many areas of South America. Chicha is a staple, served at all times of day and served in great quantities at festivals and special occasions. In the Quichua community we were visiting, the chicha making begins very early in the morning.
As the yuca cooled, we took turns smashing it with a pestle, mashing it into a lumpy past. We talked and joked as we worked, and learned from Silvia about the traditions surrounding chicha in Quichua culture. From cultivating the yuca to passing out cups of three to seven day fermented chicha, women are the chicha makers, she told us.
Silvia then demonstrated for us the final step before fermentation: chewing. Following her example, we placed small clumps of mashed yuca in our mouths, chewing up all of the remaining lumps before returning each smooth clump to the basin. (The fermentation process sterilizes the chicha.) Chewing the yuca is important both in the fermentation and in the role of women. With their bodies, women bring forth life and sustain life. They wake before the sun to chew the yuca to make the chicha that gives all members of the community the energy to go about their daily tasks. As we dumped the now-smooth yuca paste into a bucket for fermenting, I sensed a deep reverence for the women on whom this community, like all communities around the world, depends.
