Corn is a grain that was cultivated by Native Americans about seven millennia ago in the geographic area that is now Mexico. Its cultivation led to the spread of the corn plant in North, Central, and South America. It became part of the “three sisters” of farming that many native tribes adopted: the corn stalk in the field was climbed with green beans planted near it, and broadleaf gourds were also planted to shade the area around it. of the corn stalk. and broad beans, to discourage weed growth. Often the natives put the heads and entrails of the fish in the ground before planting the three sisters to make the soil more fertile.

Corn, when eaten raw, will give the consumer diarrhea. Once that was learned, consumers tended to cook the corn and the natives learned to roast it. First, they separated the kernels from the cob of mature corn. Then they lit a fire and let the wood burn into embers. Using a cooking container (similar to a frying pan today), they cooked some animal fat until an oil was created (today we would use cooking oil). Then, they added a thin layer of corn kernels and stirred them with a wooden spoon as they dried over the coals. Once the kernels were browned (not blackened), they moved them to a cold container where they could have added salt and mixed it to get salt throughout the roasted corn. Since this cooking method only allowed small amounts of corn to be roasted at a time, it was probably an all-day undertaking to have a large amount of corn roasted.

The roasted corn could be stored for use on rainy days when there was no cooking fire. It could be easily obtained when adults or children were hungry. It provided a ready and portable food source when the natives traveled to hunt, raid other tribes, or when the entire tribe moved to cooler fields in late winter, which they often did because they knew that repeated seasonal plantings of crops would deplete the nutrients in the soil. So, they would leave to allow the soil to lie fallow (return to a natural state).

Interestingly, the native tribes of the Americas signed treaties with other tribes and considered some to be enemies or sources of things they wanted to take. When the Europeans arrived, they were mostly not seen as enemies or were studied because they were so different. In many cases, the natives helped the Europeans, even showing them how to plant the three sisters. Conflicts eventually occurred when one tribe abandoned the land it occupied and Europeans moved onto the fallow land. Many years later, the tribe would return to the land and simply set up camp and use the fields around European settlers. Europeans tended to be outraged that Indians were returning to land they considered abandoned and therefore “gifted” to them. Thus, the term “Indian giver” was derived.

The natives who indulged themselves to strangers are to be admired. Jesus did that for all of us. He read his prayer to God for all humanity, even knowing that the hour of his personal sacrifice for humanity was drawing near (John 17, verses 20-26).