By Marie-Elena Schembri

Latin music and incense welcomed attendees to the Washington Neighborhood Center, where the second annual Chicha Fest was held on March 28 and 29. Inside, people danced, sang and socialized while sipping chicha de maíz, a sweet corn-based South American beverage from totumas (small fruit-shell cups).

For co-organizer Lorena Rodriguez, a Colombian artist, actor and cultural practitioner, the two-day Chicha Fest was more than a celebration of fermented beverages; it was a way to honor community, diversity and resist the historical persecution of indigenous traditions like chicha-making.

Chicha, made from diverse recipes including corn, rice or yucca, is common across South and Central America where it has indigenous roots. Sarawi Andrango, an Ecuadorian Kayambi poet and writer — and mentor to Rodriguez — spoke at the festival about chicha’s long history of persecution and the importance of sustaining indigenous cultural practices. 

Andrango (translated to English by Rodriguez) said, “I wish and I want to talk about peace, and also write about a better world. But I cannot do that because these are the stories of my mom and my grandmother. These are the stories I need to put on paper. Something that the persecution of chicha did was not only to try to delete and disappear chicha, but also, disappear our memory, the memory of our grandmothers.”

Andrango said that chicherías — chicha makers, traditionally women — were persecuted by the government and scientific communities who claimed drinking chicha made people angry and rebellious. Similar to America’s history with cannabis and prohibition, political posters targeted the public, spreading the idea that chicha created dumb criminals. Colombian doctors even coined a term – chichismo – for the supposed disease caused by drinking it. Chicha was outlawed in 1949 in Colombia and is still illegal to produce and sell today. 

Andrango’s writings tell stories of indigenous oppression and highlight ongoing struggles in countries such as Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Mexico. “Every single story that you find in that book is real,” Andrango said. “It’s the persecution that I live with, my body and the body of all the indigenous people that work with me.”

Along with the history of chicha, attendees on Friday night learned about and made traditional crafts, including amulets (small embroidered charms filled with dried herbs and other materials) and colorful string-wrapped crosses called ojos de Dios (eyes of God), or si’kuli to the Wixárika — or Huichol — people of Mexico. 

Co-organizer Araceli Moreno, whose family has indigenous roots in the Hñähñu and Wixárika tribes of Mexico, told the story of the spiritual and cultural significance of these amulets, which are traditionally given to young children by their fathers. Every layer of color added has a specific meaning, with a new layer added each year until the age of 5.

Hundreds of ojos de Dios were placed around an altar in the center of the room on Saturday, with more suspended from the ceiling above and decorating microphone stands and equipment around the stage. Arranged thoughtfully on the floor around textile art representing Sacramento’s waterways, the offering consisted of fruits, vegetables, flowers and candles that attendees could take home. Attendees were offered sips of bottled water sourced from local springs, a reflection of gratitude for the water used to grow the corn that the chicha was made from.

Attendees also tried tepache, a Mexican drink made from fermented pineapple rind, cinnamon, cloves and sugar. Mario Medina, who grew up drinking tepache in his hometown of  Acapulco, Mexico, now makes his own at his Sacramento home. Medina moved to the U.S. at age 10, but keeps his culture alive by brewing tepache and sharing it at family gatherings.Medina learned about Chicha Fest from his friend and Sacramento resident Elsy Rojas, who was familiar with a different type of chicha made in Peru, where she lived until she was 12.

“It was everywhere,” she said, adding that her neighbors made and sold chicha from their home and teenagers drank it with their friends. Peruvian chicha de jora is made from fermented malted corn — similar to beer — while chicha morada is a non-fermented drink traditionally made from purple corn and can also include fruits like pineapple and apples along with spices and citrus juice. Rojas’ family makes and sells the latter at their Sacramento-based Peruvian catering business Mochica Postres & Piqueos. After attending Chicha Fest on Saturday, Rojas was inspired to ask her mom to try making the fermented type with her for the first time.

This is exactly the kind of community building Chicha Fest was created for. While it is an annual event, Rodriguez and the other chicherías engage in community-building cultural activities  year-round. 

“What does it mean to be and to have a culture right now?” She asked.“For us, the answer has been food, connection to nature, connection to water, art … because art for our elders wasn’t a way to exhibit something or to show something. It was a way of creating community. It was a way of offering back to nature, or it was a way [of] offering back to our ancestors.”

This story is part of the Solving Sacramento journalism collaborative. This story was funded by the City of Sacramento’s Arts and Creative Economy Journalism Grant to Solving Sacramento. Following our journalism code of ethics, the city had no editorial influence over this story. Our partners include California Groundbreakers, Capital Public Radio, Outword, Russian America Media, Sacramento Business Journal, Sacramento News & Review, Sacramento Observer and Univision 19. Sign up for our “Sac Art Pulse” newsletter here.