Somewhere in the vibrant chaos of Tepito — one of Mexico City’s most notorious neighborhoods — there’s a quiet corner that draws people in like a spiritual magnet. Candles flicker, skulls glimmer in the dim light, and offerings of tequila, cigarettes, and candy pile up around a robed skeletal figure. This is La Santa Muerte, the “Saint of Death,” and she’s unlike anything you’ve seen in a Catholic church.

In most places, corn is just food. But in Mexico, especially among its Indigenous communities, corn—or maíz—is life, ancestry, memory, and god. Welcome to the Sacred Corn Festivals, where ancient traditions still sing the praises of the golden grain.