When Jhon Edison Ccoyo Ccana looks up into the overarching inky-dark Andean night sky above him, pierced only with distant twinkly stars, he's searching for a sign: the constellation known in Peru as the Inca Cross. In the native Quechua language, it's called Chacana, and when it's seen leaning on its side, he knows it's time to start harvesting the vast indigenous potato crop.
Knowledge of this pivotal celestial indicator has been passed down through generations and is rooted in ancestral agricultural techniques, tools and knowledge. Here, the connection to Panchamama, mother earth, is the backbone of all life; farming is inseparable from identity.
