Cacao, one of the most emblematic fruits of the Americas, holds a central symbolic place within the cultures that domesticated it and endowed it with a deeply ancestral meaning.

 

 

Archaeological research places its earliest origin in the southern Ecuadorian Amazon, in Zamora Chinchipe, where findings at the Santa Ana–La Florida site reveal a relationship with cacao dating back more than 5,300 years.Zamora Chinchipe is thus recognized as an ancestral territory of cacao, a place where biodiversity and cultural memory converge. For the Shuar and Saraguro peoples, cacao represents life, fertility, and harmony with the natural world.The “Origin of Cacao” project presents an artistic intervention that weaves together dance, music, painting, and body art to engage with this heritage. The performance not only reaffirms Zamora Chinchipe as the cradle of cacao but also builds an intercultural bridge that connects territories, sensibilities, and histories.

 

This artistic gesture functions as cultural diplomacy and as an act of identity affirmation, revealing cacao as a living symbol of the deep creative force of Ecuador’s Amazonian territory.