37. Wheat growing and human life cycles
The traditional forms of agriculture were established in the nineteenth century. Pictures of work in the fields record changes in techniques, the transformation of the landscape and the collective imagination. Considered to be a gift of the gods, wheat imposes a duty of reciprocity. Knowledge related to the growing of wheat is paralleled by myths and rites in which the cereal symbolises the cycle of life, the need for death and the never-ending rhythm of the seasons.
© 2015 Musée d'ethnographie, Genève
Ville de Genève, Département de la culture et du sport