More than anything else, the "x" in Mexico symbolizes a crossroads. Long before Europeans arrived there, Mexico's varied peoples and cultures intersected. Constant migration from north to south, and also in reverse, produced a web of interrelated yet distinct beliefs. A bounty of natural elements united by agriculture and religion formed a broad foundation for highly complex cultures.

The legendary hybridization of corn--in which four grains (red, blue, yellow, and white) were deposited in Mexico's earth--also symbolizes these intersections. When the Europeans started arriving in the early sixteenth century, they brought their own ...