The Golden Bough (Third Edition, Vol. 7 of 12) - Mirrors

§ 1. The Corn-mother in America. 211The eastern Indians of North America, who subsisted to a The Corn-motheramong the Northlarge extent by the cultivation of maize, generally conceived theAmerican Indians.spirit of the maize as a woman, and supposed that the plant itselfhad sprung originally from the blood drops or the dead body ofthe Corn Woman. In the sacred formulas of the Cherokee thecorn is sometimes invoked as “the Old Woman,” and one of theirmyths relates how a hunter saw a fair woman issue from a singlegreen stalk of corn. 570 The Iroquois believe the Spirit of theCorn, the Spirit of Beans, and the Spirit of Squashes to be threesisters clad in the leaves of their respective plants, very fond ofeach other, and delighting to dwell together. This divine trinityis known by the name of De-o-ha'-ko, which means “Our Life”or “Our Supporters.” The three persons of the trinity have noindividual names, and are never mentioned separately except bymeans of description. The Indians have a legend that of old thecorn was easily cultivated, yielded abundantly, and had a grainexceedingly rich in oil, till the Evil One, envious of this good giftof the Great Spirit to man, went forth into the fields and blightedthem. And still, when the wind rustles in the corn, the piousIndian fancies he hears the Spirit of the Corn bemoaning herblighted fruitfulness. 571 The Huichol Indians of Mexico imaginemaize to be a little girl, who may sometimes be heard weeping inthe fields; so afraid is she of the wild beasts that eat the corn. 572 [178]Museum für Völkerkunde, vi. 2/4 Heft (Berlin, 1899), pp. 188-194. Theaccount of the ceremonies given in the Spanish version of Sahagun's work is agood deal more summary. See B. de Sahagun, Histoire Générale des chosesde la Nouvelle Espagne (Paris, 1880), pp. 94-96.570 J. Mooney, “Myths of the Cherokee,” Nineteenth Annual Report of theBureau of American Ethnology, Part I. (Washington, 1900) pp. 423, 432. Seefurther Adonis, Attis, Osiris, Second Edition, pp. 296 sq.571 L. H. Morgan, League of the Iroquois (Rochester, 1851), pp. 161 sq., 199.According to the Iroquois the corn plant sprang from the bosom of the motherof the Great Spirit after her burial (L. H. Morgan, op. cit. p. 199 note 1).572 C. Lumholtz, Unknown Mexico (London, 1903), ii. 280.