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

242 The Golden Bough (Third Edition, Vol. 7 of 12)[205]kind of crop cultivated by the Indians: the wild goose stood forthe maize, the wild swan for the gourds, and the wild duck forthe beans. So when the feathered messengers of the Old Womanbegan to arrive in spring the Indians celebrated the corn-medicinefestival of the women. Scaffolds were set up, on which the peoplehung dried meat and other things by way of offerings to the OldWoman; and on a certain day the old women of the tribe, asrepresentatives of the Old Woman who Never Dies, assembledat the scaffolds each bearing in her hand an ear of maize fastenedto a stick. They first planted these sticks in the ground, thendanced round the scaffolds, and finally took up the sticks again intheir arms. Meanwhile old men beat drums and shook rattles asa musical accompaniment to the performance of the old women.Further, young women came and put dried flesh into the mouthsof the old women, for which they received in return a grain ofthe consecrated maize to eat. Three or four grains of the holycorn were also placed in the dishes of the young women, tobe afterwards carefully mixed with the seed-corn, which theywere supposed to fertilise. The dried flesh hung on the scaffoldbelonged to the old women, because they represented the OldWoman who Never Dies. A similar corn-medicine festival washeld in autumn for the purpose of attracting the herds of buffaloesand securing a supply of meat. At that time every woman carriedin her arms an uprooted plant of maize. They gave the nameof the Old Woman who Never Dies both to the maize and tothose birds which they regarded as symbols of the fruits of theearth, and they prayed to them in autumn saying, “Mother, havepity on us! send us not the bitter cold too soon, lest we havenot meat enough! let not all the game depart, that we may havesomething for the winter!” In autumn, when the birds were flyingsouth, the Indians thought that they were going home to the OldWoman and taking to her the offerings that had been hung up on