Maidens and Mothers: An Analysis of Hopi Corn Metaphors

Abstract

The importance of in Hopi culture is acknowledged in many ways. Along with beans and squash, has provided the basis of unirrigated cultivation in a region that appears to be too arid for farming. As the staple food, it is served in some form at every meal and so figures prominently in traditional food-preparing activities. It also has an important place in ritual activities; Corn appears in virtually every Hopi ceremony either as meal, or as an actual ear of or as a symbolic painting (Fewkes 1901:214). Archaeologists suggest that the Hopi received maize cultivation around three thousand years ago from casual contacts with nomadic bands from Mexico (Ford 1982:10). The Hopi say, instead, that Maasawu, who greeted the Hopi on their emergence into the Fourth World, gave them and the digging stick for planting it at that time, saying, Pay nu' panis sooya'yta, I have only the digging stick; if you want to live my way, that's the way you have to live. In the Hopi lexicon, the importance of is reflected in the large number of terms that refer to types of corn, parts of the plant, stages in plant development, stages in the grinding of cornmeal, and corn-based dishes. Additionally, figures in a number of metaphors that appear regularly in speech; frequently, but not exclusively, in the context of ritual song. Two of the most prevalent Hopi metaphors pertaining to corn?People are corn and Corn plants are fe? males?will be analyzed in this paper, with some attention given to related conceptualizations. The aim of the paper is also to demonstrate the underlying coherence of the metaphors and show how they relate to various aspects of Hopi culture and to other dominant symbols. The analysis will draw on Hopi texts recorded in the ethnographic literature, videotaped interviews (Evers 1979), and songs related to the author by Professor Emory Sekaquaptewa, who has aided greatly in the translation of the Hopi texts.