Corn Maiden with Open Shawl

Zuni carver, Daniel Chattin, carved this corn maiden from pink mussel shell.  She stands on crushed turquoise on top of a sandstone base.  There are so many lovely details!  The details include sky blue turquoise at her neck, detailed corn body, a total of eight dragonflies, geometric shapes on her shawl, and a corn stalk on the back.  "DC" is engraved on the bottom.  More about corn maidens below.

Size: 3.875: H x 3.75" L x 2.25" W

Female corn beings represent all that is good about being a woman: loving, generous, nurturing, kind, strong with great compassion.  In tribes that traditionally grow corn, most of the stories are the similar.  There are many Indigenous stories about how corn was brought to the people at a time when there was hunger, and how a sacred, sometimes other worldly, female being brought them corn.  In Zuni Pueblo, there are three ages of female corn beings: the maiden who wears her hair in the traditional buns on each side, the mother who has one or more babies, and the elder grandmother who wears her shawl over her head. There are dances to honor the female corn beings in many of the Pueblos.  And in other tribes, she is held in a place of great honor.

Traditionally, Zuni carvings are symbolically fed cornmeal.   Each Zuni fetish comes in a box with a descriptive card and a tiny bit of corn meal to tide them over until they reach you.