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and often warred with other tribes. This concept, so replete with 
symbolism, was recorded by the late Alice C. Fletcher. 
In a certain rite an ear of white corn, known as “ Mother,” was 
used. ‘This ear was representative of the fruitfulness of the earth. 
Its tip was painted blue to symbolize the dome of the sky, the 
dwelling-place of the Powers, and four equidistant blue lines ex- 
tending halfway down the ear were the paths along which the 
Powers descended to minister to man. Attached to the ear was 
a downy white eagle-feather which typified primarily the high 
white clouds that float near the dome of the sky where the Powers 
dwell, thus indicating their presence with the corn. The corn was 
regarded by the Pawnee, as by other tribes, as the female principle, 
and the feather as the male principle. The ear of corn therefore 
represented the supernatural power that dwells in the earth which 
brings forth the food that sustains life, hence its real and literal 
Fate 
Fic. 10. A Zufii woman peeling “ paper bread,” made of corn, from a stone 
slab beneath which a fire is built. This bread was referred to by the 
Spaniard, Castafieda, in 1540. Courtesy of the Museum of the Ameri- 
can Indian, Heye Foundation. 
