Maize Magic in American Folklore 279 



enemies of wind, drought and blight that might destroy the 

 crop. The Corn Maiden figures in dozens of Zuni and Hopi 

 folk tales. The dancers who represent her are masked, or have 

 their faces painted in designs of red and yellow the colors 

 of the maize. 



Interesting, too, is the triangular design which frequently 

 decorates the masks and robes of the "corn maidens." This 

 is a symbol of the life-giving properties of the maize. Actually, 

 the design is that of one of the ancient obsidian knives car- 

 ried by primitive Americans, and used by the Aztec priests 

 to perform the human sacrifices in the temples of the earth 

 and corn goddesses. This design of the hunter's knife has 

 represented food for so many ages that it has come to stand 

 for the corn as well as for meat that is killed to be eaten. 

 This design runs through all the arts and crafts of all the 

 Indian tribes. You will find it in baskets and on pottery, 

 woven into blankets, and embroidered in the beaded gar- 

 ments. It has become a symbol of life. 



Few plant forms are found in Mayan art except that of 

 the water plant. This is used to represent the source of human 

 life. There are several pieces of ancient Mexican pottery in 

 the museum collections which are modeled like ears of maize. 

 A Costa Rican jug is shaped like an ear of corn and realisti- 

 cally painted. In the Museum of the American Indian is a 

 bowl of silver found in Peru. The bowl is upheld by three legs 

 made like stubby ears of corn. But this realistic art is the 

 exception and not the rule. 



All the early Indian tribes used art primarily in the service 

 of religion, not as an end in itself. The grotesqueness of the 

 Mayan and Aztec gods, as their artists depicted them, was in- 

 tended to tell the people that the gods were a special creation, 

 apart from men and from the beasts. A deep reverence kept 

 these people from representing realistically that which they 

 considered sacred. It was the same holy fear as that which 

 kept the ancient Hebrews from speaking the name of Jehovah. 

 Even so, in Christian churches all over the world, doves, 



