96 BUREAU OP AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 55 



of corn. Women take moica^ Uaponisenn, and boiled peaches to the 

 dancers at their rehearsals, to the meetings of societies, to men of 

 their husbands' clan who are weaving for them, to men who hunt 

 rabbits, gather wood, or do them any service. 



Various Uses 



Corn-husks, stalks, and leaves are winter forage for stock. Cigar- 

 ettes are made of corn-husk (see sa, p. 103). Feathers and flowers 

 are l)ound to prayer-sticks with corn-husk ' ' tape " and corn-silk. ^ The 

 framework and mounts for feathers in many ceremonial ornaments are 

 made of tightly twisted corn-husk. The Icosa wear tufts of corn-leaf 

 or corn-husk on the peaks of their caps. 



At Hano the Tc' a'^wotokachina wear artificial flowers of painted corn- 

 husk on their heads. Corn-cobs, l:y,y^ are everywhere used as fire- 

 lighters and a'& fuel in emergencies. At Hano a corn-cob tied to the 

 estufa ladder and swinging in the smoke which rises from the hatch- 

 way means that one of the men who attend that estufa has not yet 

 brought his contribution of firewood for the ceremony in progress; 

 the idea suggested is that by his negligence his comrades are reduced 

 to burning cobs for fuel. 



Corn-cobs make convenient handles and holders; for instance, at 

 Santa Clara, turkej^ feathers in corn-cob holders are carried by the 

 two women dancers in the pogonfcue. At Hano feathered darts, 

 Jc'y,meliy (¥u^ wing; inelirj, ? balls), arc made of cobs, and cobs are used 

 to make also a resilient stufiing for VulumqwSe, 'corn kick-balls' 

 {¥y,lii7)<, corn; qweie, kick along the ground). 



Miss C. D. True kindly gave the following information about birth 

 customs at Santa Clara: 



At the birth of a child the mother's best friend [the tsakwijo, ' cut old-woman'] 

 severs the umbilical cord with a smoldering corncob. Four days after birth the 

 'corn-name' is given. The mother's best friend cornea to the house before dawn, 

 bringing corn-meal and water in a vessel with two compartments, one for the meal 

 and one for the water. The mother is led to the door with the infant, and the meal 

 is sprinkled in the air as the sun rises. The father then takes four of his best ears 

 of corn and sets them about the mother's bed. She returns, or should return to bed, 

 for four days more. 



The following phrases given by a woman from San Ildefonso refer 

 to the same custom: 'ipi jonufamudi ■■ikwPojowowapije^ the 'fourth 

 day she took that woman out to ask for long life'; ('^t;, it with 

 reference to it; jonu, four; t\miu^ day; M temporal; ^i, the; I'tvi^ 

 woman in prime; '(9, she; jowowa^ to throw meal asking for long life 

 <^'o, unexplained, wovja, to live; j?^;d, to take out). Ojowowapije, 

 'they two (the tsakunjo and another woman) take her (the mother) 

 out to ask for long life (by throwing meal), ('c, they two her). 



1 Douglass, Records of the Past, xi, p. 165. 



