cosmic symbolism of zuni fetish carvings

Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, 23(3), 452‒464 (2020).

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COSMIC SYMBOLISM OF ZUNI FETISH CARVINGS

Von Del Chamberlain 1021 Country Club Dr., Kanab, Utah 84741, USA.

Email: [email protected]

and

Milford Nahohai P.O. Box 416, Zuni, NM 87327, USA.

Abstract: The people now living at Zuni Pueblo in northwestern New Mexico have a rich heritage that includes knowledge of fundamental observational astronomy. Zuni cosmological traditions began to be known by scholars in the late nineteenth century. Zuni practices included the use of stone fetishes that started when people found natural stones resembling an animal or other element of great importance within the culture. Eventually, features were added by minimal carving to accentuate significant parts of the objects. As time went on, more and more alterations produced ever-finer renderings of the fetishes, and they became known by growing numbers of people outside the Zuni culture. Today, many skilled carvers make large numbers of carvings as an art form and sell their work throughout the world.

In the beginning the figures were carved from stones found near Zuni, but today they can be made from all sorts of materials found anywhere in the world. Most common figures are animals such as mountain lions, bears, badgers, wolves, and eagles, along with some human figures, especially corn maidens.

A goodly amount of astronomical symbolism, including Sun, Moon, stars, solstices and relationships between these and other things, is represented by and on these renderings and that is the topic of this paper.

Key Words: Zuni Pueblo, cosmic symbolism, Earth Mother, Sky Father, symbolic directions. 1 INTRODUCTION

Perhaps the spectacular geographical setting of the New Mexico community of Zuni Pueblo, located at the interface of high colorful desert and rich fertile forest, has something to do with the fact that Zuni people are so artistically in-clined. Or, it could be the intriguing and in-spiring Zuni traditions, emerging from the mists of time, which nurture such keen intuit-ions of beauty drawn directly from nature. Most likely, it is both of these that result in the fact that the Zuni population contains many families and individuals with highest quality artistic aptitudes. Notable examples include potters, weavers, painters, jewelers and carv-ers. All of these maintain a focus on features of Earth Mother and Sky Father flowing direct-ly from traditional Zuni culture, then branching outward to embrace other perspectives. This paper spotlights cosmic symbolism of Zuni fet-ish carvings emanating specifically from Zuni cultural history, world-view and beliefs.

The word fetish has been defined as “… an object believed to have a power greater than the object itself would naturally possess.” (Mc-Manis, 2004: 5). As we shall see, fetishes be-gan with natural stones and other materials that resembled animals and other things believed to possess spirits that could facilitate for the finders. In order to increase desired in- fluences, details were eventually enhanced through carving and attaching gifts, in the form of beads and bundles, offered to honor, thank and nourish the spirits residing therein.

At first, the natural and enhanced fetishes were used by the finders themselves and with-in ceremonial activities of the clans and kivas. Eventually traders coming into Zuni discovered them and carvers began selling them, even taking their work to various trade and craft shows. In 1984, through a grant to the tribe, the Pueblo of Zuni Arts and Crafts Enterprise came into existence (Rodee and Ostler, 1995: 5‒6). This major development greatly in-creased both the production and distribution of Zuni arts, including fetish carving. Thus, curr-ently we have elaborately detailed carvings that are produced in quantity and collected throughout the world.

The story of this and of the families of carvers can be found in The Fetish Carvers of Zuni (Rodee and Ostler, 1995). For details on history, social, political, religious and econom-ic organization of the Zuni Pueblo and people see Volume 9 of the Handbook of North Am-erican Indians (Ortiz ,1979). The Zuni fetishes that have been imaged in this paper are of recent vintage. Readers wishing to see ex-amples of earlier ones can find them in Cush-ing’s (1999) seminal treatment on the subject. 2 CREATION, MIGRATION AND NATURAL RELATIONSHIPS

In his seminal work, titled Zuni Fetishes, Frank Hamilton Cushing (1857‒1900; Figure 1) beg-an his document with the statement:

The Á-shi-wi, or Zuñis, suppose the sun, moon, and stars, the sky, earth and sea, in

Von Del Chamberlain and Milford Nahohai Cosmic Symbolism of Zuni Fetish Carvings

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all their phenomena and elements; and all inanimate objects, as well as plants, ani-mals, and men, to belong to one great system of all conscious and interrelated life, in which the degrees of relationship seem to be determined largely, if not whol-ly, by the degrees of resemblance. (Cush-ing, 1883: 9).

Cushing was the first scholar to become inti-mately acquainted with the Zuni culture, hav-ing been sent by the Bureau of American Eth-nology to dwell among them and learn about their ways. Since his writings are the most definitive we have regarding Zuni fetish carv-ings and associated things, we will quote from him rather extensively. It is our preference to give you his own words in laying out the found-ations of this paper.

In his work titled The Mythic World of the Zuni (1896/1988) Cushing described the Zuni concept of creation as beginning with Áwona-wílona, the Maker and Container of All who shaped himself into the Sun. Then Sun Father created Earth Mother and Sky Father, lying in close embrace together upon the Great Wat-ers from which all things would come. The amorphous couple conceived the essence of all the children, men, other creatures, plant and animal within the body of Mother Earth. Spreading apart, the couple continued the pro-cess of creation. Describing the consultation of Sky Father and Earth Mother, Cushing (1988: 6) wrote:

“Yet not alone shall you be helpful to our children,” spoke the Sky Father, “for be-hold,” and within the wrinkles and crevices of his hand he placed the semblance of shining yellow corn grains. In the dusk of that early world dawn they gleamed like sparks of fire as, palm downward, he mov-ed his hand across the bowl. From below, shining up from the depths of the waters they moved following the paths of his hand. “See,” said he, pointing to seven grains clasped by his thumb and fore fingers, “By such light shall our children be guided. For when I am not about, and your terraces are as dark itself, then our children shall be guided by lights like these, from all six reg-ions wheeling around the mid-most one, as in and around the center where our chil-dren shall abide lie all the other regions of space. Furthermore, just as these grains gleam up from the water, so shall seed-grains like them, yet numberless, spring up from thy bosom when touched by my wat-ers, to nourish our children.”

In this description of the earliest beginn-ings of Zuni culture, we find clear indication of associations of corn, stars, and six regions surrounding a central point where the people should live to be blessed by the richness of

Father Sky, nourished by Mother Earth. Such runs entirely through the traditions of Zuni cult-ure.

As an example of this, consider again the above words “From below, shining up from the depths of the waters they moved following the paths of his hand.” Zuni potters speak of the clay they use in their craft as the ‘flesh of Mother Earth’, believing that ‘you take care of the pot and the pot takes care of you’. Corn-meal bowls, for example, are kept in all Zuni houses to help nourish and protect the homes and those inside. Thus, cornmeal bowls, such of the one in Figure 2, are treasured symbols of Mother Earth. Zuni potter Randy Nahohai created a pottery corn maiden standing on top of an inverted corn meal bowl (Figure 3).

Figure 1: Frank Hamilton Cushing (https://commons. wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PSM_V41_D312_Frank_Hamilton_Cushing.jpg).

Quoting again from Cushing (1988: 5‒6):

“Behold!” said Earth Mother, and a great terraced bowl full of water appeared at hand. “This is how the homes of my tiny children shall be upon my body. On the rim of each country they wander in, terrac-ed mountains shall stand, making one space into many different countries and separat-ing one place from another.”

“Behold again!” she said, and spat up-on the waters which she then smote with her fingers and rapidly stirred. Foam app-eared and formed, gathering along the ter-raced rim and mounting ever higher and higher. “From my bosom they shall take nourishment, for in such as this they will


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Figure 2: Cornmeal bowl, symbol of Earth Mother, made for Von Del Chamberlain by Randy Nahohai. Designs represent the Milky Way, the whirling galaxy, the Pleiades, two large stars, opposite each other, represent the Twin War Gods Morning Star and Evening Star (photograph: Von Del Chamberlain).

find the substance of life as we were our-selves sustained!” With her warm breath she blew gently across the terraces and white flecks of foam broke away and float-ed above the water. Whereupon the attend-ing Sky Father blew his cold breath upon them until they scattered, shedding down-ward a fine mist and spray. “Thus,” spoke the Earth Mother, “shall white clouds float up from the Great Waters at the rim of the world, clustering about the mountain ter-races until borne aloft and abroad by breaths of the supernal soul-beings and the children. These will be torn asunder by your cold, shedding downward in rain-spray the water of life into the hollow places of

Figure 3: Clay Corn Maiden, by Randy Nahohai, standing atop an inverted corn meal bowl, which is a symbol of Earth Mother (photograph: Jaycee Nahohai).

my lap! For there shall our children nestle, both mankind and creature-kind, in search of warmth from coldness.” Even so today the trees on high mountains crouch low toward the Earth Mother for warmth and protection.

Cushing (1883: 13) described, in consider-able detail, how Father Sun created from his own being two children “… who fell to earth for the good of all.” He gave them his own power, created for them a bow (rainbow) and arrows (lightning), a shield and flint knife. With guid-ance and help from these Twin War Gods, all the children climbed upward through several dark, but ever brightening realms within the womb of Mother Earth to emerge out into the world of brilliant, life-giving light. Cushing wrote (1883: 13 ‒14):

The world had been covered with water. It was damp and unstable. Earthquakes dis-turbed its surface. Strange beings rose up through it, monsters and animals of prey. As upon an island in the middle of a great water, the children of men were led forth into the light of their father, the Sun … Now it happened that the two children saw that the earth must be dried and hardened … Therefore they consulted together and sought the advice of their creator, the Sun-Father. By his direction, they placed their magic shield upon the wet earth. They drew four lines a step apart upon the soft sands … And when they had laid upon the magic shield the rainbow, and across it the arr-ows of lightning, toward all the quarters of the world, the younger brother took his station facing toward the right. The older brother took his station facing the left. When all was ready, both braced them-selves to run. The older brother drew his arrow to the head, let fly, and struck the rainbow and the lightning arrows midway, where they crossed. Instantly … shot the arrows of lightning in every direction and fire rolled over the face of the earth, and the two gods followed the courses of their arrows of lightning.

Cushing concluded (1883: 14‒15):

Thus was the surface of the earth hard-ened and scorched and many of all kinds of beings changed to stone. Thus, too, it happens that we find, here and there throughout the world, their forms, some-times large like the beings themselves, sometimes shriveled and distorted. And we often see among the rocks the forms of many beings that live no longer, which shows us that all was different in the ‘days of the new.’ Of these petrifactions, which are of course mere concretions or strange-ly eroded rock-forms, the Zuñis say, ‘Whomsoever of us may be so met with the light of such great good fortune may see … them and should treasure them


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for the sake of the sacred (magic) power which was given them in the days of the new.

This, then, is the origin of the fetishes. But we must continue to follow the children as they wandered around, encountering various in- fluences, learning important lessons, gaining knowledge all along the way, as slowly they became wiser, discovering how to live in abun-dance rather than causing death and hunger. They moved about in all directions, building villages here and there, never satisfied, always seeking the Center Place where they should reside. The story culminates in a great council in which they decided that if they could locate the outermost parts of the six regions they could more easily determine the Middle where they met. For this, they summoned the six-legged Water Skate who, according to Cush-ing’s Mythic World of the Zuni (1998: 97‒ 98):

… appeared, growing ever larger, for it was the Sun-Father in the Water Skate’s semblance … Lifting himself to the heav-ens he extended his six finger-feet in all six directions so they touched the great waters to the north, west, south, and east, and they touched the waters above to the northeast, the waters below to the south-west … Then gradually he settled down-ward and called out, “Where my heart and navel rest, beneath them mark the spot and build your town for that shall be the midpoint place of Mother Earth.” … As he squatted over the middle of the plain and valley of Zuni, he drew in his legs and his feet marked the trails leading outward like the radiating web of a spider.

We note here that current Zuni people consider the precise center to be where the ceremonial dance plaza is located in the cur-rent town of Zuni.

Again, from Cushing’s Zuni Fetishes (1883: 9) we read:

In this system of life the starting point is man, the most dependent and least myst-erious. In just so far as an organism is mysterious, is it considered removed from him, further advanced, powerful and im-mortal … Again, the elements and pheno-mena of nature, because more mysterious, powerful and immortal, seem more closely related to the higher gods than are the animals; more closely related to the ani-mals than are the higher gods, because their manifestations often resemble the operations of the former.

Being the least powerful, most dependent, indeed least significant of all things, human relationships with the rest of the world are cru-cial, and this begins with animals that in the scheme of things are closest to humans. From there, the relationships evolve outward into the

six regions of surrounding space.

With this foundation, we turn to cosmic symbolism of the six directions and their rela-tionships to the fetish carvings. 3 DIRECTION AND PROTECTION FETISHES

Orientation in nature is the most fundamental of all human astronomical understandings. We orient within local landscapes where we reside and when we travel. We orient through-out the day by apparent migration of the Sun across the sky and by the stars during the night. We feel some comfort in noticing the apparent unchanging patterns of stars while wondering about the few that migrate among the many. We pace our lives by all the changes of Earth and Sky, day by day, month by month and year after year. We judge and remember the passage of time within our own bodies and perceptions of what we observe all around. It has been this way for everyone, everywhere and everywhen.

Having arrived, after so long a struggle to find the Middle place, learning about them-selves within the wide world along the way, the Zuni people realized the meanings of direct-ion and how it related to everything around them. Zuni tradition relates certain animals with strong protective and survival aspects to each of six directions (Figure 4). The system works in counter-clockwise (anti-sunwise) rotation.

North is symbolized by the elusive, golden Mountain Lion, the master-hunter, which dom-inates all the other Beast Gods. The color for north is yellow.

West, the home of waters and evening, is the shambling Bear, master of finding what is needed while roaming hills, forests and moun-tains, whose Zuni nickname is Clumsy Foot, and the proper color is blue.

Fierce, deep-digging Badgers represents south. These animals travel long distances in-to the mountains in summer and to warmer climes in winter. Living among roots that, when dried, are traditionally used to ignite fires, and because lava erupting from the earth also starts fires, they are strongly related to the Sun—fire of the sky—and to the winter solstice. The Zuni Badger Clan has major winter solstice re-sponsibilities. The color for south is red.

East is the swift running Wolf, fast and persistent in chasing prey to exhaustion; the color is white.

Eagle, cruiser of clouds, wind, lightning, the realm of rainbows and all the colors of sunrise and sunset, intermediary between hu-mans and sky powers, especially Father Sun,


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Figure 4: An old style six-direction animal set carved by Peter Gasper Jr. (photograph: Von Del Chamberlain). represents the Above/Zenith, with all colors of the spectrum.

Mole, guardian of gardens, helper of the People in their wanderings, signifies the Nadir/ below, and the color is black.

Although Zuni people commonly say that the protection Beast God directions are north, west, south and east, Jane Young (1988: 101‒113) points out that this is not technically accurate. In her provocative book, Signs From the Ancestors she carefully studied with her Zuni associates and concluded that the prime directions are actually inter-cardinal, more spe-cifically solstice sunrise and sunset points on the horizon. Thus, the yellow lion represents the direction of summer solstice sunrise, the blue bear marks the summer solstice sunset, the red badger points the winter solstice sun-set, and the white wolf signifies the direction of winter solstice sunrise. Both cardinal and solstice directions are associated with these particular creatures.

We add to the pairings of four directions on the horizon the pair of the zenith, repre-sented by the eagle, and the nadir, represent-ed by the mole. The zenith and nadir are sure- ly symbolic of Father Sky and Mother Earth bringing the symbolic number to six.

We have already learned from Cushing about seven gleaming grains of corn in Father Sky’s palm like seven bright stars surrounding the Middle Place. Jane Young clarified that the

the implied center makes the Zuni ritual num-ber seven, rather than six (1988: 103). All we need do to comprehend the importance of this is realize that direction has no meaning with-out a point of reference. Thus, it is truly the number seven that establishes the six regions and directions referred to in Cushing’s treat-ise: solstice sunrise and set directions = 4 + Sky + Earth = 6 + Center = 7.

As we consider the significance of center in the Zuni cosmic directional scheme, recall how Sun Father, in the Water Skate’s sem-blance, settled down over the valley of Zuni with feet extended in the six directions and navel marking the ‘mid-point place of Mother Earth’ where the people should build their town. Thus, the location of the Pueblo of Zuni, the Zuni ‘Center Place’, was established, ad-hering to the cosmic pattern of six directions emanating from the center completing the rit-ual number seven. But the fundamental sym-bolic direction-finding number is actually elev-en: solstice rise and set = 4, + zenith and nadir = 6, + cardinal directions = 10 + center = 11.

The prime direction animals were the first and are currently the most abundant of all Zuni carvings, except for the mole that is not as fre-quently carved. Over time, especially after the founding of the Pueblo of Zuni Arts and Crafts Enterprise, game and livestock animals, and then almost any land, water and atmospheric creature including insects and more, have ap-


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Figure 5: Pairs of the six-direction animals, proceeding counter clockwise from the north. Mountain lions: one carved from clear yellow Baltic amber by Andres Quandelacy , the other from ammonite fossil in brown stone by Ronnie Lunasee. Bears: one from black marble by Delbert Gasper, the other from lapis by Stewart Quandelacy. Badgers: one from turquoise by Lance Cheama, the other from sandstone by Danette Laate. Wolves: both carved by Andres Quandelacy, one from Picasso marble and the other from mother of pearl. Eagles: one from dolomite by Ronnie Lunasee, the other from yellow jasper by Frankie Eustace. Moles: both from jet by Peter Gasper and Bryson Bobelu (photograph: Von Del Chamberlain). peared within the Zuni repertoire of carvings. They are carved in a great variety of styles from all sorts of materials found throughout the world.

The fetish carvings changed over time from those with only a few essentials to bring out the essence of the animals, to the old style figures such as the ones shown in Figure 4, and finally to highly detailed depictions carved from lots of types of stone a few examples of which are in Figure 5.

In addition to the six primary direction ani-mals, there is one more creature, which we include in our list of symbolic cosmic protect-ors. For many Native Americans the owl is on the symbolic ‘dark side’, but for Zunis it is the good ‘protector of the night’. This concept is nicely illustrated by a rock art panel at the old Zuni site referred to as the Village of the Great Kivas. The panel contains an owl at the end of a long zigzag line bending below a crescent and four-pointed star (see Young, 1988: 225, Figure 88). A Zuni man used to interpret this to visitors by saying that at night the owl flies out to spy on the Navajos, then return to in-form the Zuni war chief of the number and location of the enemy. A year later, however, following a visit to Zuni by a prominent cultural astronomer, the same Zuni man told visitors that the panel represented the supernova of AD 1054 (see Young, 1988: 221‒227). So we

include the all-seeing owls in our list of sym-bolic creatures of the cosmos and show one carved example in Figure 6.

Figure 6: Owls carved from Labradorite by Kateri Sanchez (photograph: Von Del Chamberlain).


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4 NOURSHMENT AND FERTILITY FETISHES

Returning to the mythological time when the people were still searching for the center, Cushing (1988: 38) described a ceremonial contest involved in planting corn:

As the light of the seven great stars rose above they set the gourd upon the ground and placed wands about it. To the north they placed the first and brightest, the yellow grass seeds, then to the west the blue seeds, red ones went to the south and white to the east. The other three could not be placed where they should be – above the gourd, within it and below it. As they sat thinking about this they saw among the stars that four were set as though placed above the gourd while three others led into it like a handle. Thinking it a sign from the Sun Father they set their black wand closest to the gourd, next the speckled one, and farthest out the all-colored one pointing the way. In the morn-ing the watchers saw the plumes standing beautifully in the plain and asked who had planted them and for what. The priests replied, “They were planted in the night while you slept, by the seven stars.”

Of course the corn grew beautifully following this. The story continues as the plants matur-ed (Cushing, 1988: 42):

Now in the village of the People of the Dew there were seven maidens, sisters of one house … they were surpassingly beaut-iful and likened to the seven bright stars.

Throughout the night the maidens, along with one male youth, danced about the plants, and the Badger Clan brought fire from their dried root supply and placed it to the east. Then the youth and a maiden embraced each of the seven now full-grown plants in turn (Cushing, 1988: 42‒43).

As they clasped the first plant, the fire in the east flamed brightly yellow with the first catching of the wood; as the couple clasped the second plant the flames were burning smokily with the fuller catching of the wood and the light was blue; as they encircled the third plant the fire reached mastery of the wood and its light was red. As they clasped the fourth plant the fire was fumeless and white its light; with the fifth plant the fire gave up its breath in a cloud of sparks. As they held the sixth plant the fire died down and its light was somber. Yet as they embraced the seven-th plant, the fire wakened afresh in the winds of morning and glowed with a light of all colors.

Now as the day dawned, where the bodies of the youth and maidens had touch-ed the plants, new parts appeared to the

beholders. Showing through their cover-ings were many colors of seeds with soft hair shrouding them as if to make their beauty more precious.

Following this ceremonial enactment, the people were admonished (Cushing, 1988: 45‒46):

You children of men and the Earth Moth-er, Brothers of the Seed, Elder and Younger. Behold! The seed plant of all seeds! The grass seeds you planted were seen in the distant reaches of the stars and these regions are shown in their tas-sels. The plumes you planted were felt in far away spaces and are reflected in the shapes of their leaves. But the maidens are bright stars in the house of my child-ren. Look well and cherish their persons nor change the gift of their being, for they shall be as fertile of flesh for all mankind as they would if bearing children for men. Lest you lose them, to seek in vain, be brothers. People, be priests of the Corn for the seed of all seed plants is born.

In this we see great and deep symbolism of fertility, not just of corn, but of all plants, and of humans as well.

Cushing did not identify the stars spoken of in the preceding quotations from his The Mythic World of the Zuni, but Barton Wright, editor of the volume, did so in his note on “The First-Growing-Grass Clan” (Cushing, 1988: 126 ‒127; see Figure 7):

During the night when the seven great stars rose, they were not those of the Big Dipper or the Pleiades but instead were those of Orion. The rectangle which forms the Hunter’s body is composed of brilliant stars, all but one being of first or second magnitude and even that one is of third magnitude. The others that lead into the square are the three bright stars of Orion’s belt perceived as being a line perpendic-ular to the rectangle. Far brighter than the stars of the Big Dipper, those of Orion and the Pleiades are best known to the Pueblo people. They are markers used to time the beginning of many nighttime cere-monies … The Pleiades are also spoken of as the Seed Stars and are believed to represent the seven Corn Maidens.

The rectangle of brilliant stars is seen as the four directions and Orion’s belt as the line of the Zenith, Nadir, and Middle. This symbolism is transferred to the field of the Zuni farmer wherein each kernel of corn planted on the figure drawn in the soil represents a star in the constellation. Even as the Sun Father held the gleaming sparks of stars which are the seeds of Heaven in his palm during the formation of the world, so does the Zuni farmer place the first kernels of corn in his field.


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Figure 7: The stars of Orion form a group that can easily represent the rectangle of four horizon directions with the belt composing the zenith, center and nadir (photograph: Von Del Chamberlain).

Barton Wright explains this (Cushing, 1988:

126): “The mythic ceremony performed that night is the same as the one every farmer followed during Cushing’s stay.” Here is the cer-emony in Cushing’s own words (1920: 176‒179):

Arrived at the field, he goes to a well-known spot near the center. Here he digs in the soft, sandy soil by pushing his prod down with his foot, and turning it around and around – four deep holes equally dist-ant from a central space: the first to the north, the second to the west, the third to the south, and the fourth to the east. By the left side of the northern hole he digs another to represent the sky-regions, and by the right side of the southern hole still another relating it to the lower regions. In the central space he kneels, facing the east, and, drawing forth the plumed prayer wand, first marks, by sprinkling prayer-meal, a cross on the ground, to symbolize not only the four cardinal points, but also the stars which shall watch over his field by night-time. Then with prayer he plants the plumed stick at the intersection of the cross, sprinkles it with more prayer-meal – as the corn matron had sprinkled him with water – and withdraws. From his pouch he selects three grains of each of the six colors -- yellow, blue, red, white, speckled, and black – and places them respectively with the six grains of like colors which had been wrapped in the shuck. He now goes back, and kneeling down, holds the four grains of yellow color in his left hand, and, facing toward the northern hole, crones the following first verse of a planting chant:

“Off over yonder, Toward the North-land.

Will it but prove that my yellow corn grains

Shall grow and bear fruit, asking which I now sing.”

And just as he sings the refrain, he drops the yellow kernels into the hole toward the north. Continuing the refrain so that it runs into the prelude of the next stanza, he shifts about so as to face westward, and taking up the four blue grains, repeats as before, except that he sings to the “West-land” and of the “blue corn grains,” and when he comes to the refrain, drops the blue grains into the hole toward the west. Thus he proceeds, not once interrupting his droning chant, until all the sets of grains have been dropped into the holes which their colors respectively relate them to: the red into the southern, the white into the eastern, the speckled into the upper, and the black into the lower. Ceremonial is now abandoned. He covers the grains he has dropped, and in lines correspond-ing to the directions of the four hills, plants rows far out into the field until the corn in the fawn-skin pouch is exhausted.

Some Zuni people do associate the stars of the Big Dipper with the Corn Maidens. In March 2004 one of the authors (Chamberlain) was escorted by Randy Nahohai and his son Skyler to watch spring dances in the Zuni plaza. Following the dances, he was a guest for a most enjoyable meal prepared by Milford Na-hohai, and after the meal some of those pres-ent spent a few minutes looking at the stars. That evening Chamberlain entered the follow-ing into his journal:

One of the many things I learned today is that the Big Dipper represents the seven


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Corn Maidens. So, when one sees carv-ings, drawings or paintings of Corn Maid-ens, one is also seeing these stars.

It seems fitting that both Orion and the Big Dipper can be looked upon as symbols of the Corn Maidens, depending upon the particular circumstances under consideration. There is no doubt about the Pleiades being symbolic of the Maidens as well as seeds more gener-ally (Young and Williamson, 1981: 190‒191). In fact, they have even been referred to in the Zuni context as “Pinyon Nuts”. (Young, 1992: 78.)

Today, it is difficult to find Zuni people who can identify stars, or even who seem very in-terested in them. Indeed, it is often said by the more traditional people that from their youth they have been told they should not look at the stars. One put it this way, “We are not encou- raged to look at or count the stars.” Another

Figure 8: Corn Maiden carved from Sonora Sunrise by Kateri Sanchez. Note on this beautiful creation of green corn rising out of red earth, symbols of dragonflies and stars (photograph: Von Del Chamberlain).

said, “Zuni tradition is not to look up at stars because something evil or bad might be look-ing back at you.” The Zuni Mudheads are said to take care of the nadir while the Clowns take care of the stars. It is unclear how far back in time this tradition might go, that most people should avoid looking at stars, but it seems to be prevalent today.

As an aside, we mention here that there is one Zuni elder, a member of the Clown Society, who has become famous for his con-troversial ideas of interpreting Zuni and other Native American cultural traditions in light of current ancient alien and UFO fads. He refers to Kachinas as ‘Star People’. Anyone can easily learn about his theories by searching his name, Clifford Mahooty, on the World Wide Web.

To be sure, the Corn Maidens are said to have come down from the stars, and each type of corn is anthropomorphized as a Corn Maid-en. In this way the fundamental cosmic directions of the Zunis and the nourishment/ fertility of the Corn Maidens are equated with summer solstice sunrise, lion, yellow corn; summer solstice sunset, bear, blue corn; winter solstice sunset, badger, red corn; winter sol-stice sunrise, wolf, white corn; nadir, Earth Mother, mole, black corn; zenith, Sky Father, eagle, mixed corn; center represented by the seventh maiden and sweet corn. Seven fund-amental cosmic directions emanating from Sky Father and seven fundamental foods emerging from Earth Mother just as the people did, all of this along with seven Maidens. Fertility and the cosmos clearly wedded.

Corn Maidens were being carved prior to the founding of the Pueblo of Zuni Arts and Crafts Enterprise, most notably by Faye Quan-delacy, then by many others until now it is one of the most abundantly available of all the fetish carvings. Symbols of stars and dragon-flies are typically engraved on such carvings (Figure 8). It is not trite to say that these car-vings ‘speak to the heart of large numbers of people’.

In order to more fully understand the spec-tacular Corn Maiden carvings, we must review an intriguing Zuni legend that has been told and retold throughout the ages. It was first translated and published by Cushing in 1884 and is still easily available in Cushing’s Zuni Breadstuff (1920: 55‒124). The best known recent telling of the story is the book titled The Boy Who Made Dragonfly by Tony Hillerman (1972). A beautiful children’s version, both told and illustrated by Kristina Rodanas (1992) cap-tures both the story and images, is Dragonfly’s Tale. Here is our brief version in outlined form:

It happened a very long time ago. Each year the yellow and white Corn Maidens watched over the village of Hawikuh, send-ing warm spring winds to melt the snow followed by summer rains to grow corn, squash and melons. Hard work in the fields rewarded the people with plenty of food to eat and enough to store away for the win-ter.

One year, A’shiwi leaders were so proud of being blessed with such abund-ance that they planned a great feast to which they invited neighbors from the sur-rounding region in order to demonstrate what a great and powerful people they had become. Curious about what the people were doing, the two Corn Maidens went into the village dressed as poor beggars.

During the festivities, the people, en-


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couraged by their leaders, played games with the delicious food, even wasting it by throwing it around at each other as child-ren might do with mud-balls.

Two little children, a boy and his younger sister, saw the ragged old women and offered them corn cakes. One of the headmen stopped the children saying, “Do not waste food on lazy beggars.”

Following the great feast of plenty and waste, the storehouses were only half full, but the leading men were not con-cerned; “We can always grow more.”

Alarmed at such thoughtless behavi-ors, the Corn Maidens decided that the people should be punished. The next win-ter came early, was extra-cold and lasted long. Spring warmth came late with no rain throughout the hot summer. Corn plants withered in the fields and store-rooms were empty.

Recognizing that people were starv-ing, thinking that the Corn Maidens had abandoned them, the panic-stricken clan leaders decided that they must take the people away from their village, seeking help from neighbors. In their rush to leave, they carelessly left the little boy and girl asleep in their rooms.

When the tiny girl awoke, she was hungry and began crying. Her brother gath-ered up what scraps of food he could find, but not enough to satisfy his hungry sister. He thought and thought about what he might do.

Deciding that he must do something to take their minds away from food, the boy went out into the desolate fields and got a dried up cornstalk. From the pith of the stem he made a long straight body to which he attached double cornhusk wings, then added paints that beautifully dispers-ed throughout the body and delicate wings. From other stalks of corn he made a col-orful cage and from a hair hung the corn-creature within it above where his sister slept.

When the girl awoke and saw the corn-insect, she laughed for the first time since the people had left. When currents in the air caused the wings to wave, she called the little cornstalk creature, “Being-That-Flies” and watched the toy until she fell asleep. In desperation the boy whispered to the Being-That-Flies, asking if it could help them have some food.

Over many days, while the children slept, the corn-creature came to life, went up through the sky-hole in the roof, turn- ed southwestward and flew through the night to the lake where the Ancestral Gods dwelt, then went on southward to the land-of-ever summer where the Corn Maidens lived. The Maidens remembered the

children who had showed them kindness and promised to help.

And so it was that one day when the children awakened with the rising Sun to the sound of the Being-That-Flies flitting around them, they found the storeroom full of corn. Realizing that somehow the Corn Maidens and their new little friend had come to their aid, they offered thanks.

After they had cooked and eaten corn mush and cakes, they carefully planned how they would plant some of the corn seed, always with humility and gratitude for what had been freely given.

When the people of the village return-ed to their homes, bowing their heads in shame, fields of corn waving in gentle warm breezes welcomed them. From the little ones they had so carelessly left be-hind, those who had tried to help the poor old begging women, all had learned a great never-to-be-forgotten lesson; “From now on we will be thankful for what has been given. We will not waste food. Will-ingly we will share with each other, especially with the poor, as well as with our neighbors. We will never forget to thank the Corn Maidens for warm winds, gentle rain and loving family and friends.” The people were kind and generous like the boy and his sister.

The children thanked the Being-That-Flies as it buzzed through the air, this way and that, asking it what they might do in return for its help. It let them know that it was lonely and wanted a companion. So the boy went to work again, ever so care-fully constructing another double winged creature. When he tossed it into the air, the pair flew around the children many times, and then off they went into the corn-fields. As they flashed away, the boy call-ed out, “We will put your forms on sacred things to symbolize spring breezes, rains and all the good things that bring happi-ness to our people.”

Now, when the people see dragon-flies, arriving with the rains, flying among the blossoming corn and living in the tas-sels of the plants, they pause to give thanks to these harbingers of spring and summer fertility, life and good health.

So that is why Zuni people revere dragonflies, recognizing them as messengers tak-ing prayers to Corn Maidens, requesting rain, and it is the reason symbolic dragonflies are nearly always engraved and painted, along with stars, upon the carvings of Corn Maidens (Fig-ure 8) as well as on pottery and other artistic renderings (Figure 9). In truth, it is said that dragonflies have the power to summon rain.

Following the basic pattern set by Faye Quandelacy, Corn Maidens are now probably


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Figure 9: Clay pendant of Dragonflys and Northern Lights by Jaycee Nahohai (photograph: Von Del Chamberlain). Figure 10: Two sides of a Corn Maiden carved from gold lip mother of pearl by Vickie Quandelacy (photograph: Von Del Chamberlain).

the most abundantly carved and collected of all Zuni fetish carvings. Because of their relationships to both stars and dragonflies, they typically contain symbols of both engraved up-on them. The variety and beauty of the carv-ings never seems to end as new carvers enter the market (Figures 10 and 11). Truly, they are treasures shared by the Zuni culture with the world. 5 CONCLUSION

Scientists have discovered that the very ele-ments that compose our planet and everything within and upon it were forged inside stars. Evidence for this comes from astrophysical research using our most up-to-date observat-ional technologies to look deep into the sky. With this knowledge it seems entirely approp-riate to speak of Father Sky and Mother Earth.

Irrespective of what those who made them intended, fetish carvings can mean diff-erent things for different people. Figure 12 is an example that might be especially note-worthy for many readers of this paper. The pair of carvings by Faye Quandelacy can be thought of as follows. On the left we see Mother Earth rising out of the red dolomite layer, adorned with airborne spectral colors of-ten seen near sunrise and sunset. As if to indicate her deep origins, she is ringed with stars between the layers of earth and sky. On the figure on the right, carved from pipestone (Catlinite), we can visualize Mother Earth and her children. The ring of stars at the base can remind us that all things come from ‘stardust’. 5.1 Summary

Being the most dependent and least mysteri-ous in our degrees of relationships to all the elements of the vast cosmos, it is likely that fetishes of many varieties and sorts have been

Figure 11: Four Corn Maiden carvings by Stuart Quandelacy: left to right a whole cameo shell, abalone shell, amber, scallop shell (photograph: Von Del Chamberlain).


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Figure 12: Maiden carvings by Faye Quandelacy. Left: from banded dolomite; right: from pipestone with a ring of six stars having turquoise centers, only two of which can be seen here, surround the base of the carving (photographs: Von Del Chamberlain). used throughout human history; our psychol-ogy craves perceived power that seems to come from our natural surroundings. Zuni fetish carvings evolved from the most fundamental aspects of their cultural identity. They are made from the body of Mother Earth mold-ed and modified by processes of Father Sky, found and treasured by people who consider them to be remnants of early times and im-bued with spirits more powerful than them-selves. Finally, they are shared with people throughout the planet as beautiful and provoc-ative art. Today, many carvers manufacture these expressions of their cultural heritage in order to make their living.

Conceived through generations of Zuni people, six animal representatives of ten prin-cipal directions viewed from the center com-prise eleven primary numbers that define the rotation and revolution movements of planet Earth. These conjoin with seasons, agriculture and fertility in general portrayed by seven corn maidens associated with stars. These people, those animals, the corn maidens, the Sun and other stars, brought up from Earth Mother and down from Sky Father make it clear that ast-ronomy has been and remains seminal in Zuni culture. 6 REFERENCES

Cushing, F.H., 1920. Zuni Breadstuff. Indian Notes and Monographs. New York, Heye Foundation (Museum of the American Indian, Volume III).

Cushing, F.H., 1988. The Mythic World of the Zuni, edited and illustrated by Barton Wright. Albuquer-que, University of New Mexico Press (reprinted from the Thirteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, 1896).

Cushing, F.H., 1999. Zuni Fetishes, annotations and supplemental material by Mark Bahti, photo-graphs by Bruce Hucko. Whittier, KC Publicat-ions, Inc. (reprint from 2nd Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, 1883).

Hillerman, T., 1972. The Boy Who Made Dragonfly. Albuquerque, University of New Mexico Press.

McManis, K., 2004. Zuni Fetishes and Carvings. Tucson, Rio Nuevo Publishers.

Ortiz, A. (ed.), 1979. Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 9, Southwest. Washington (D.C.), Smithsonian Institution (Alfonso Ortiz, volume editor; Zuni articles pp. 467‒513).

Rodanas, K., 1992. Dragonfly’s Tale. New York, Clarion Books.

Rodee, M.,and Ostler, J., 1995. The Fetish Carvers of Zuni. Zuni, Maxwell Museum of Anthropology, University of New Mexico and the Pueblo of Zuni Arts and Crafts.

Young, M.J., and Williamson, R.A., 1981. Ethno-astronomy: the Zuni case. In Williamson, R.A. (ed.), Archaeoastronomy in the Americas. Los Altos and College Park, A Ballena Press/Center for Archaeoastronomy Cooperative Publication. Pp. 183‒191.

Young, M.J., 1988. Signs from the Ancestors: Zuni Cultural Symbolism and Perceptions of Rock Art. Albuquerque, University of New Mexico Press.

Young, M.J., 1992. Morning Star, Evening Star: Zuni traditional stories. In Williamson, R.A., and Farrer, C.R. (eds.), Earth & Sky: Visions of the Cosmos in Native American Folklore. Albuquer-que, University of New Mexico Press. Pp. 75 ‒100.

Young, M.J., 1996. Astronomy in Pueblo and Nav-ajo world views. In Chamberlain, V.D., Carlson, J.B., and Young, M.J. (eds.), Songs from the Sky: Indigenous Astronomical and Cosmological Trad-itions of the World. Ocarina Books Ltd., and The Journal of the Center for Archaeoastronomy, Vol-umes XII‒XIII. Pp. 49‒64.


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Von Del Chamberlain receiv-ed a BA degree with a major in Physics from the University of Utah and an MS degree in Astronomy from the University of Michigan. He taught classes for the University of Michigan, Flint Community College, Mich-igan State University, Univer-

sity of Utah and Utah Valley State College (now Utah Valley University).

His profession has been primarily that of mus-eum and planetarium administrator and educator, with considerable time spent in sky interpretation in parks and other outdoor settings. He has lectured in classrooms, on cruise ships, in planetariums and out under nature’s stars. Major employment has taken him from Flint Community College to Mich-igan State University, the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum, the Hansen Plan-etarium in Salt Lake City where he retired to in 1996, and Utah Valley State College. He was Scholar in Residence for the Pope Southwest Desert Institute at Utah Valley State College.

He is most noted for his studies in Native North American ethnoastronomy with his best-known work being When Stars Came Down to Earth: Cosmology of the Skidi Pawnee Indians of North America. He is the author of nearly 200 articles and papers, and six books the latest of which is a novel titled, Children of the Sky. Mr. Chamberlain says of himself, “The better I know the cosmos, the more I love the Earth.” Milford Nahohai is a life-long member of the Pueblo of Zuni in New Mexico. He is a third generation potter, having learned the Zuni pottery tradition from his mother, Josephine Nahohai. Shar-ing pottery making with other members of the ex-tended family, he has been able to introduce it to

others throughout the world. Perhaps more than anything else, he is a naturally gift-ed and dedicated teacher. He attended Fort Lewis College in Durango Colorado, obtained a degree in Early Childhood Edu-

cation and taught school for a while.

Nahohai’s pottery creations, crafted from clay harvested from his native surroundings and dec-orated with symbols expressing powerful cultural values, have become treasures for those fortunate to have them. In addition to his own works, Milford assisted other Zuni artists, carvers and jewelers as well as potters. In 1984, for example, he helped create the Pueblo of Zuni Arts and Crafts est-ablishment.

With his mother, Milford taught a pottery course at the Idyllwild School of Music and the Arts in California. He went on to teach workshops for arts educators at the College of Santa Fe. He was Artist in Residence at the Brooklyn Museum, lectured at the Art Institute of Chicago, curated a Zuni show for the Houston Natural History Museum and presented workshops for various school districts throughout the United States.

In multiple ways throughout his life Milford Nahohai has shared his passion for the stories, knowledge and traditions of his heritage with people of all ages, ethnicities and backgrounds. Thus he became a highly sought after lecturer, demonstrator and instructor of Zuni traditions generally and pot-tery making specifically, from the American South-west through many places in the United states, then on to other countries including Australia, Greece, Germany and Japan.

cosmic symbolism of zuni fetish carvings

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