Section 3. The Spirit of the Corn embodied in Human Beings.
THUS the theory which recognises in the European Corn-mother,
Corn-maiden, and so forth, the embodiment in vegetable form of
the animating spirit of the crops is amply confirmed by the
evidence of peoples in other parts of the world, who, because
they have lagged behind the European races in mental
development, retain for that very reason a keener sense of the
original motives for observing those rustic rites which among
ourselves have sunk to the level of meaningless survivals. The
reader may, however, remember that according to Mannhardt,
whose theory I am expounding, the spirit of the corn manifests
itself not merely in vegetable but also in human form; the person
who cuts the last sheaf or gives the last stroke at threshing passes
for a temporary embodiment of the corn-spirit, just as much as the
bunch of corn which he reaps or threshes. Now in the parallels
which have been hitherto adduced from the customs of peoples
outside Europe the spirit of the crops appears only in vegetable
form. It remains, therefore, to prove that other races besides our
European peasantry have conceived the spirit of the crops as
incorporate in or represented by living men and women. Such a
proof, I may remind the reader, is germane to the theme of this
book; for the more instances we discover of human beings
representing in themselves the life or animating spirit of plants, the
less difficulty will be felt at classing amongst them the King of the
Wood at Nemi. 1
The Mandans and Minnitarees of North America used to hold a
festival in spring which they called the corn-medicine festival of
the women. They thought that a certain Old Woman who Never
Dies made the crops to grow, and that, living somewhere in the
south, she sent the migratory waterfowl in spring as her tokens
and representatives. Each sort of bird represented a special kind
of crop cultivated by the Indians: the wild goose stood for the
maize, the wild swan for the gourds, and the wild duck for the
beans. So when the feathered messengers of the Old Woman
began to arrive in spring the Indians celebrated the
corn-medicine festival of the women. Scaffolds were set up, on
which the people hung dried meat and other things by way of
offerings to the Old Woman; and on a certain day the old women
of the tribe, as representatives of the Old Woman who Never Dies,
assembled at the scaffolds each bearing in her hand an ear of
maize fastened to a stick. They first planted these sticks in the
ground, then danced round the scaffolds, and finally took up the
sticks again in their arms. Meanwhile old men beat drums and
shook rattles as a musical accompaniment to the performance of
the old women. Further, young women came and put dried flesh
into the mouths of the old women, for which they received in
return a grain of the consecrated maize to eat. Three or four grains
of the holy corn were also placed in the dishes of the young
women, to be afterwards carefully mixed with the seed-corn,
which they were supposed to fertilise. The dried flesh hung on the
scaffold belonged to the old women, because they represented
the Old Woman who Never Dies. A similar corn-medicine festival
was held in autumn for the purpose of attracting the herds of
buffaloes and securing a supply of meat. At that time every woman
carried in her arms an uprooted plant of maize. They gave the
name of the Old Woman who Never Dies both to the maize and to
those birds which they regarded as symbols of the fruits of the
earth, and they prayed to them in autumn saying, "Mother, have
pity on us! send us not the bitter cold too soon, lest we have not
meat enough! let not all the game depart, that we may have
something for the winter!" In autumn, when the birds were flying
south, the Indians thought that they were going home to the Old
Woman and taking to her the offerings that had been hung up on
the scaffolds, especially the dried meat, which she ate. Here then
we have the spirit or divinity of the corn conceived as an Old
Woman and represented in bodily form by old women, who in their
capacity of representatives receive some at least of the offerings
which are intended for her. 2
In some parts of India the harvest-goddess Gauri is represented
at once by an unmarried girl and by a bundle of wild balsam
plants, which is made up into the figure of a woman and dressed
as such with mask, garments, and ornaments. Both the human and
the vegetable representative of the goddess are worshipped, and
the intention of the whole ceremony appears to be to ensure a
good crop of rice. 3