The Ancient World (HUM 124 - UNC Asheville)/Corn Woman Spirit

"Corn Woman Spirit" is an ancient cosmogonic story from the Cherokee, depicting why the Cherokee corn is so bountiful while telling a story about one of their deities, the Corn Woman. The story gives an introduction to the Corn Woman, a spirit that comes once a year to bless the Cherokee corn and make it grow "tall and beautiful."[1] The Corn Woman gets abducted by an evil spirit, Hunger, and the humans rely on the ravens to free the Corn Woman with their "big strong beaks."[1] The story is told not only to spread the story of how the Cherokee's corn grows so abundantly but also to remind people that, if given a chance, all animals can work together with humans.

Cultural Interpretations
This story, along with most cosmogonic stories, tells us a lot about the ancient Cherokee culture.

Corn
Corn is an important food for the Cherokee people, as one of the main foods they would cultivate and harvest it made up a large portion of their meals. However, this story gives an impression that corn served a more important purpose for them, and could be interpreted as food from the gods. The Corn Woman herself is sent from the Cherokee's "Great Spirit,"[1] signifying higher importance on corn than just food. Upon further research its made clear how highly the Cherokee people thought of corn, as the Corn Woman is "the First Woman in Cherokee creation stories."[2] For Cherokee people, "the raising of corn was interwoven with the spiritual beliefs of the people,"[2] and corn was known as one of the "Three Sisters"[2] the Cherokee would include in almost every meal, along with beans and squash.

The Raven
The Cherokee also seem to have a different way of handling their problems, as seen with how they handle the raven. Most cultures see the raven as an annoyance, or as a problem that needs to be solved. The Cherokee view the raven as a friend, and because he saved the Corn Woman from Hunger "they feel that if he takes a few kernels of corn, that's ok."[1] Rather than killing off ravens and crows and hoping the other birds understand their message, "the Cherokees give the raven a very special place."[1] This mutual relationship also comes in handy when other animals try to come and raze the cornfields because the crows and ravens will make enough noise to alert the humans. This relationship between the ravens and the Cherokee people shows their tendency to together with an enemy for each of their benefits than immediately resort to violence to get their message across.