Maize Days Week of November 7-11

Transcription

1 Maize Days Week of November 7-11 Activity: Students use parts of the corn plant to make rattles, dolls or eat. Corn kernels can be used for counting exercises or making rattles, popcorn can be popped in hot air popper or corn husk dolls can be made with the husks. If time allows, you can even perform the traditional Round Dance of Unity and Thanksgiving with your rattles. Goal: To learn about the importance of the corn plant to the Native Americans. We will also go over the structure of the corn plant and how early Americans bred modern corn from its wild ancestor, teosinte. Supplies: Dried corn stalks (in the edible garden), corn cobs (in the shed), plastic bottles, handout provided by teachers (can make copy from master in the garden mailbox), clipboards and pencils for writing, cups for seeds, brooms for clean-up, hot-air corn popper. How to proceed Familiarize yourself with the background information on corn provided below. Have the children bring the handouts and something to write with. Take your class to an area where you can spread out the corn parts and make a bit of a mess. Before you take the corn plant apart, let the whole group look at the various parts and compare it to the diagram on the Corn plants handout. You may also wish to compare the corn plant to the examples of other grasses. An obvious similarity to note is the similar venation of the corn and grass leaves. Afterwards, depending on the number of students you have, form smaller groups to take apart different parts of the plant and corn cobs. While they are working you can read them a story about the Corn Spirit (attached). If you are using popcorn, we have kernels in the shed to pop in the hot-air popcorn popper. If you are making rattles take ¼ cup kernels and pour into plastic bottle. Screw on lid. Now you have a corn rattle. Explain that they use to use gourds instead of bottles and that we are reusing a plastic bottle instead of throwing it away. If you are making corn husk dolls, go early to gather up the materials so that you can soak the dried husks. See attached sheet on making corn husk dolls. If you are participating in the Round Dance of Unity and Thanksgiving see the attached sheet for instructions. Background When you explain the importance of corn, have them sit in a circle. That's because in Native American cultures, storytelling is always done in a circle; the circle represents the earth, which gives life. The name corn is given to the leading cereal crop of any region. In England, corn means wheat; in Scotland and Ireland, oats. The grain called corn in

2 America is Indian corn, or maize. Corn or maize (zea mays) is a domesticated plant of the Americas. Along with many other indigenous plants like beans, squash, melons, tobacco, and roots such as Jerusalem artichoke. A descendant of wild New World grasses, the plant was domesticated and cultivated in America long before Colombus reached these shores. The beginning of modern corn occurred about 7,000 years ago when Native Americans residing in southern Mexico started breeding and raising a wild grass called teosinte that is still found in areas of Mexico and Central America. Ears of corn have been a motif of American art since prehistory, and Native Americans were so sophisticated in the cultivation of corn that they grew many different kinds-pop, sweet, dent, and flint. Corn was equally important to the first European settlers in the Americas. Sweet corn is grown to be cooked at an immature stage; popcorn is grown to maturity and then dried and stored; flint and dent corn are grown to maturity, dried, and ground for cornmeal; dent corn has a large depression on the top of each large kernel. Native Americans did not go to stores to buy things. Everything they had came from the earth- their food, their water, their clothes and Shelter. They were very thankful for everything the earth gave them. When the Native Americans grew a crop of corn, they did a special Corn Dance when they planted the crop. Then, when the corn was ready for picking in the fall, they did a special dance again- the Round Dance of Unity and Thanksgiving See next page for the Round Dance of Unity and Thanksgiving instructions. Corn is a giant grass Corn or maize (Zea mays), like all of our cereal grains such as wheat, rice, oats, etc., is in the grass family (Poaceae). Grasses are members of the monocot class of flowering plants. Monocots have seeds with one cotyledon or seed leaf, flower parts in multiples of threes and leaves that have parallel veins. Besides grasses, other examples of monocots are irises, lilies, and orchids. Corn, like other grasses, is pollinated by the wind. Corn has separate male and female flowers. Male flowers form pollen and female flowers contain the ovary with the ovules that will form the seeds. The male flowers of corn are at the top of the plant and form the tassel. The female flowers of corn are along the bases of the leaves as they attach to the main stalk. The female flower will form the familiar ear of corn with the seeds (corn kernels) when pollen travels down the corn silk to fertilize the ovules. The teosinte story The genetic origin of corn is an area of active scientific research. The beginning of modern corn occurred about 7,000 years ago when Native Americans residing in southern Mexico started breeding and raising a wild grass called teosinte that is still found in areas of Mexico and Central America. Teosinte comes from the Aztec word, teocentli, meaning God s ear of corn, and in parts of Mexico, the teosinte plant is called madre de maiz or the mother of maize. The ancestral kernels of Teosinte looked very different from today's corn. These kernels were small and were not fused together like the kernels on the husked ear of early maize

3 and modern corn. The teocinte plant doesn t produce ears of corn, and instead has a small but edible spike of seeds in a row. These early people probably found that some teosinte plants produced bigger spikes and saved seeds from these plants to grow for next year. As they continued to do this from year to year, they eventually selected for plants that formed small ears of corn. Such small ears of corn have been found in archaeological digs. By systematically collecting and cultivating those plants best suited for human consumption, Native Americans encouraged the formation of ears or cobs on early maize. The first ears of maize were only a few inches long and had only eight rows of kernels. Cob length and size of early maize grew over the next several thousand years which gradually increased the yields of each crop. Teosinte and corn are very different in shape, but are genetically very similar. They are no different from each other than different varieties of corn, and teosinte and modern corn can interbreed. Eventually the productivity of maize cultivation was great enough to make it possible and worthwhile for a family to produce food for the bulk of their diet for an entire year from a small area. Although maize agriculture permitted a family to live in one place for an extended period of time, the commitment to agriculture involved demands on human time and labor and often restricted human mobility. The genetic alterations in teosinte changed its value as a food resource and at the same time affected the human scheduling necessary for its effective procurement. We have continued to breed the corn plant to produce the giant ears of corn that are stacked on our grocery shelves. The modern corn plant is the most efficient cereal crop to

4 convert solar energy, soil nutrients, carbon dioxide and water into foodstuff. It is also something of a biological freak as it cannot survive without human intervention. The kernels of corn, if left to sprout naturally from the cob, are so closely spaced that the seedlings would not be able to grow normally and reproduce. Thus, modern corn needs humans to take apart the kernels and plant them. References Beadle, G. W The ancestry of corn. Sci. Am. 242(1): White, S. and Doebley, J Of genes and genomes and the origin of maize. Trends in Genetics 14(8): Chambers, D. and Mays, L Vegetable Gardening. Importance of Corn Corn was a very important crop for the people of the northeast woodlands. It was the main food and was eaten at every meal. There were many varieties of corn -- white, blue, yellow and red. Some of the corn was dried to preserve and keep it for food throughout the winter months. Dried corn could be made into a food called hominy. To make hominy, the dried corn was soaked in a mixture of water and ashes for two days. When the kernels had puffed up and split open, they were drained and rinsed in cold water. Then the hominy was stir-fried over a fire. You can buy canned hominy in most grocery stores. Perhaps someone in your class would like to bring some for everyone to sample. Corn was often ground into corn meal, using wooden mortars and pestles. The mortars were made of short logs which were turned upright and hollowed out on the top end. The corn was put in the hollow part and ground by pounding up and down with a long piece of wood which was rounded on both ends. This was called a pestle. Corn meal could be used to make cornbread, corn pudding, corn syrup, or could be mixed with beans to make succotash. A special dessert was made by boiling corn meal and maple syrup. All parts of the corn plant were used. Nothing was thrown away. The husks were braided and woven to make masks, moccasins, sleeping mats, baskets, and cornhusk dolls. Corncobs were used for fuel, to make darts for a game, and were tied onto a stick to make a rattle for ceremonies. Corn was unknown to the Europeans before they met the Indians. Indians gave them the seeds and taught them how to grow it. Today in the U.S.A., more farm land is used to grow corn (60 million acres) than any other grain.

5 Uses of cornhusks Cornhusk bed mat; Iroquois. Rolled husks sewn with basswood cord. Braided Edge. Cornhusk foot mat; Seneca. Braided and sewn in a coil. Fringe from spliced cornhusks left on one side. Cornhusk, wool and basswood cord twined bag; Narragansett (made in 1675). Cornhusk moccasin; Seneca. Two-strand twined construction.

6 Round Dance of Unity and Thanksgiving After the story, lead the students to an open area. Explain that, in the Round Dance of Unity and Thanksgiving, we dance to celebrate the earth that gives us everything we need. The dance will be more impressive if the children use rattles. Have the children stand in one large circle, each holding a rattle. The teacher or Garden Parent steps into the center and plays a two-part drumbeat: hard-soft, hard-soft, hard-soft. Have them use their rattles to the same rhythm. Tell them that this is a quiet dance, so no talking or squirming. The way we walk upon the Earth shows how we respect and care for it. Take careful easy steps. Don't speed up. Keep the rhythm nice and steady. Now demonstrate a sideways shuffle step. Step sideways with your left foot on the hard drumbeat; then catch up with your trailing right foot, bringing it up to the left foot, on the soft drumbeat. Perform a few rounds like this as the children watch you lead with your left foot and then follow with your right, over and over. Then beat the drum and have the children perform the step, moving to their left. Once they have mastered the step, have them reverse directions and move to the right, leading with the right foot and following with the left foot. Groups can now form 2 circles- one large upon the outside and one smaller on the inside. The 2 circles move in opposite directions. The outer circle moves the left while the inner circle moves to the right. When the outside group has completed at least one full revolution, use 3 loud fast drumbeats to signal to the dancers that they can change directions. The dance is completed when the outer circle has traveled 4 full revolutions in alternating directions. Copyright 1997 by Kelli Wessman, Garden of learning Dance adapted from Keepers of Life by Michael Caduto and Joseph Bruchac

7 The Corn Spirit (Tuscarora- Eastern Woodlands) Long ago, they say, there was a village of people whose confields were blessed with good harvests, year after year. They had so much corn each year that they began to take it for granted. They stopped weeding the fields, and the children trampled the cornstalks as they played. When it came to harvest, the people picked, but they did not do it well. Much of the corn of the corn was left unpicked and only the birds ate it. The people wasted more than they ate. They threw ears of corn to their dogs. As they had always done, they dried some of their corn to eat in the winter and to use seed corn the next spring. They placed this corn in storage baskets to bury for the winter, but they did everything carelessly. The corn baskets were not well made. The storage holes were not dug deeply or well covered. There is much game in the forest, the people sais. We can always hunt to survive, even if the stored corn spoils. So the people went on without showing respect for the corn that gave them life. They even forgot to say thanks to the Creator for their good fortune. Only one man remembered to show respect. His name was Dayo. Dayo cared for his fields and weeded them. He harvested his corn carefully and gave thanks for his good harvest. He stored his corn with great care. He was sad about the way the others acted. That autumn, after the harvest moon, the people wenbt hunting. But the hunters had bad luck. Animals were hard to find. It seemed that the deer and moose and even the rabbits had all disappeared from the forest. The people tried to fish, but the streams and lakes were so empty. Finally, the people dug dug up their stored corn. But the poorly made baskets had fallen apart. Much of the corn had been eaten by mice. The rest had rotted away. What shall we do? the people said. We will starve. Measn while, Dayo was walking in the forest. He was thinkingabout the way his people no longer showed respect for the corn or gave thanks. As he walked, he found an old trail. It led to a clearing in the forest. In that clearing was a lodge made of elm bark and built on top of a mound of earth. Weeds grew all around the lodge. In front of the lodge, an old man dressed in torn clothing sat weeping. Grandfather, Dayo said, why are you weeping? I am weeping because your people have forgotten me. Why are your clothes torn? Dayo asked. They are torn because your people threw me to their dogs. Why are you so dirty? I am dirty because your people let their children trample me. Why are there weeds around your lodge? Because your people no longer take care of me. Now I must go away and I can never return again to help them. Now Dayo knew who the man was. He was the corn spirit. Grandfather, Dayo said, do not leave us. I still respect you. I will go back and remind my people how to treat you.

8 The old man stopped weeping. Grandson, he said. I will stay with you. If your people show me respect, I will not leave them. Dayo went back to the village. we are going to starve, the people said. Our corn is gone and we don't have any other food. Listen, Dayo said, I have been in the forest. There I found a lodge surrounded by weeds and an old man wearing torn clothing the color of corn husks. He said his people deserted him and he was going to leave forever. The people understood. It is the Corn Spirit' they said. He has left us and now we will surely die. No, said Dayo. I spoke with Corn Spirit. I told him we would treat him with respect. He said that if we respect him, he will help us through winter. Then Dayo dug up his own stored corn. His baskets had been well made. He had dug his granary deep and covered it properly. Now, all of his harvest was there. There was more corn than me had remembered storing, much more. There was enough to feed the whole village, all winter. There was even enough left to use as seed corn for planting in the spring, when the leaves of the maple tree would be the size of a squirrel's ear. From then on, Dayo's people always showed respect for the corn. They planted with care and hoed and weeded. They sang and danced songs of thanksgiving as they harvested. They made strong baskets and deep storage pits for their grain. Most of all, they remembered to give thanks for the blessing of corn and all of the other good things they had been given. They taught their children and their children's children to do the same. So it is to this day. From Keepers of Life, by Michael J. Caduto and Joseph Bruchac, Fulcrum Publishing, 1994