Crouching Cougar

This Crouching Cougar was carved from translucent pale lemon colored Mexican onyx with rust color patches on each side.  The offering bundle has a turquoise arrowhead and red coral.  The eyes are inlaid turquoise.  As in the older, traditional hunting cats, the tail up and over the back.  "NM" is engraved on the bottom front legs.

Size: .675" H x 2.675" L x .5" W

In Zuni Pueblo, mountain lions, or cougars, are the guardians of the north, which is where wisdom lives.  They are sleek hunters who are primarily solitary predators, and in Zuni, they are the leaders of all of the hunting animals.  Full of grace, they move through life silently and with great power until they want you to hear them.

Traditionally, Zuni carvings are symbolically fed cornmeal.   Each Zuni fetish comes in a box with a descriptive card and a tiny bit of corn meal to tide them over until they reach you.