Rare 7 Corn Maiden Sisters Necklace - 29" Long

Seven Corn Maidens grace this rare and special necklace by Amos Pooacha, a younger man who passed away many years ago.  The maidens are carved from shimmering pink mussel shell with inlaid Sleeping Beauty turquoise eyes and dots on their bodies.  Between each Maiden are white clam shell beads, heishi, and turquoise. Above the Maidens are dark pen shell heishi beads. The beads end with a cord that is tied. The cord can be attached to a clasp if so desired, but it is comfortable the way it is. Signed AP on the back of the main Maiden. More about corn maidens below. More about Corn Maidens below.

Amos made this special necklace upon request for Gathering Tribes before he passed away. They were found in a box of beads where they slept during several moves. The owner of Gathering Tribes was and still is family to the artistic Pooacha family.

Size: 29" Long - Main Corn Maiden 2.125" H x .675" W

Female corn beings represent all that is good about being a woman: loving, generous, nurturing, kind, strong with great compassion.  In tribes that traditionally grow corn, most of the stories are the similar.  There are many Indigenous stories about how corn was brought to the people at a time when there was hunger and how a sacred, sometimes other worldly, female being brought them corn. There are dances to honor the female corn beings in many of the Pueblos.  And in other tribes, she is held in a place of great honor.