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Blue Corn Maiden and
the Coming of Winter —
A Native American Acoma Legend
retold by Jackie Baldwin
The Pueblo People loved Blue Corn Maiden and especially the delicious blue corn that she gave them all year long. Blue Corn Maiden had a kind and gentle spirit and she brought peace and happiness to the people.
One cold winter day, Blue Corn Maiden went out unexpectedly to gather firewood. While she was out of her adobe house, she saw Winter Katsina. Winter Katsina is the spirit who brings winter to the Earth. He wore his blue-and-white mask and blew cold wind with his breath. But when Winter Katsina saw Blue Corn Maiden, he fell in love.
He invited her to come to his house, and she had to go with him. Once inside, he blocked the windows with ice and the doorway with snow and made Blue Corn Maiden his prisoner. Although Winter Katsina was very kind to Blue Corn Maiden and loved her very much, she was sad living with him. She wanted to go back to her own house.
Winter Katsina went out one day to do his duties and blow cold wind upon the earth and scatter snow everywhere. While he was gone, Blue Corn Maiden pushed the snow away from the doorway and went out of the house to look for the plants and foods she loved to find in summer. Under all the ice and snow, she found only four blades of yucca, which she took back to Winter Katsina’s house and started a fire. Winter Katsina would not allow her to start a fire when he was in the house.
When the fire was started, the snow in the doorway melted and in walked Summer Katsina, who carried fresh corn in one hand and many blades of yucca in the other. He smiled at Blue Corn Maiden.
Just then, Winter Katsina stormed in, followed by a roar of winter wind. Winter Katsina carried an icicle in his right hand, which he held like a knife, and a ball of ice in his left hand, which he wielded like a hand-axe. It looked like Winter Katsina intended to fight with Summer Katsina.
As Winter Katsina blew a blast of cold air, Summer Katsina blew a warm breeze. When Winter Katsina raised his icicle-knife, Summer Katsina raised his bundle of yucca leaves, and they caught fire. The fire melted the icicle.
Winter Katsina saw that he needed to make peace, not war, with Summer Katsina. The two sat and talked. They finally agreed that Blue Corn Maiden would live among the people of the Pueblos and give them her blue corn for half of the year, in the time of Summer Katsina. The other half of the year, Blue Corn Maiden would live with Winter Katsina and the people would have no corn.
Blue Corn Maiden went away with Summer Katsina, and she became the sign of springtime, eagerly awaited by the people.
Sometimes, when spring has come already, Winter Katsina will blow cold wind suddenly, or scatter snow when it is not the snow time. He does this just to show how angry he is to have to give up Blue Corn Maiden for half of the year.
Family fun recipe: Yummy corn snackaroos
What you need:
9 cups popcorn, popped
1/3 cup peanut butter
1 tbs butter or margarine
Here’s how you do it:
Pop the corn. Over low heat, melt the butter or margarine and the peanut butter until runny. Drizzle over the
popcorn and mix well. Spread in shallow baking pans and bake in a 375-degree oven for 10 minutes, stirring once or twice. The corn will turn crisp and the topping will set.
