Corn Mother’s Wisdoms for Homespun Living
Welcome Homesteading Lifestylers! Can it already be the last days of August? Yes indeed! So if you are like me, you’ve been enjoying the height of the locally grown vegetable season. God, we Americans are blessed! In small town Wisconsin, where I live, fresh tomatoes and corn-on-the-cob are at the top of my grocery list.
When I was growing up in the 1960’s in Central Pennsylvania, in the summer my family could easily live on the produce of local farmers and gardeners-from strawberries and grapes to corn and tomatoes, and the local “meat man.” My mouth waters to think of it! Yummy!
(Try mayo on a mixture of corn-off-the-cob and fresh sliced tomatoes! for some great homespun living!!)
Growing Up With Pennsylvania’s Corn Fields
I grew up in the central Pennsylvania’s Susquehanna River valley; my mother and grandparents grew up there; their parents grew up there and so on! We go way back to colonial times. But the Peoples who were indigenous to that beautiful valley were the Susquehannock’s, now “extinct.” When will we humans ever learn?
‘The Algonquian-speaking peoples of coastal Virginia and Maryland called the tribe the Sasquesahanough, meaning “people of the muddy river.” English settlers in Maryland and Virginia transliterated the Algonquian term, referring to the people as the Susquehannock.’
Today, much farmland graces the banks of the Susquehanna Valley, but in many places, forests still dominate. Indeed, it is an, idyllic combination of trees and croplands and I am eternally grateful for the years I lived there.
As a young child, rows and rows of corn fields surrounded my neighborhood and running through the rows of these cornstalks with my friends was heady fun!
And I often walked to and from school (about 2 miles) and crossed the meandering Susquehanna on an old bridge that since has been replaced. That river represented to me so many things -so much so that I occasionally dreamed of falling into the river!
Embracing Corn Mother’s Wisdoms
Is it any wonder that I went on to embrace a deep love and appreciation of nature and the homesteading lifestyle?! That why, in mid-life, I sought until I found a wonderful Cherokee teacher? And from her I learned about, Selu, or Corn Mother. (This is pronounced “Say-loo.”)
Selu plays a distinguished, significant role in the spiritual life of the Cherokee, whose original homelands were the vast southern Appalachian Mountains.
The Cherokee told many stories featuring Selu and since theirs was an oral tradition, there were many variations with the same basic plots. And from these stories one can come to a singularly interesting conclusion. The Cherokee were (and still are) an extremely egalitarian society in regard to the position of the female in their society. This brought a kind of balance to all their affairs.
‘In Cherokee creation stories, Selu, the First Woman/Corn Mother, was born from the top of a cornstalk, a plant that grew from the ground near the sleeping First Man, Kanati. Kanati’s boredom and excessive hunting prompted the Creator to provide Selu to bring balance. From the strong, ripe stalk emerged a beautiful, singing woman, fulfilling the Creator’s purpose.’
‘Because Corn Mother was held in such high regard, the place of the woman in Cherokee society was also more lofty than in many other tribes. The women were and could be chiefs. If a couple were divorced, the man left the home and children, the woman took possession of them. Much Authority passed through the mother’s line. And the women participated in political and even military affairs.’
Sound interesting? I do hope so. And I invite you to check out Selu on your own and see what Wisdoms you might find!