Chapter 28 Grain Mamas exist in many countries: Grain Mamas of the Americas

It is not only the ancient and modern European peoples who regard the grain as the mother goddess.In remote parts of the world, other agricultural peoples had the same simple idea, and they applied it to other native grains besides barley and wheat.Europe has its mother wheat and barley, America has its mother maize, and the East Indies has its mother rice.What I am going to illustrate now is the anthropomorphism of these plants, starting with the anthropomorphism of American corn. We have already spoken of the common custom among European peoples of placing the last bundle of corn-stalks, or the straw figure of the last bundle of corn-stalks, in the farm-house, to be preserved from this harvest to the next. .No doubt its purpose, or rather its source, was to preserve the life and activity of the corn-spirit itself throughout the year, by preserving the corn-spirit's representative, so that the crop might grow and the harvest might be good.At any rate, a similar custom followed by the ancient Peruvians makes the above explanation of the custom possible.An old Spanish historian, Acosta, described the customs of Peru in this way: "They took some of the best corn from their fields, put them in the barn they called Pirua, and They performed certain ceremonies and kept watch over them for three nights; they put the corn in their best clothes, and when they were dressed, they worshiped this Pirua and paid homage to it, saying it was the mother corn they had inherited, and saying With its blessing, the corn can grow and preserve. In this month (the sixth month, which is equivalent to May) they hold a kind of sacrifice, and the witch asks this Pirua whether it has the strength to continue to the sixth month. In two years, if it said no, they took it to the field and burned it according to each person's strength (that's where the corn was taken from), and then, they made another Pirua and performed the same ceremony, saying that they It has been updated to ask that the corn seed not go bad, and if Pirua says it has enough strength to last longer, they will keep it until the next year. This stupid ignorance continues to this day. In It is very common among Indians to do this kind of pirua."

It seems wrong to describe the custom in this way.Perhaps what the Peruvians adore, what they regard as mother corn, is not a barn (pirua), but a dressed bouquet of corn.This Peruvian custom, which we have learned from another source, confirms this.We read that the Peruvians believed that all useful plants owe their life to a god who made them grow.According to the different names of plants, these gods are called mother corn (Zara-Mama), quinoa [equivalent to my country's quinoa, whose seeds are crushed and edible, and the Peruvians regard it as a kind of grain. ] Mama (Qainoa-mama), Coca-mama (Coca-mama), Potato-mama (axo-mama).Idols of these godmothers were each made of ears of corn, quinoa, and leaves of the coca tree; they were dressed in women's clothing and worshiped.So, the mama mama is represented by an idol made of corn stalks, completely dressed in women's clothes, and the Indians believed that "as a mother, it has the ability to produce and reproduce many corns".Therefore, Acosta may have misunderstood the people who provided his materials. The mother they described was not a barn (Pirua), but a cornstalk in a gorgeous dress.The mother corn of the Peruvians, like the Harvest Maiden of Baquet, is preserved for a year so that the corn may grow and multiply by her strength.However, fearing that her energy will not be strong enough to support next year's harvest, people ask her how she feels during the year, and if she replies that she feels weak, then burn her and be a corn mother again, "for the corn will not become extinct."We can see that this example strongly confirms what we have said about the custom of killing kings at regular intervals and festivals.It is customary for the mother corn to live for a year, which is what is reasonably supposed to last; but as soon as she shows any sign of waning vigor, she is put to death and replaced by a vigorous new mother corn, in case The corn that lives on her will wither and wither.

rice mother of the east indies If the reader has any doubts about the significance of the harvesting customs practiced by European farmers for as long as he can remember, compare them with those of the Malays and Dayaks of the East Indies in harvesting rice, Perhaps these doubts can be ruled out.For these two oriental peoples were not, like the European peasants, the intellectual stage at which these customs originated, and their theory and practice were still combined; The amusement of the peasants and the charades of the scholars, but to them it was a living reality, which they could clearly and truthfully explain.So, a study of their beliefs and practices about rice will shed some light on what the grain rituals of ancient Greece and modern Europe really meant.

All Malay and Dayak ceremonies about rice are based on a simple idea: that rice is born of a soul, which they consider to be the same as that which man has.The principles by which they explained the phenomena of multiplication, growth, withering, and death of rice were the same principles by which they explained the corresponding phenomena of man.They believe that plant fiber has some kind of life essence like the human body. It is very independent of plants. It can completely separate from plants for a period of time without fatal effects. However, if it stays outside for more than a certain time Without this limit, the plant will wither and die.We can't find a more appropriate word to express this separable life element, so we have to call it the soul of the plant.Just as there is a whole cult of corn based on this theory, or myth of the vegetable soul, just as there is a whole cult of the dead on The theory or myth of the human soul is the same—a superstructure on a weak and unstable foundation.

Since the Indonesians believe that rice grows from the same soul as the human soul, they will naturally treat it with the same respect and care as their companions.They treat flowering rice seedlings like pregnant women; they don't shoot guns or make loud noises in the fields, lest they frighten the soul of the rice plants so that they will miscarry or not grow rice grains; for the same reason, they don't say anything in the rice fields Dead bodies and devils.They also feed the flowering rice with various foods that are good for pregnant women; and while the ears of corn are forming, they are treated as babies, and the women go to the fields and feed them rice paste as if they were human babies.It is in this natural and obvious contrast that the fertile plant is compared to the fertile woman, and the young corn to the young child, that the Greeks' words about the Corn-mother, the Corn-girl, Demeter and Persephone are to be found. Origin of similar ideas.But if even loud laughter could abort the timid and tender soul of the rice with fright, it is not difficult to imagine that at harvest--when the stalks have to be cut off with a scythe--in such critical times Therefore, we must think of various ways in advance to make the indispensable surgical harvest as less prominent and less painful as possible.Therefore, a knife with a special shape is used for harvesting rice. The blade of this knife is hidden in the hand of the harvester, so as not to disturb the soul of the rice until the last moment. At this time, she has not had time to feel the pain. His head was cut off.From the same careful motives the reapers work in the fields with a peculiar language which the rice-spirit does not understand, so that she has not yet been alerted and aware of what is going on, and the heads of the rice have It was safely placed in the basket.

Of all the Indonesian peoples who have thus personified rice, we may take as typical the Kayan or Bajau of Central Borneo.In order to preserve the rice's frightened spirit, the Kayan people took many measures.Among the many implements employed for this purpose were small ladders, spatulas, and baskets containing hooks, thorns, and ropes.The priestess uses a spatula to drive the soul of the rice down the small ladder and into the basket, where the hooks, thorns and ropes in the basket naturally hold it tightly, and after the soul is caught and locked up, it is sent to the barn .Sometimes a bamboo box and net are used for this purpose.In order to ensure a good harvest in the coming year, it is necessary not only to retain the souls of all the grains that are safely stored in the barn, but also to recall and revive the souls of all the rice that fell to the ground and was eaten by deer, apes, and pigs and lost their souls. .For this purpose, priests invented various tools.For example, there is a bamboo vessel with four hooks made of some kind of fruit wood, with which the lost rice soul can be hooked back into the vessel and hung in the house.Sometimes two hands are carved out of some kind of fruit wood, and the purpose is the same.Every time a Kayan family fetches rice from a barn for their household, they must pray to the spirit of the rice in the barn, lest they be angry at what has been taken from them.

The Karen people in Myanmar are keenly aware that the soul of rice needs to be preserved in order to make crops flourish.When a certain rice field is not growing well, they think that the soul of the rice (Kira) is trapped outside the rice for some reason.If the soul cannot be called back, the crops will be ruined.The following formula is used to summon the Kira (soul) of rice: "Come back, rice Kira, come back! Come back to the field. Come back to Mili. Come back with male and female seeds. From Come back from the Ho River, come back from the Ke River; come back from where the two rivers meet. Come back from the west, come back from the east. Come back from the bird's throat, come back from the monkey's stomach, come back from the elephant's throat Come back from the source and the mouth of the river. Come back from the Shan and Burmese homelands. Come back from the distant lands. Come back from all the barns. O Paddy Kira, come back to Miri! "

When the Tomori tribe in central Celebes wants to plant rice, they bury some paste in the field and offer it to the elves who make the rice grow.Rice seedlings grown around the site are harvested last at harvest time.At the beginning of the harvest, the rice stalks in this area are tied into a bundle, which is called "the mother of rice" (Innova?), and sacrifices such as rice, poultry liver, eggs, etc. are placed in front of it. The "Rice Mother" was cut after the rest of the rice had been harvested, and with due ceremonies, it was brought back to the rice barn, where it was laid on the ground, on which all the other sheaves were piled. We learned that Tomori People regard the rice mother as a special offering to Omenga, the corn spirit, who lives in the moon. If there is no due respect for this spirit, for example, people who go to the warehouse to fetch rice don’t dress like He will get angry, punish those who dare to offend him, and eat twice as much rice as people take out from the barn; The Toraj people in central Perth also follow the customs of the rice mother when harvesting. They think that she is the real mother of all the harvest, so they carefully preserve her, lest she go, and the rice stored in the barn will be melted and destroyed. disappear.

Again, just as in Scotland the old corn-spirit and the young corn-spirit are represented respectively by an old woman (Cailleach) and a maiden, so we find it in the Malay peninsula.The rice mother and her child are represented by the different sheaves or ear handles in the field. Mr. WW Skeeter witnessed the ceremony of harvesting the rice soul and bringing it home on 28th January 1897 at Chodo place in Selangor.The bundle (or handful) of rice that acts as the mother of the soul of the rice is found and verified in advance according to the shape of the rice ear mark.An elderly witch solemnly cuts a handful (seven) of ears of rice from the sheaf, anoints them with oil, ties them up with thread of a matching colour, smokes them with incense, and wraps them in a white cloth, put them in a small oval basket.These seven ears of rice are the soul of the young rice, and the small basket is its cradle.Another woman brought it back to the farmer's house, and she opened an umbrella to shield the delicate baby from the heat of the sun.After arriving home, the women of the whole family welcomed the rice child, put the cradle and other things on a new sleeping mat, and put a pillow under the head.At this time, the peasant's wife must strictly abide by the three-day taboo. The rules of the taboo are in many respects the same as the taboos performed within three days after giving birth.The patient care given to a newborn rice-child naturally extends to some extent to his parents, the sheaf from which the child's body was drawn.After the rice soul took it home and put it on the bed, the bundle of rice remained in the field and was treated like the mother of a newborn child: crush the young shoots on the tree and scatter them around every night for three days in a row. At the end of three days, the coconut and a plant called "goat flower" are mashed, stirred together, eaten with a little sugar, and some of the mixture is spit among the rice.The same is true when giving birth to a child. Use jack fruit, rose apple, some kind of banana sprouts, tender coconut slurry, dried fish, salt, vinegar, shrimp paste and other delicacies to make a cold mix for mothers. Eat with the child for three days in a row.The last sheaf of rice is harvested by the farmer's wife, who takes it home, where it is threshed and mixed with the rice spirit.The farmer then takes the rice soul, the basket and the last bundle of rice and deposits it in the big round rice box used by the Malays.Some grains of the rice soul are mixed with the seeds to be sown in the coming year.We can see that these rice mothers and rice children in the Malay Peninsula correspond to Demeter and Persephone in ancient Greece, and in a sense are their prototypes.

Also, the European custom of using the bride and groom to represent the corn-spirit is similar to the rice-harvesting ceremony in Java.Before the reapers start harvesting the rice, a priest or shaman selects some ears of rice, bundles them together, anoints them with oil, and puts flowers on them.The decorated ears of rice are called Purdi Pengentun, which means the bride of rice and the groom of rice; then the wedding ceremony is held, followed by harvesting of rice.After that, the rice was harvested, and a place in the barn was designated as a new house, with a new mat, a lamp and various toilet utensils.Rice bundles representing the wedding guests are placed next to the rice bride and rice groom.After all these are done, all the crops are put into the warehouse.For the first 40 days after entering the warehouse, no one is allowed to enter the warehouse, so as not to disturb the newlyweds.

On the two islands of Bali and Lombok, when the harvest time comes, the owner of the field harvests the "main rice" by himself, and bundles it into two bundles, each bundle is 108 ears of rice with leaves.One sheaf represents a man, and the other represents a woman, and they are called "husband and wife". The male sheaf is wrapped with thread so that all the leaves are not exposed, and the leaves of the female sheaf are bent over to form a woman's bundle. The way the hair looks.Sometimes, in order to further distinguish, a straw necklace is wrapped around the female grain sheaf.When the rice is collected from the field, the two sheaves representing the husband and wife are carried back by a woman on her head, and finally put into the warehouse.In the barn place them on a small shelf or a mat made of straw.We read that the purpose of this whole arrangement was to multiply the rice in the barn, so that the owner could get more than he had put in.So when the Balinese put the husband and wife into the barn, they said, "May you grow and grow." Finally fade away, or be eaten by rats.Sometimes hunger forced some to eat the two sheaves of rice, but these poor fellows were hated by their companions and called them pigs and dogs.No one would sell these two bundles of holy relics with their mortal counterparts. The idea of ​​using a male deity and a female deity to increase rice production is also present among the upper Burmese lineages.When the paddy, that is, the rice without the husk, has dried up and is ready to be threshed, all the friends of the family are invited to the threshing floor, where wine and food are set out.The grain pile is divided into two parts, one half is spread out for threshing, and the other half is piled up.Food and wine are placed on the grain pile, and an elder prays to the "father and mother of rice" for a good harvest in the coming year, and prays that the seeds can multiply many times.Then, everyone eats and drinks.This threshing floor ceremony is the only occasion where these people invoke the "father and mother of rice".