Corn, also called Maize, was developed from a wild grass called Teosinte 7,000 years ago. Over a period of thousands of years, Native Americans purposefully transformed corn through special cultivation techniques. The ancestral kernels of Teosinte looked very different from today’s corn. Those kernels were small and were not fused together like the kernels on the husked ear of early maize and modern corn. By selection and cultivation, Native Americans encouraged the formation of ears (cobs) on early maize. The first ears of maize were only a few inches long and only eight rows of kernels. Cob length and size of early maize grew over the next several thousand years which gradually increased the yields of each crop.
This cultivation of corn led to changes in the life style of many Native American tribes. Corn grew to have a very important role, not only as a source of food, but in their religious beliefs as well. In the Hopi mythology the Sun’s rays are made out of corn silk. Corn meal is rubbed onto the hands and face of their deceased in order to make them look more like clouds and to prepare them for the afterlife. Corn became an all-nourishing, sacred food, the subject of legends and the theme of several rituals. The Iroquois celebrate Green Corn Festival each year during August and September. Corn was used for more than just food. Corn husks were woven into mats, baskets, and moccasins and made into corn husk dolls, Cobs were used as scrubbers and container stoppers. Corn was an integral part of Native American life and they used every part of it.
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