Grasshopper Girl- Navajo SpiritSpirit
Also known as: Nahachagii
Description
The feminine counterpart to Pollen Boy: where he scatters golden dust from the corn tassels, Grasshopper Girl receives it and swells the kernels to harvest. She is present in every perfect corn ear chosen for ceremony.
Mythology & Lore
The Corn Ear
Pollen Boy carries the golden dust that drifts from corn tassels. Grasshopper Girl receives it. She is the ear that fills, the kernel that swells, the harvest that comes home.
Grasshoppers appear in the cornfield at harvest time. Their presence signals ripeness. In Navajo tradition the insect is a positive omen, and Grasshopper Girl takes her name from it.
In the Blessingway ceremony, as Leland Wyman and Gladys Reichard documented, the corn ear is as essential as the corn pollen. The ears chosen for medicine bundles must be perfect and unworn. Corn pollen is scattered for Pollen Boy. The perfect ear belongs to Grasshopper Girl.
Relationships
- Allied with
- Member of