Native America

The corn was a gift from the spiritual people. It was a gift from our caretaker that watches over the Hopi people and all of earth. So, the corn was given to us to help us sustain ourselves, to survive, but the spiritual people also said the corn will be your teacher. Because it is true, one of the main things you learn, being a farmer, is that you have to have humility. You have no control over weather, right? You have no control over weather. So what you need to do is try to yearn for a good planting and season and harvest. That's what we do. And because it's a spiritual gift, you know, every Hopi male, I believe, has a duty to be a farmer. So, that's how I think I connect to the corn, and at the time that they're come out-- all the vegetal plants, and they come out-- for example, the stalks, the corn stalks, they become our children. And as they mature, they are growing like human people does. And like human, when the silk and the little corn comes out, they are like us, they're bringing in new life. So, all of that kind of connection you have with the... nature and with the corn, you know, that's what I think what builds up respect. So, yeah, it's-it's just... it's constantly going through this huge cycle. You know, the earth-- we know that's really our caretaker, too. We were created from the earth, then we'll go back into the earth to become one with the earth again. So, all this cycle, really, of different elements of Hopi culture come in and help you gain that kind of spiritual respect for everything that we do.