Elegant Sisters

The tallest sisters are back to back with three younger sisters surrounding them.  Each one sees the world around them and collectively they have a 360 degree view.  Terrance Martza carved them from antler.  The sisters have inlaid jet eyes and red coral mouths.  They all have tiny silver flowers and turquoise below their necks, and turquoise and coral are inlaid into engraved stars on their bodies.  The taller sisters are wearing tablitas (head pieces).  There are so many details to be admired on them!  There is a total of thirty-five turquoise stones and twenty red coral dots set into the bodies.    Signed "TJM" on the bottom. 

Size: 9.75" H x 1.25" L x 1.5" W

Female corn beings represent all that is good about being a woman: loving, generous, nurturing, kind, and strong with great compassion.  In tribes that traditionally grow corn, most of the stories are the similar.  There are many Indigenous stories about how corn was brought to the people at a time when there was hunger, and how a sacred, sometimes other worldly, female being brought them corn.  In Zuni Pueblo, there are three ages of female corn beings: the maiden who wears her hair in the traditional buns on each side, the mother who has one or more babies, and the elder grandmother who wears her shawl over her head. There are dances to honor the female corn beings in many of the Pueblos.  And in other tribes, she is held in a place of great honor.

Traditionally, Zuni carvings are symbolically fed cornmeal.   Each Zuni fetish comes in a box with a descriptive card and a tiny bit of corn meal to tide them over until they reach you.