Tobacco

Akimel O'odham (Pima) · numen · Akimel O'odham (Pima) traditional religion; continuing · numen

Tobacco (Wiw) is the personified spirit of the tobacco plant and the companion of Corn in the linked tale of their quarrel and departure. Sources differ on Tobacco's gender: some tellings present a young person who leaves the people in shame after a dispute with Corn, while in others tobacco springs from the grave of an old woman who dies and asks to be remembered. In either form the narrative accounts for the origin of the ritual tobacco central to O'odham smoking, oratory, and blessing.

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