Among the Cora (náayeri) of the Sierra del Nayar, the maize goddess appears as a young woman, 'the maize girl', who is given in marriage to a human family on the condition that she never be made to work. Because she is the maize itself, she feels her body burn when maize is toasted or nixtamal is set on the fire; when her mother-in-law nonetheless forces her to grind and make tortillas, her hands bleed, she loses her divine quality, and she abandons the household, taking the abundance of maize with her. Konrad Theodor Preuss first recorded the myth during his 1905-1907 Nayarit expedition, and later versions were collected at Mesa del Nayar by Adriana Guzmán and at Jesús María by Margarita Valdovinos. The goddess remains ritually present: during the Pachitas (carnival) celebrations, girls of the community known as Malinches are set apart from everyday female labor and, through ritual objects and relations, are temporarily transformed into the goddess, as analyzed by Maria Benciolini.