Huñ

Huñ, Corn Man, is the personification of maize in O'odham story, a handsome young man on whom the life of the fields depends. In the widely told tale of Corn and Tobacco he lives among the people but is slighted, or quarrels with Tobacco, and in his offense he leaves; with his going the rains fail and the crops wither, and famine grips the desert. Only when the people seek him out and show him proper respect and longing does Corn Man consent to return, bringing again the maize and the summer rains. The story encodes the precariousness of desert agriculture and the ritual attentiveness the O'odham owe to their staple crop. Versions differ on Corn's exact relationship to Tobacco, casting the two as companions, kin, or a married pair.

Domains

• maize agriculture
• rain

Powers

• bring maize and the rain that grows it
• depart in offense, taking the crops

Relations

• rival: WiwCorn and Tobacco quarrel and each departs from the people; their versions differ on whether they are companions, kin, or spouses.Dean Saxton and Lucille Saxton, O'odham Hoho'ok A'agitha (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1973) (secondary)

Sources

• Corn is personified as a young man whose presence brings maize and rain and whose departure in anger brings famine.: Ruth M. Underhill, Papago Indian Religion (New York: Columbia University Press, 1946) (secondary); Dean Saxton and Lucille Saxton, O'odham Hoho'ok A'agitha (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1973) (secondary)