Wiw

Wiw, Tobacco, is the personified source of the sacred plant the O'odham smoke to summon rain, ratify peace, and open ceremony. In the paired tale of Corn and Tobacco she lives among the people but quarrels, in most versions with Corn, and in her anger departs and hides herself, so that tobacco grows scarce and hard to find. The people must seek her out, sing to her, and treat her with honor before she consents to return. Often figured as an old woman, Tobacco embodies both the ritual power of the smoke and the etiquette of respect the O'odham owe to the plants they depend upon. Tellings differ on whether she is Corn's companion, kinswoman, or wife.

Domains

• tobacco ritual

Powers

• provide the tobacco of ritual and council
• depart in offense

Relations

• rival: HuñTobacco and Corn quarrel and each departs from the people.Dean Saxton and Lucille Saxton, O'odham Hoho'ok A'agitha (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1973) (secondary)

Sources

• Tobacco is personified in the Corn and Tobacco tale as a being whose departure deprives the people of the plant used in rainmaking and ritual.: Dean Saxton and Lucille Saxton, O'odham Hoho'ok A'agitha (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1973) (secondary); Ruth Underhill, Singing for Power: The Song Magic of the Papago Indians (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1938) (secondary)