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Zuñi Breadstuff
Excerpt from Zuñi Breadstuff
Frank Hamilton Cushing was born in Northeast, Pennsylvania, July 22, 1857. At first a physical weakling, he drew away from the customary associations of child hood and youth and fell into a remarkable companionship with nature; and as the growth of the frail body lagged, his mental powers grew in such wise as to separate him still further from more conventional asso ciates. In childhood he found 'sermons in stones and books in running brooks;' and in youth his school was the forest about his father's homestead in central New York. There his taste for nature was intensified, and the habit of interpreting things in accordance with natural prin ciples, rather than conventional axioms, grew so strong as to control his later life. Meantime, relieved of the constant waste of mentality through the friction of social relation, his mind gained in vigor and force; he became a genius....
Frank Hamilton Cushing was born in Northeast, Pennsylvania, July 22, 1857. At first a physical weakling, he drew away from the customary associations of child hood and youth and fell into a remarkable companionship with nature; and as the growth of the frail body lagged, his mental powers grew in such wise as to separate him still further from more conventional asso ciates. In childhood he found 'sermons in stones and books in running brooks;' and in youth his school was the forest about his father's homestead in central New York. There his taste for nature was intensified, and the habit of interpreting things in accordance with natural prin ciples, rather than conventional axioms, grew so strong as to control his later life. Meantime, relieved of the constant waste of mentality through the friction of social relation, his mind gained in vigor and force; he became a genius....
731 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1975
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October 5, 2023I had a lot of fun with this book. It's part of my "people and grains" reading series, in which I'm trying to investigate the idea that grains have been a primary food for so-called "hunter-gatherers," and that meat played a relatively small part.
This book does have many passages that bear on that question, in particular legends about the forebears of the Zuni who were believed to have migrated and fed primarily on wild seeds until they were given the "seed of seeds," maize, and shown how to cultivate it.
Zunis prized hunters and ate meat, but Cushing goes out of his way to point out what a small portion of their meals it made up and how gauche it was to overindulge in it. A Zuni stew might be flavored with a small amount of shredded meat, or a single stick of jerky would be made to last a whole meal as a kind of lollipop/serving utensil.
One surprise from this book came from the personalities of the Zuni. They sound like they were a hilarious bunch and loved to give their white brother from "Wassintona" a hard time. The passage about Cushing's introduction to "rat-brine" near the end cracked me up, wherein his adopted elder brother implores their traveling companions to raid a wood rat's nest to brew up some of this brine. Cushing's disgusted face, as his elder brother imagines it, displays an irrepressible excitement and hunger for rat-brine.
Definitely a fun read, and gave me so many ideas for what to do with cornmeal!
This book does have many passages that bear on that question, in particular legends about the forebears of the Zuni who were believed to have migrated and fed primarily on wild seeds until they were given the "seed of seeds," maize, and shown how to cultivate it.
Zunis prized hunters and ate meat, but Cushing goes out of his way to point out what a small portion of their meals it made up and how gauche it was to overindulge in it. A Zuni stew might be flavored with a small amount of shredded meat, or a single stick of jerky would be made to last a whole meal as a kind of lollipop/serving utensil.
One surprise from this book came from the personalities of the Zuni. They sound like they were a hilarious bunch and loved to give their white brother from "Wassintona" a hard time. The passage about Cushing's introduction to "rat-brine" near the end cracked me up, wherein his adopted elder brother implores their traveling companions to raid a wood rat's nest to brew up some of this brine. Cushing's disgusted face, as his elder brother imagines it, displays an irrepressible excitement and hunger for rat-brine.
Definitely a fun read, and gave me so many ideas for what to do with cornmeal!
January 22, 2009
Another excellent choice for those people interested in Native American cultures and creation myths. Truly a classic.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews