Just as a mother nurtures her newborn with milk from her body, Corn Mother is honored for nurturing her people with the flesh of her body, corn. The Navajo use corn meal and corn pollen in their religious observances, and corn (nah-tah) is one of the four sacred plants.

This carved bone Corn Maiden has Turquoise chips in the olla perched upon her head and detailed  basket, hair and outfit. Her face is hand-inlaid Mother of Pearl and Onyx. She wears Turquoise earrings and a necklace of Turquoise and Coral. The traditional Zuni motif, a circular sacred symbol called the “sun face” of Turquoise, Coral and Mother of Pearl, sits at its base.