Kanenhagenat

KANENHAGENAT Seneca

White CORN, which was given to the Seneca by a beautiful woman. The woman stood on a cliff overlooking a village and sang day and night in order to draw to her a man she wanted as a husband. Because of his age, the man refused to climb the mountain, but the village council convinced him to go. When he found the woman, she told him that their love would cause a plant called kanenhagenat to grow and become a major food source for his people. The next morning, the woman had vanished. As she had said, a corn plant grew on the spot where they had met, and the man passed on the knowledge of corn and its cultivation to the village.

SOURCE:

Native American Mythology A to Z – ( first edition ) – Written by Patricia Ann Lynch – Copyright © 2004 by Patricia Ann Lynch