Summer's Song

23''H x 12''W

 
"SUMMER'S SONG" with her maiden hair is seen holding a decorated gourd with a cloud, rain and lightning symbol on it. She will appear at the final great ceremony of the year, the Home Dance, that takes place in midsummer on the Hopi mesas.

This is a time when the early corn matures and it is a thanksgiving rite for another season of growth. Her gourd will be placed upside down on the ground as she kneels and places a notched stick on top of the gourd and scrapes a song of grinding corn with a rasp made of the bone of a sheep collar. The plaza is filled with the Home Dancers and she takes her place in the inner circle with the other maidens, all grinding a song of summer and harvest.