In the beginning, the Pueblo people ate grass and seeds. They prayed to their gods to bring them more food and offered their best and brightest seeds to their gods in exchange. The Pueblo people's prayers were answered, and six beautiful corn maiden sisters were sent down to Earth.
Corn grew abundantly wherever the corn maidens danced. The Blue Corn Maiden was the most beautiful corn maiden of them all. The Pueblo people loved the Blue Corn Maiden because she brought them peace and happiness and supplied them with blue corn all year long.
One cold winter day, the Blue Corn Maiden went out to collect firewood. While she was out, she came across Winter Katsina, who brings winter to the earth. When Winter Katsina saw the Blue Corn Maiden, he fell deeply in love with her.
Winter Katsina captured her and brought her to his home. He trapped the Blue Corn Maiden inside his home by blocking the windows with ice and the doorway with a large mound of snow. Although the Blue Corn Maiden was a prisoner and could not leave on her own free will, Winter Katsina loved her dearly and treated her well; however, the Blue Corn Maiden was still very sad and missed her home and the Pueblo people.
One day, Winter Katsina left to spread winter's cold. While he was gone, the Blue Corn Maiden pushed the snow away from the doorway and left the house in search of the summer plants she loved. All she saw were yucca blades, so she returned to the house and started a fire with the yucca blades. She was not allowed to have a fire when Winter Katsina was home for fear that the heat would melt him.
While the fire was burning, the snow melted from the doorways and the ice melted from the windows. Summer Katsina entered the home carrying corn and yucca for the Blue Corn Maiden.
Soon after, Winter Katsina angrily stormed into his house holding an icicle in one hand like a knife and an ice ball in the other. He challenged Summer Katsina to a fight. Winter Katsina blew freezing air at Summer Katsina, while Summer Katsina blew a warm wind back. Summer Katsina’s wind overpowered Winter Katsina’s air, and the yucca leaves that Summer Katsina was holding lit up in fiery flames, melting Winter Katsina’s icicle.
Winter Katsina knew that he could not beat Summer Katsina, so he conceded and agreed to make peace. They decided to have the Blue Corn Maiden live with the Pueblo people for half of the year during summer. For the other half of the year, she would live with Winter Katsina, and the people would have no corn during winter.
The Blue Corn Maiden is a sign of springtime that the Pueblo people await; however, sometimes after spring has already come, Winter Katsina becomes angry at having to give up the Blue Corn Maiden, and he scatters snow or blows cold air when it is no longer winter.
The goddess of harvest, Demeter, had a daughter named Persephone whom she loved very much. While Demeter tended the crops every day, she watched Persephone play in a field of flowers. One day, Persephone was filling her basket with flowers when Hades, the god of the underworld, decided to come to earth. Hades saw Persephone from his chariot and instantly fell in love with her, so he captured her. Persephone screamed for her mother, and in fright, she dropped the flowers she had collected. Soon after, Demeter found Persephone's dropped flowers, and she began to panic, so she asked Helios, the sun god, what had happened to her daughter. When Demeter learned that Hades had taken Persephone, she was devastated and angry, and she stopped caring for the crops. Hades brought Persephone back to the underworld. He locked her in the Hall of Hades and offered her food, but Persephone refused to eat. She heard that if you ate food in theunderworld, you couldn’t leave, and Persephone wanted to escape Hades and return home. After some time, Persephone became so hungry that she could no longer resist the food, so she ate six pomegranate seeds. Meanwhile, a famine struck earth because all of the crops had died. Zeus struck a deal with Hades. They decided that Persephone would marry Hades and become the queen of the underworld. Since she ate six pomegranate seeds, she would stay for six months each winter, and in the spring, she would return to earth for six months. In the spring, Demeter has beautiful flowers and crops growing to welcome Persephone home. When fall comes and Persephone returns to the underworld, Demeter lets the crops and flowers die. This is how our seasons of fall, winter, spring, and summer came about.