Tell Me A Story - Part 7 - The Legend of the Corn Beads

5 comments

Another plant story concerns the tears of the people. This time it concerns a plant called the medicine bead or corn bead or hippie bead (in the 60’s) or Job’s Tears.

A story says that at the time the soldiers drove the people toward the West on the Trail of Tears, these tall plants began to grow where the people wept. The plants are members of the corn family. They will grow where the seeds fall to the ground, even if they are not cultivated. They, like the Cherokee rose, are strong enough and stubborn enough to take over much of the garden.

Now the Cherokee grow these grassy plants to make beads for the tourists, but many don’t know these beads also symbolize for the people the tears of the travelers on the Trail of Tears.

From “Aunt Mary, Tell Me A Story”

• 13 Jan, 2010
• 11 likes

More blog posts by healerwitch