English

corn

Scientific Name

Zea mays [Corn]

Arapaho

1. beskootee ; 2. hoo’eeti’

Corn in the Arapaho

Food: staple. Corn was and is eaten in various ways - primarily in soups and stews. The Arapahos originally obtained it through trade.

Other: ceremonial items. Kroeber reports that corn husks were used ornamentally on a buffalo skin blanket (1983:66), as well as on ceremonial objects in the Dog Lodge age-grade ceremony (201) and women’s Buffalo Lodge ceremony (218). Arapahos today identify the first word above as the “older” one.