If you look at the corn-bead necklace, they have ingrains of gray and brown in here. There's a legend that goes along with these necklaces. During the Trail of Tears, as we were coming across, a lot of the women were very sad because there was a lot of death, a lot of hunger, and they were leaving a place that they didn't want to leave because it was their home. So, the men saw that the women were crying and were so sad, and prayed to the Creator. The Creator sent them a sign and told them: Where the women's tears fall, a plant will come up from there. And from that plant they take these corn beads, and they dry them and put them on these necklaces and that's why we wear them—just to remember—it's a remembrance.
Last updated: June 7, 2016
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Mailing Address:
National Trails Office Regions 6|7|8
Trail of Tears National Historic Trail
1100 Old Santa Fe Trail
Santa Fe,
NM
87505