Pashofa, or pishofa, is a

Chickasaw The Chickasaw ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands, United States. Their traditional territory was in northern Mississippi, northwestern and northern Alabama, western Tennessee and southwestern Kentucky. Their language is ...

and

Choctaw The Choctaw ( ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States, originally based in what is now Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. The Choctaw language is a Western Muskogean language. Today, Choct ...

soupy dish made from cracked white corn, also known as pearl

hominy Hominy is a food item produced from dried maize (corn) kernels that have been treated with an alkali, in a process called nixtamalization ( is the Nahuatl word for "hominy"). "Lye hominy" is a type of hominy made with lye. History The process ...

. The dish is one of the most important to the Chickasaw people and has been served at ceremonial and social events for centuries. Pashofa was also used in specific healing ceremonies.

Preparation and serving

Traditionally, dried corn was ground in a mortar into

cornmeal Maize meal is a meal (coarse flour) ground from dried maize. It is a common staple food and is ground to coarse, medium, and fine consistencies, but it is not as fine as wheat flour can be.Herbst, Sharon, ''Food Lover's Companion'', Third Editi ...

and cooked in a pot with water. Finely cut pieces of young piglet or calf meat were added. The dish was served cold and could keep up to a month. The pashofa is cooked over a low heat for many hours. Specialized paddles and spoons, carved from wood or animal horns, were used in stirring, serving, and eating pashofa. Several of these are currently in the collection of the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

. Pashofa was cooked in giant bowls, often over an open fire outdoors.

Pashofa Dance

The Pashofa Dance is a healing ceremony among the Chickasaw and Choctaw. A sick person could be left in a room, alone except for a

medicine man A medicine man (from Ojibwe ''mashkikiiwinini'') or medicine woman (from Ojibwe ''mashkikiiwininiikwe'') is a traditional healer and spiritual leader who serves a community of Indigenous people of the Americas. Each culture has its own name i ...

. A striped black and white pole is placed in the sick person's yard, and no one else walks past the pole. While the medicine man says a medicinal formula over the sick person to drive out the "Spirit of Disease called Shulop," others dance outside. Midday, pashofa is served to all the dancers, while it is still warm, along with water to drink. A second round of dancing ensues. Pashofa dances have also been performed indoors."Tannehill, Mintie."
''Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.'' Retrieved 4 December 2022.

Notes

References

* Fitzgerald, David, Jeannie Barbour, Amanda Cobb, and Linda Hogan
''Chickasaw: Unconquered and Unconquerable.''
Oklahoma City: Graphic Arts Center Publishing Company, 2006. . * Crossett, G. A

''Chronicles of Oklahoma.'' Vol. 4, No. 1, June 1926. {{corn Chickasaw Choctaw culture Maize dishes Native American cuisine Native American cuisine of the Southeastern Woodlands

Preparation and serving

Pashofa Dance

See also

Notes

References