Salt Woman
Also called Salt Old Woman, Salt Mother.
Salt Woman is a Pueblo deity identified with salt deposits, above all Zuni Salt Lake, whose migration narrative explains the site and the respect owed to it.
At a glance
- Tradition
- Pueblo folkloreZuni folklore
- Region
- American Southwest (place of origin)
- Trait family
- The Hearth-Bound
Near this figure
Traits
Read from the figure's description, which a model wrote. Open "why" for the sentence a trait came from.
Behaviour
- Offended by disrespect to dwelling
why
Published accounts describe a migration narrative in which Salt Woman, offended by disrespectful treatment or neglect at an earlier dwelling place, withdrew — in some tellings more than once — before settling at her present lake, carrying the resource's availability with her as she moved.
- Respect for habitat determines fortune or misfortune
why
The narrative is told as an explanation both for the lake's location and for the standing obligation to approach salt-gathering there with proper regard, since the same disregard that drove her away once could offend her again.
Roles
Judged from the works' own entries, not from the description. Carries: the figure holds the role. Meets: the role is in its stories, held by something it meets.
- Trickster carries
3 citations
- Carol Rose, Spirits, Fairies, Leprechauns, and Goblins, s.v. "Salt Woman."
- Maria Leach, editor, Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology, and Legend, s.v. "Salt Woman."
- Richard Erdoes and Alfonso Ortiz, editors, American Indian Myths and Legends.
- Wise Old Man carries
3 citations
- Carol Rose, Spirits, Fairies, Leprechauns, and Goblins, s.v. "Salt Woman."
- Maria Leach, editor, Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology, and Legend, s.v. "Salt Woman."
- Richard Erdoes and Alfonso Ortiz, editors, American Indian Myths and Legends.