66 THE SIA

they

saw

on Po'shaiyanne's^table,

and

allwlio could

went

to histable in preference to sitting before the ti'amoni's.

Even

thewater

upon

Po'shaiyiiune'stable

was

farbetterthanthat furnished

by

the ti'iimoni

;

and

those

who

drank of thiswater

and

ate Po'shaiyanne's food imme- diately

became

changed, their skins becomingwhiter thanbefore; but

all could noteatfrom Po'shaiyanne's bo.ard

and many had

to take the food ofthe tfiimoni, and they remained ⁱⁿ appearance asbefore.

Afterthis feast, Po'shaiyannevisitedall the pueblos

and

thenpassed onto

Chihuahua

in Mexico. Before Po'shaiyanneleft the Sia, he said to them: "Ileave you, biat anotherday I will returnto yon, forthis villageis mineforall time,

and

1 will return firstto thisvillage."

To

the ti'amoni hesaid: "Father,you are a^ti'iimoni,

audi

also

am

^one;

we

are asbrothers. All thepeople, themen,the

women, and

the children are mine,and they are yours;

and

Iwillreturnto

them

again.

Watch

forme. I willreturn^;"

and

headded, "Ina short time another people willcome; but before that time, suchtime asyou

may

choose,I wish you to leavethisvillage, for

my

heart^ishere

and

^itis notwell foran- other people to

come

here; therefore depart from this village before they

come

near."

Upon

^{entering the plazain}

^Chihuahua

Po'shaiyanne

met

the great chief,

who

invited

him

to hishome, where he

became

acquainted with his daughter.

She was

very beautiful,

and

Po'shaiyanne told the chiefthat he

was much

pleased with his daughter

and

^{wished to}

make

her hiswife.

The

chief replied: "_Ifyou desire to

marry my

^daughter

and she wishesto

marry

you, ^itis well."

Upon

thefatherquestioning thedaughter the ^girlrepliedin theaffirmative.

Then

thefather

and

mother^talked

much

^to the daughter and said:

"To-morrow

you will be married."

The

chiefsentoneofhisoflicialstoletitbe

known

^toall

the people thatPo'shaiyanne

and

hisdaughterweretobeunitedinmar- riageinthe morning,

and many

assembled,

and

there

was

a greatfeast in the house of the chief.

Many men

were pleasedwith the chief's daughter,

and

lookedwith

envy upon

Po'shaiyiiune;

and

they talked together of killing him,

and

finally warriors

came

to the house of Po'shaiyanne

and

carried

him

offto their

camp and

pierced his heart with a spear,

and

his enemies were contented, but the wife and her father weresad.

The day

after Po'shaiyiiune's death he returned to his wife's home, and

when

he

was

^{seen alive those}

who had

tried to destroy

him

were notonlyangry but

much

alarmed;

and

againhe

was

captured,

and

they

bound

gold

and

silverto hisfeet, that aftercasting

him

into the lakehis

body

should not rise; but ^a white flufl'y feather ofthe eaglefelltohim,

and

ashetouchedthefeather the feather rose,

and

Po'shaiyiiunewithit,

and

helivedagain,

and

he^still lives,and

some

time hewill

come

tous. So say theSia. Po'shaiyiinne's

name

is held in the greatest reverence;^infact,heIsregardedas theirculturehero^,

* Theculture heroofthe Sia hears anameBiniilartothat ofthe corresponding prodigyamongthe Zu&i. The sameistrue ofotherof theirmythologicalbeinga.

STEVENSON.]

MYTHOLOGY. 67 and

heisappealedto iudaily prayers,

and

the peoplehave uo doubtof his return.

They

say^{: "}

He may come

to-day, to-morrow, or perhaps notⁱⁿour lifetime."

Soon ^after Po'shaiyanne's departure from Sia the ti'amoni decided toleavehispresentvillage,

though

it pained

him much

^{to give}

up

^his

beautifulhouse.

And

they

moved and

^builtthe presenti)uebloofSia,

which village

was

very extensive.

The

ti'amoni

had

firsta squareof stonelaid, which is tobe seen at the present day, embleuuitic of the heart of the village (for a heart

must

be, before a thing can exist).

After the building of ^this village the agedti'amoni continuedtolive

many

years,

and

at hisdeathhe

was

buriedintheground,inareclining position. His

head was

covered with

raw

cotton, with aneagle

plume

attached;his face

was

painted with cornpollen,

and

cotton

was

placed atthe soles of his feet

and

laid over the heart.

A

^{bowl of food}

was

depositedin the grave,

and many

hii'chamoni were planted over the roadtothe north, the one

which

is traveled after death.

A ^bowl

^of

food

was

alsoplaced on the road. All night theysang

and

prayediu thehouse of thedepartedti'amoni,

and

early inthe

morning

all those

who

sung were bathedin sudsof yucca

made

of cold water.

Thereare two rudelycarved stoneanimals attheruined village sup- posed to

have

been visited

by

Po'shaiyiinue. These the Sia always speak of as the cougar, but they say, "In reality they are not the cougar,butthe lynx, forthecougar remained atthe white-house iuthe north."

This

cosmogony

exhibits a chapter of the Sia])hilosophy,

and

though

this philosophy is fraught with absurdities

and

contradictions, as is

the case with all aboriginal reasoning, it scintillates with poetic con- ceptions.

They

continue

:

"The

houris too solemnfor spoken words;

a new

life is tobegiven to us."

Theirs^is not a religion mainly^of propitiation, but ratherof suppli- cationforfavors

and payment

^{for the} same,

and

to do the^will of

and

therebyplease the beings to

whom

theypray. Itisthe

paramount

oc- cupation of their life; all other desirable things

come

through ^its practice. It isthe foundation of^theirmoral

and

sociallaws. Children aretaughtfrominfancy that in order to please thepantheon of their mythical beings they

must

speak with one tongue as straight as the line of prayer over

which

these beings pass to enter the images of themselves.

Itwillbe understood fromthe

cosmogony

thatthe Sia did not derive theirclan

names

from animal ancestors, nordo theybelievethat their people evolved from animals, other than the Sia themselves.

The

Zuni hold a similar belief.

The

Zuiii's reference to the tortoise

and

other animals as ancestors ^is explained in the "Eeligious Lifeofthe ZuniChild."

'

I

am

of opinion thatcloserinvestigation of the

North American

In-

'FifthAnn.Kept.Bu.Eth., pp. 539-553.

fi8

THE

SIA.

dianwill revealthatthebelief in the descent of a peoplefrom beasts, plants,or heavenlybodies is not

common,

though their mythological heroes werefrequently theoffspringof theunionof

some

mortal with the sunorotherobject ofreverence. There ^isno mysteryinsuchunionsin thephilosophy of the Indian,for,asnot onlyanimate butiuani -nate objects

and

the elements are

endowed

with personality, such beings arenot only brotherstooneanother,but hold the

same

kinshiptotheSia,from thefact, according totheii- philosophy, thatallare livingbeings and, therefore,allarebrothers. ThisisasclearlydefinedintheIndian

mind

as our recognition of the African asabrother man.

Tliespiderisan importantactoriu Sia,Zuui,

and Tusayan

mythology.

Sia

cosmogony

tells us the spider

was

the primus, the creator of all.

Siis'sistinnakois referred to as a

man,

or,

more

properly, a being pos- sessing all power;

and

as Siis'sistinnako created first

man and

then otherbeings toserve hisfirst creation,these beings,although

endowed

with attributes superior to

man

ⁱⁿ order to servehim, can hardly be termed gods, but rather agents to executethe will of Siis'sistinnako inservingthepeople of hisfirst creation.

Siis'sistinnako

must

be supplicated through the mediator iJtset,

who

^is present at such times in the fetich I'arriko. Ko'shairi

and

Quer'ranna appear for the sun

and

ruoon.

The war

heroes

and

the warriors of the sixmountains of theworld, the

women

ofthe cardinal points,

and

animals, insects,

and

birdsholding the secretsofmedicine, arepresent,

when

invoked, inimages ofthemselves.

The

Siacan not be said to practice ancestorworship.

While

theroad to Shipapo^(en- trancetothelower world) is

crowded

with spiritsofjieoplesreturning tothelower world,

and

spiritsofunborn infants

coming

from the lower world,the Siadonotbelieve iu the return of ancestors

when

oncethey have entered Shipapo.

While many

of the

kokko

(personated

by

per- sons wearing masks) are the immediate ancestors of the Zuni, the

Ka"sunaof

theSia,alsopersonated

by men and women

wearing masks, are altogether a^distinct creation,

and

can not be considered to bear any relation to ancestor worship.

The

Sia,however,

have

somethingasappallingto

them

as the return of the dead, in their belief iu witchcraft, those i^ossessing this craft being ableto

assume

theform of dogs and other beasts^;

and

they are everon thealert

when

traveling about on darknights, especially ifthe traveler^is a

man

ofwealth, as witches arealways envious of thefinan- cialsuccess of others.

They

create tlisease

by

casting into the

body

snakes, worms, stones, bitsof fabric, etc. Hair

must

be burned that

it

may

not be found

by

wizards or witches,who, combining it with otherthings,would castitinto theiiersoii fi-oni

whose

head^it

was

cut, causing illness

and

perhaps death. Thereis, however, apanacea for

such afflictionsinthe esoteric

power

of the theurgists of thesecret cult societies.

A man was

relievedof pain in the chest

by

a snakebeing

drawn

fromthe

body by an

eminent theiirgist during the stay of the

STEVENSON.)

CULT

SOCIETIES.

69

writer atSia. SucliistheeffectoffaithcureinSiathat,thoughthe

man was

actuallysufferiugfrom a severecold, his

improvement

datedfrom the hourthe snake

was

supposed tohave been extracted.

CULT

SOCIETIES.

Crt'set,beingdirectedinallthings

by

Sus'sistinnako, originated the cult societies of thelower world, givingto certain of

them

the secrets forthe healing of the^sick.

The

societies are mentionedin their line ofsuccession,

most

of

them

having been

named

forthe animals of

which

theywere composed.

The

first society organized

was

the Ka'pina, which included ouly the^{si:)ider people, its} ho'-na-ai-te,' or theurgist, being Sus'sistinnako himself;

and

as the

members

ofthis societyweredirectlyassociated with Sus'sistinnako, they

knew

his medicinesecrets.

Then

followed the societies of the bear, cougar, badger, wolf,and shrew {Sorer).

The

^{his'tiiin^ (knife)}

was composed

ofthe cougar and the bear, these

two

societiesbeingconsolidated. Sus'sistinnako finding that thebear

was

always dissatisfied

and

inclined to growl

and

run from thepeople

when

they approached, decided to

make

thecougar first

and

the bear second, giving as hisreason that

when

the people

drew

nearthecougar he sat still

and

lookedat

them

; heneither growlednorran,

and

the peoplewere not afraid^; he

commanded

theirrespect,but nottheirfear,

and

forthisreason Sus'sistinnako united these societiesthat the bear might besecond,

and

underthe directionofthe cougar.

The

nextsix societiesorganized were the snakes,

composed

of the snakes of the cardinal points, thesnake of the northbeing Ska'towe

(Plumed

Serpent), thewest Ka'spauna, the south Ko'qiiaira, the east Quis'sera, theheavensIlu'waka, the earth Ya'ai.

The

Ska'towe (Ser-

pentof theIS^orth)

and

Ko'quaira (Serpent of theSouth)havingspecial influence over the cloudpeople, have theirbodies

marked

with cloud emblems;

theKa'spanna

(Serpent of the West) and theQuis'sera (Ser- pentofthe East) holdesoteric relationswith thesun

and moon;

hence their bodies are paintedwith the crescent.

Hu'waka

(Serpent of the Heavens) has abodylike crystal,

and

itis sobrilliant thatone'seyes can notrest

upon

him; he^isvery closelyalliedto the sun.

The

Ya'ai (Serpent of the Earth) has special relationswith Ha'arts (the earth).

His

body

is spotted over like the earth,

and

he passes about over Ha'arts until

someone

approaches,

when

he hastens into his housein the earth.

The

seven antsocietiesfollowedthe snakes.

The

five animal soci- eties,the six

^nake

societies, the first three ant societies,

and

the

'Presidingofficerof a cnlt society.

2This society difieredfrom the oneofthe samenameafterwardsorganizedintheupperworld;

knife in thetormerreferring totheimplement usedfordomesticand otherpurposes,whiletheword inthe latter indicates thearrows presentedtoMa'asewe and U'yuuyew6,thetwo warheroes,sonsof the sun,bytheir father.