The Sia / (1894 N 11 / 1889-1890 (pages 3-158))

by Matilda Coxe Stevenson

I am of opinion that closer investigation of the North American Indian will reveal that the belief in the descent of a people from beasts, plants, or heavenly bodies is not common, though their mythological heroes were frequently the offspring of the union of some mortal with the sun or other object of reverence. There is no mystery in such unions in the philosophy of the Indian, for, as not only animate but inanimate objects and the elements are endowed with personality, such beings are not only brothers to one another, but hold the same kinship to the Sia, from the fact, according to their philosophy, that all are living beings and, therefore, all are brothers. This is as clearly defined in the Indian mind as our recognition of the African as a brother man.

The spider is an important actor in Sia, Zuñi, and Tusayan mythology. Sia cosmogony tells us the spider was the primus, the creator of all. Sûs´sĭstinnako is referred to as a man, or, more properly, a being possessing all power; and as Sûs´sĭstinnako created first man and then other beings to serve his first creation, these beings, although endowed with attributes superior to man in order to serve him, can hardly be termed gods, but rather agents to execute the will of Sûs´sĭstinnako in serving the people of his first creation.

Sûs´sĭstinnako must be supplicated through the mediator Ûtsĕt, who is present at such times in the fetich I´ärriko. Ko´shairi and Quer´ränna appear for the sun and moon. The war heroes and the warriors of the six mountains of the world, the women of the cardinal points, and animals, insects, and birds holding the secrets of medicine, are present, when invoked, in images of themselves. The Sia can not be said to practice ancestor worship. While the road to Shipapo (entrance to the lower world) is crowded with spirits of peoples returning to the lower world, and spirits of unborn infants coming from the lower world, the Sia do not believe in the return of ancestors when once they have entered Shipapo. While many of the kokko (personated by persons wearing masks) are the immediate ancestors of the Zuñi, the Ka´ᵗsuna of the Sia, also personated 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 something as appalling to them as the return of the dead, in their belief in witchcraft, those possessing this craft being able to assume the form of dogs and other beasts; and they are ever on the alert when traveling about on dark nights, especially if the traveler is a man of wealth, as witches are always envious of the financial success of others. They create disease by casting into the body snakes, worms, stones, bits of fabric, etc. Hair must be burned that it may not be found by wizards or witches, who, combining it with other things, would cast it into the person from whose head it was cut, causing illness and perhaps death. There is, however, a panacea for such afflictions in the esoteric power of the theurgists of the secret cult societies. A man was relieved of pain in the chest by a snake being drawn from the body by an eminent theurgist during the stay of the writer at Sia. Such is the effect of faith cure in Sia that, though the man was actually suffering from a severe cold, his improvement dated from the hour the snake was supposed to have been extracted.

CULT SOCIETIES.

Ût´sĕt, being directed in all things by Sûs´sĭstinnako, originated the cult societies of the lower world, giving to certain of them the secrets for the healing of the sick.

The societies are mentioned in their line of succession, most of them having been named for the animals of which they were composed.

The first society organized was the Ka´pĭna, which included only the spider people, its ho´-na-ai-te,[12] or theurgist, being Sûs´sĭstinnako himself; and as the members of this society were directly associated with Sûs´sĭstinnako, they knew his medicine secrets.

Then followed the societies of the bear, cougar, badger, wolf, and shrew (Sorex).

The hĭs´tiän[13] (knife) was composed of the cougar and the bear, these two societies being consolidated. Sûs´sĭstinnako finding that the bear was always dissatisfied and inclined to growl and run from the people when they approached, decided to make the cougar first and the bear second, giving as his reason that when the people drew near the cougar he sat still and looked at them; he neither growled nor ran, and the people were not afraid; he commanded their respect, but not their fear, and for this reason Sûs´sĭstinnako united these societies that the bear might be second, and under the direction of the cougar.