GROUP OF SIA VASES.
Thus the railroad, the merchant, and the cowboy, without this purpose in view, are effecting a change which is slowly closing, leaf by leaf, the record of the religious beliefs and practices of the pueblo Indian. With the Sia this record book is being more rapidly closed, but from a different cause. It is not due to the Christianizing of these Indians, for they have nothing of Protestantism among them, and though professedly Catholic, they await only the departure of the priest to return to their secret ceremonials. The Catholic priest baptizes the infant, but the child has previously received the baptismal rite of its ancestors. The Catholic priest marries the betrothed, but they have been previously united according to their ancestral rites. The Romish priest holds mass that the dead may enter heaven, but prayers have already been offered that the soul may be received by Sûś-sĭs-tin-na-ko (their creator) into the lower world whence it came. As an entirety these people are devotees to their religion and its observances, and yet with but few exceptions, they go through their rituals, having but vague understanding of their origin or meaning. Each shadow on the dial brings nearer to a close the lives of those upon whose minds are graven the traditions, mythology, and folklore as indelibly as are the pictographs and monochromes upon the rocky walls.
An aged theurgist whose lore was unquestioned, in fact he was regarded as their oracle ([Pl. v]), passed away during the summer of 1890. Great were the lamentations that the keeper of their traditions slept, and with him slept much that they would never hear again. There are, now, but five men from whom any connected account of their cosmogony and mythology may be gleaned, and they are no longer young. Two of these men are not natives of Sia, but were adopted into the tribe when young children. One is a Tusayan; the other a San Felipe Indian. The former is the present governor, amiable, brave, and determined, and while deploring that his people have no understanding of American civilization, he stands second only to the oracle in his knowledge of lore of the Sia. The San Felipe Indian is a like character, and if Sia possessed a few more such men there might yet be a future for that pueblo.
While the mythology and cult practices differ in each pueblo there is still a striking analogy between them, the Zuñi and Tusayan furnishing the richer field for the ethnographer, their religion and sociology being virtually free from Catholic influence.
The Indian official is possessed of a character so penetrating, so diplomatic, cunning, and reticent that it is only through the most friendly relations and by a protracted stay that anything can be learned of the myths, legends, and rites with which the lives of these people are so thoroughly imbued and which they so zealously guard.
The theurgists of the several cult societies, upon learning that the object of the writer’s second visit to Sia was similar to that of the previous one, graciously received her in their ceremonials, revealing the secrets more precious to them than life itself. When unable to give such information as she sought they would bring forth their oracle (the aged theurgist) whose old wrinkled face brightened with intelligent interest as he related without hesitancy that which was requested.
The form of government of all the pueblos is much the same, they being civil organizations divided into several departments, with an official head for each department.
With the Sia (and likewise with the other pueblos) the ti´ämoni, by virtue of his priestly office, is ex officio chief executive and legislator; the war priest (he and his vicar being the earthly representatives of the twin war heroes) having immediate control and direction of the military and of tribal hunts. Secret cult societies concerning the Indians’ relations to anthropomorphic and zoomorphic beings are controlled each by a particular theurgist. The war chief, the local governor, and the magistrate as well as the ti´ämoni and theurgists have each a vicar who assists in the official and religious duties.
While the Zuñi priesthood for rain consists of a plurality of priests and a priestess, the priest of the north being the arch ruler, the Sia have but one such priest. With the Zuñi the arch-ruler holds his office through maternal inheritance; with the Sia it is a life appointment. The ti´ämoni of Sia is chosen alternately from three clans—corn, coyote, and a species of cane. Though the first priest was selected by the mother Ût´sĕt, who directed that the office should always be filled by a member of the corn clan, he in time caused dissatisfaction by his action towards infants (see cosmogony), and upon his death the people concluded to choose a ti´ämoni from the coyote clan, but he proved not to have a good heart, for the cloud people refused to send rain and the earth became dry. The third one was appointed from the cane clan, but he, too, causing criticism, the Sia determined they would be obedient to the command of their mother Ût´sĕt, and returned to the corn clan in selecting their fourth ti´ämoni, but his reign brought disappointment. The next ruler was chosen from the coyote clan, and proved more satisfactory; but the people, deciding it was best not to confine the selection of their ti´ämoni to the one clan, appointed the sixth from the cane clan, and since that time this office has been filled alternately from the corn, coyote, and cane clans until the latter became extinct. The present ti´ämoni’s clan is the coyote, and that of his vicar, the corn. Their future appointments will necessarily come from these two clans, as practically they are reduced to these.