name of warrior name of warrior name of warrior name of warrior
of the west of the south of the east of zenith
Sa´-ra-hai-a
name of warrior
of nadir
Wai-ti-chän-ni ai-wan-na-tuon-ñi Shi´-wan-na-wa-tu-un
medicine water bowl cloud bowl ceremonial water vase
hi-än-ye
I make a
road of meal
Hi´-ah-är-ra hi´-a-mo-ñi Hi-shi-ko-yaᵗsas-pa
the ancient road the ancient road white shell bead woman
who lives where the sun
descends
sho´-pok-ti-ä-ma
whirlwind
Sûs´-sĭs-tin-na-ko ya´-ya ko´-chi-na-ko Mĕr´-ri-na-ko
creator mother yellow woman of blue woman of
the north the west
kûr´-kan-ñi-na-ko
red woman of the south
Ka´-shi-na-ko quĭs-sĕr-ri-na-ko mu-nai-na-ko
white woman of slightly yellow woman dark woman of the nadir
the east of the zenith.
_Free translation_:—White floating clouds. Clouds like the plains come
and water the earth. Sun embrace the earth that she may be fruitful.
Moon, lion of the north, bear of the west, badger of the south, wolf
of the east, eagle of the heavens, shrew of the earth, elder war hero,
younger war hero, warriors of the six mountains of the world, intercede
with the cloud people for us, that they may water the earth. Medicine
bowl, cloud bowl, and water vase give us your hearts, that the earth
may be watered. I make the ancient road of meal, that my song may pass
straight over it—the ancient road. White shell bead woman who lives
where the sun goes down, mother whirlwind, father Sûs´sĭstĭnnako,
mother Ya´ya, creator of good thoughts, yellow woman of the north, blue
woman of the west, red woman of the south, white woman of the east,
slightly yellow woman of the zenith, and dark woman of the nadir, I ask
your intercession with the cloud people.
PRAYER FOR SICK INFANT.
While the Sia have great faith in the power of their theurgists,
individually they make efforts to save the lives of their dear ones
even after the failure of the theurgist. Such is their belief in the
supplications of the good of heart, that the vice-theurgist of the
Snake Society, who is one of the writer’s staunchest friends, rode many
miles to solicit her prayers for his ill infant. He placed in her hand
a tiny package of shell mixture done up in a bit of corn husk, and,
clasping the hand with both of his, he said: “Your heart being good,
your prayers travel fast to the sun and Ko´pĭshtaia.” He, then, in the
most impressive manner, repeated the following prayer:
(1) Ku-chŏr-pĭsh-tai-a (2) Ku-chŏr-na-tä-ni (3) Ku´ti ot se ä ta (4)
Pai´-ä-tä-mo ki-ᵗchän-ni (5) Ha´-mi ha´-notch (6) U-wa mash-ta-ñi (7)
Ka´a-wĭnck (8) Ya´-ya (9) U-ä-mûts (10 Ka´-a-wĭinck (11) Sha´-mi wĭnck
(12) U-we-chai-ni (13) Ñi na mats (14) ñi to ñi (15) ᵗsi tu ma ñi to
ñi (16) Na´ wai pi cha.
_Explanation of prayer by governor for his sick child._
(1) Your thoughts and heart are united with Ko´pĭshtaia; you daily draw
the sacred breath of life.
(2) Your thoughts are great and pass first over the road to the sun
father and Ko´pĭshtaia.
(3) Our thoughts and hearts are as one, but yours are first.
(4) A man of the world. }
} Referring to the child.
(5) Of the tobacco family. }
(6) You will be to the child as a mother, and the child will be as your
own for all time to come; your thoughts will always be for one another.
(7) The hearts of ourselves and the child be united and as one heart
henceforth; those of us who pray for the child will be known by the
child and the child by us, even though the child has not been seen by
us; we will know one another by our hearts and the child will greet you
as——
(8) Mother.
(9) Take the child into your arms as your own.
(10) That the hearts of ourselves and the child’s be united and as one
heart; henceforth those of us who pray for this child will be known by
the child and the child by us; though the child has not been seen by
us, we will know one another by our hearts.
(11) May he have a good heart.
(12) May all good words come straight from his heart and pass over the
straight road.
(13) While he is growing from childhood to youth.
(14) While he is growing from youth to manhood.
(15) And may he be valued as he grows from manhood to old age.
(16) May the child be beautiful and happy.
When one is ill from the heat of the sun he sprinkles corn pollen or
meal to the sun, saying, “Father, I am ill in my head, it reaches my
heart; I pay you with this meal; I give it to you as food, and will be
thankful to you to take away my malady.”
CHILDBIRTH.
One of the most sacred and exclusive rites of the Sia is associated
with childbirth.
The accouchement here described was observed in May, 1890, at this
pueblo. Upon discovering the woman to be in a state of gestation,
the writer made every effort to obtain her consent, and that of the
doctress and members of her family to be present at the birth of the
child. She kept vigilant watch upon the woman and on the morning of the
twenty-second learned that the event was imminent.
Upon inquiring of the father of the women the same morning why he did
not go to the fields, he replied, “I can only sit and wait for the
little one to come; I must be with my daughter.” He was busy during the
day making beads of bits of shells, reducing them to the proper size by
rubbing them on a flat stone, afterwards piercing each piece by means
of a rotary drill. The following day he sat weaving a band to tie his
grandson’s hair. The woman worked as usual with her sewing and prepared
the family meals.
After the evening meal (which was some time before dark) on the 22d,
the family, consisting of the parents of the woman to be confined, her
husband and two boys of 8 and 9 years, gathered in the family living
room (this room being 15 by 35 feet). It was evident that the woman was
regarded with great consideration and interest, especially by her fond
parents, who by the way, were foster parents, the woman being a Navajo.
At the time of the removal of the Navajo to the Bosque Redondo, this
child was left by her mother in the pueblo of Sia and has since lived
with her foster parents.
On the evening of the 23d they gathered as before into the living room,
which had been specially prepared for the event. A small quantity of
raw cotton, a knife, and a string lay upon a shelf, and the infant’s
small wardrobe, consisting of a tiny sheet of white cotton, pieces of
calico and a diminutive Navajo blanket, which were gifts to the child,
were laid on a table in the farther end of the room. The family sat in
anxious expectancy.
It is the woman’s privilege to select her officiating ho´naaite
theurgist, and if her husband or father be a ho´naaite, or vicar of
a cult society, she usually selects one or the other, otherwise she
requests her husband to visit the ho´naaite of her choice and ask his
services; in the absence of her husband her brother goes. The woman,
holding shell mixture[26] in her right hand (when meal or shell mixture
is used in connection with the dead it is held in the left hand),
breathes four times upon it, that the expected child may have a good
heart and walk over one straight road, and then hands it to the bearer
of her message to be presented to the ho´naaite, this shell mixture
being the only compensation received for his services.
In this case the woman chose her father.
At 8 o’clock she was seized with the first stage of labor, and her
mother at once made a fire in the fireplace, and a low, heavy stool,
cut from a solid block, was placed in front of it. The woman took her
seat upon the stool, with her back to the fire, wearing her cotton
gown, woven dress and belt, and a small blanket around her.
The doctress (Fig. 19) and sister of the woman’s husband, who had been
summoned, arrived almost immediately. The father and husband removed
their moccasins and the women had their legs and feet bare. The father
took his seat upon a low chair in front of his daughter, the doctress
sat to her left, clasping an ear of yellow and purple corn, and the
writer by the side of the doctress, holding a medicine-stone which had
been given her some days previously by the doctress to be used on this
occasion. The husband sat upon his wadded blanket against the wall, and
by his side were his two sons and his sister, she having with her an
infant and a child some 2 years of age. The night was warm and the door
of the room was left open.
[Illustration: FIG. 19.—Sia doctress.]
The ho´naaite laid three small buckskin medicine bags on the floor
in front of him (one containing shell mixture, another the pollen of
edible and medicinal plants, and the third a plant medicine powdered),
and, holding the quill ends of two eagle plumes between his hands, he
repeated in a low tone the following prayer;
I´-i-wa-u-wak´ nai´-she-eh shan´-nai ha´-arts. Nai´-she-eh
pitonipina-mu-ᵗsa. Na´-wai-pi-cha-u-wak. I-i-wa-u-wak´,
na´-wai-pi-cha-u-wak.
Mĭsh´-ᵗcha hätch-ᵗse ko´-ta-wa oh-wi-chai-ni u-wak. Nŏw´-a-muts
Pi-to-ni p´i-na-mu-ᵗsa. Ya´-ya ko´pĭsh-tai-a ha´-arts shan´-nai
Nai´-she-eh u-wak´, pi-to-ni pi-na-mu-ᵗsa.
Na´-wai-pi-cha u-wak.
The unexpressed idea is that the child is to be received upon its sand
bed, which is symbolic of the lap of its mother earth. That it will be
as one without eyes, and it will not know its father’s Ko´pĭshtaia. May
the Ko´pĭshtaia make its heart to know them.
Free translation: “Here is the child’s sand bed. May the child have
good thoughts and know its mother earth, the giver of food. May it
have good thoughts and grow from childhood to manhood. May the child
be beautiful and happy. Here is the child’s bed; may the child be
beautiful and happy. Ashes man, let me make good medicine for the
child. We will receive the child into our arms, that it may be happy
and contented. May it grow from childhood to manhood. May it know its
mother Ût´sĕt, the Ko´pĭshtaia, and its mother earth. May the child
have good thoughts and grow from childhood to manhood. May it be
beautiful and happy.”
He then gave a pinch of the powdered-plant medicine to the woman for
the good health of the woman and child, and her mother, lifting ashes
from the fireplace with her right hand, deposited them upon the floor
in front of the woman. The father, then, standing, dipped the ashes
with his eagle plumes, holding one in either hand, and, striking the
under side of the plume held in the left hand with the one held in
the right, threw the ashes to the cardinal points. Each time, after
throwing the ashes, he passed the plumes down each side of the woman.
When the plumes are struck the ho´naaite says: Mĭsh´ᵗcha hätch´ᵗse
kótawa ohwichaini u´wak—“Ashes man, permit me to make good medicine for
the child.”
The ho´naaite discovers the diseased parts of the body through the
instrumentality of ashes, and with the scattering of ashes to the
cardinal points, physical and mental impurities are cast from those
present and the chamber is also purified.
Again the sprinkling of the ashes was repeated, but instead of running
the plumes down each side of the woman, the ho´naaite held them in
his right hand while he stood to the right of the woman and, pointing
the feather ends down, began at the top of the head and passed the
plumes in a direct line in front and down the center of the body,
with a prayer for the safe delivery of the child. At the close of
this ceremony the doctress stood to the right side of the woman, and,
placing the tip end of the corn to the top of her head, blew upon it
and passed that also in a straight line down the center of the body,
with a prayer that the child might pass through the road of life
promptly and safely. This was repeated four times, when the doctress
returned to her seat. The ho´naaite then offered a short prayer and
placed a pinch of medicine in the woman’s mouth, after which he left
the house and went to the end of the placita and sprinkled meal to
the east, praying that the sun father might bestow blessings upon the
child. In a short time the woman passed down the long room, apparently
in considerable pain, but bearing herself with dignified composure.
Her mother brought a cloth to the point where the ceremony had been
held and emptied the contents (sand) upon the floor, and with her
hands flattened the mound into a circle of 20 inches in diameter and
some 5 inches deep. On this she laid a small black sheepskin, the
sister-in-law placed a bowl of water upon coals in the fireplace, and
the mother afterward brought a vase of water and gourd and set it by
the side of the fireplace. A urinal was deposited beyond the center of
the room, and still beyond was a vase of fresh water. The mother spread
a wool mattress at the south end of the room and upon it a blanket,
and in the center of the blanket a black sheepskin, and a wool pillow
was laid at the head; a rich Navajo blanket was folded and laid by the
side of this bed. Now, all was in readiness and an early delivery was
evidently expected. The woman would sit for a time either upon a low
stool or a chair, and then pass about in evident pain, but no word of
complaint escaped her lips; she was majestic in her dignity. But few
words were spoken by anyone; all minds seemed centered on the important
event to come. “It was a sacred hour, too sacred for spoken words, for
Sûs´sĭstinnako was to bestow the gift of a new life.”
The whole affair was conducted with the greatest solemnity. At 11
o’clock the woman, whose suffering was now extreme, changed the small
blanket which she wore around her for a larger one, which fell from
her shoulders to the floor, and stood before the fireplace while the
doctress standing behind her violently manipulated her abdomen with
the palms of her hands. (The Zuñi observe a very different mode of
manipulation.) The ho´naaite, who no longer acted professionally, but
simply as the devoted father of the woman, took his seat upon a stool
on the far side of the sand bed from the fireplace, the woman kneeling
on the sand bed with her back to the fireplace and the doctress sitting
on a low stool back of the woman. The woman clasped her hands about
her father’s neck and was supported at the back by the doctress, who,
encircling the woman with her arms, pressed upon the abdomen.[27] The
father clasped his hands around his knees, holding a stone fetich
of a cougar in the palm of the right hand, and the sister-in-law,
standing to the left of the woman, placed the ear of corn to the top
of the sufferer’s head and blew upon it during the periods of pain,
to hasten the birth of the child. The prayer that was blown into the
head was supposed to pass directly through the passageway of life.
After each paroxysm the woman rose and passed about the room in a calm,
quiet way. Sometimes she would sit on a low chair; again she would
sit in front of the fire toasting her bare feet, and then leaving the
extremely warm room would walk about outside of the house. The pains
were very frequent for three hours, the longest interval being thirty
minutes, the shortest thirty seconds, the average being ten minutes,
the pains continuing from three to twenty minutes. Though her suffering
was great, nothing more than a smothered groan escaped her lips. The
doctress seemed perfectly ignorant and unable to render any real
assistance.
The only attempt made by the doctress to hasten the birth was an
occasional manipulation of the abdomen, after which she placed the ear
of corn at the head of the woman, and after blowing upon it passed it
down the middle of the body four times, as before, and the heating of
the person by heaping a few coals upon the floor and putting upon them
cobwebs, the woman standing over the coals while the mother held the
blanket close around her feet. This failing in its desired effect,
scrapings from one of the beams in an old chamber were placed on coals,
the woman standing over the coals. It is claimed by the Sia that these
two remedies are very old and were used when the world was new. After
a time a third remedy was tried—the fat of a castrated sheep was put
on coals heaped in a small bowl, the woman also standing over this—but
all these remedies failed. The woman occasionally assisted herself
with a circular stick 4 inches in length wrapped with cotton. After 2
o’clock a. m. the father became so fatigued that the sister-in-law,
instead of blowing upon the corn, stood back of him and supported his
forehead with her clasped hands. The ear of corn, when not in use, lay
beside the sand bed. As the night waned the woman gradually became
more and more exhausted, and at half past two the mother laid several
sheepskins upon the floor and on these a blanket, placing two pillows
at the head of this pallet, and then taking a pinch of meal from the
bowl which was at the right side of the bed, which had been prepared
for use after the birth, put it into the right hand of the woman, who
now knelt upon the sand bed, leaning upon her father’s shoulder while
he, in the deepest emotion, stroked her head. As the woman received the
meal she raised her head and the sister-in-law handed the ear of corn
to the father, who held it between his hands and prayed, then running
the corn from the crown of the woman’s head down the body in a direct
line and holding it vertically while the woman sprinkled the meal upon
it and prayed to Ût´sět that she might pass safely through the trials
of parturition. She was now so exhausted that she was compelled to lie
on the pallet; twice she raised from the pallet and took position for
delivery.
The two babies of the sister-in-law slept on blankets, and the two sons
of the woman who had been sent from the room early in the evening had
returned and were also sleeping on rugs. At 4 o’clock the parents, in
alarm at the interrupted labor, sent for a prominent ho´naaite, and the
husband of the woman, who had left the room at the approach of extreme
labor. The husband, in company with the ho´naaite, soon appeared, the
former removing both his moccasins, the latter the one from his right
foot only. The newly arrived ho´naaite sent the sister-in-law for a
small bowl of water, and into this he sprinkled a pinch of medicine (a
specimen of this root was obtained) and then requested the woman to
drink the water. It was with difficulty that she stood while she drank
the medicine, and allowed the ho´naaite to practice his occult power,
blowing upon the head and then blowing in a straight line down the
center and in front of the body. The blowing was repeated four times,
when the ho´naaite, standing back of the woman, put his arms around
her, pressing hard upon the abdomen. After repeating a short prayer he
replaced his moccasin and left the room, and the woman sank exhausted
to her pallet, where she lay in a semi-conscious condition until half
past 5 in the morning.
Fetiches of Quer´ränna and of the cougar had been placed under her
pillow and a third fetich (a concretion) in her right hand. The father
kept a constant vigil, while the anxious mother moved quietly about
seeking to relieve the woman by many little attentions. The mental
agony of the parents was great, the more intense sufferer being the
father, whose devotion to his daughter through her entire illness
seemed without precedent. At half past 5 the woman opened her eyes
and, raising herself, clasped her father’s neck and made another
great effort, and failing, she returned to her pallet, weeping from
sheer discouragement. After a time the mother induced her to sit up
and take food; a basket of waiavi and a piece of jerked meat which
had been broiled over the coals in the same room were placed by the
bed, when the mother hastened to another room for the corn-meal gruel
she had prepared. (During the time this gruel is boiling it is dipped
with a gourd and held high and poured back into the pot; after it is
removed from the fire it is passed through this same process for some
time. When it is ready to drink it is light and frothy. The mixture
is composed of corn meal and water.) The woman ate quite heartily and
drank two bowlfuls of the gruel. She had hardly finished her meal when
she requested her father to hasten to his seat, and kneeling upon the
sand bed she clasped his neck as before; the pain lasted but a minute
and she returned to her bed. She was scarcely down, however, when she
jumped up and knelt beside the pallet, the child being born by the
time the woman’s knees had reached the floor, the birth occurring at
half past 6 o’clock. The excitement was great, as the birth at this
moment was a surprise. The father was too absorbed in his daughter to
think much of the infant, but the old mother was frantic for fear the
child would be smothered. The writer was called to hasten and rub the
father’s moccasin down the woman’s back; the toe of the moccasin must
be downward. This was to hasten the passage of the placenta, which
promptly followed. A sheepskin was with difficulty gotten under the
child, and finally the skin was pushed forward as the woman raised
herself, and the child was taken by the doctress. The woman stood while
the doctress raised the child and the sister-in-law the placenta four
times to her face, as she expressed the wish that the umbilical cord
might be severed without danger to the child. She then deliberately
removed her belt and woven dress and walked to the bed which had been
prepared for her and lay down.
The husband of the woman gave an extra sharpening to the knife which
had lain upon the shelf, and handed it to the doctress, who, first
placing the child upon the sand-bed, tied the umbilical cord an inch
and a quarter from the umbilicus, and after cutting it removed the
child, while the sister-in-law laid the placenta upon the sheepskin
and swept the sands of the sand-bed upon a piece of cloth, placing the
latter on the back of one of the little boys. Taking half of the raw
cotton from the shelf, she laid it on the placenta, with the wish that
the umbilicus might soon be healed; and folding the sheepskin, she
deposited it in a shallow bowl, and taking a pinch of shell mixture in
her right hand she carried the bowl from the house, followed by the
boy. The sand and placenta were cast into the river; the woman saying,
“Go! and when other women bear children may they promptly follow,”
referring to the placenta.
To the doctress was brought a bowl of warm water, with which she bathed
the child; then a bowl containing yucca and a small quantity of cold
water and a vase of warm water were set by her, and after making a
suds with the yucca she added warm water and thoroughly cleansed the
child’s head, and then bathed the child a second time, in yucca suds,
and taking water into her mouth from the bowl, she threw a solid stream
over the child for a remarkable length of time. The child was rubbed
with the hand, no cloth being used in the bathing. The greatest care
was observed in cleansing the infant, who was afterward wrapped in a
blanket and patted dry. During the bathing the grandparents, father,
and brothers of the little one looked admiringly upon it, with frequent
expressions of delight. The remaining portion of the umbilical cord was
drawn through a wad of raw cotton, which was wrapped closely about it,
and ashes were then rubbed over the child. The infant, a boy, weighed
some 8 or 9 pounds, and its head was covered with a profusion of black
silky hair; it had quite a perceptible red mark covering the center
of its forehead. It seemed brighter from its birth than children of
civilized parentage, and when twenty days old was as observing as many
of our children at two months.