The Sia: (1894 N 11 / 1889-1890 (pages 3-158))Stevenson, Matilda Coxe
History
The Sia: (1894 N 11 / 1889-1890 (pages 3-158))
Stevenson, Matilda Coxe
Zia Indians
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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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