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
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_).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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