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
An emetic is taken these four days for purification from conjugal
relations, and continency is observed during this period. The emetic is
composed of the stalks and roots of two plants, which are crushed on a
stone slab by the ho´naaite and mixed with water when he designates the
member to place it over the fire. It is drunk slightly warm.
The decoction so constantly drank by the Tusayan Indians previous to
their snake ceremonial is an emetic, and is taken for the same purpose,
and not, as some suppose, to prevent the poisonous effect of snake
bites. Medicine for the snake bite is employed only after one has been
bitten; for this purpose the Sia use the plant _Aplopapus spinulosus_
(Indian name ha´-ti-ni) in conjunction with ka´-wai-aite, a mixture
of the pollen of edible and medicinal plants. An ounce of the plant
medicine is put into a quart of water and boiled; about a gill is drunk
warm, three times daily, during the four days and the afflicted part is
bathed in the tea, and wrapped with a cloth wet with it. An hour after
each draught of the tea a pinch of the ka´-wai-aite is drunk in a gill
of water. The patient is secluded four days; should one suffering from
a snake bite look upon a woman furnishing nourishment for an infant,
death would be the result. The Zuñi have the same superstition.
The fifth day a conical structure of cornstalks bearing ripe fruit is
erected some 70 feet east of the log house, in a ravine parallel with
the side of the house, and a sand painting is made by the ho´naaite on
the floor of the house; and when the painting is completed he takes his
seat in the west end of the room (the entrance being in the east end),
the male members of the society sitting on his right and left, and the
women forming right angles at either end of the line. The novitiates
are seated southwest of the sand painting, and all are necessarily
close together, as the room is very small.
The ritual begins with the rattle and song, and after the song the
ho´naaite passing before the line of women on the north side takes
a snake from a vase, and, holding it a hand’s span from the head,
advances to the east of the sand painting (which is similar in Pl.
XIV, with the addition of two slightly diverging lines, one of
corn pollen, the other of black pigment, extending from the painting
to the entrance of the house), and lays it between the lines, with its
head to the east.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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