Matilda Coxe Stevenson

“ The lightning people shoot their arrows to make it rain the harder, the smaller flashes coming from the bows of the children. The thunder people have human forms, with wings of knives, and by flapping these wings they make a great noise, thus frightening the cloud and lightning peoples into working the harder. ”

“ The Society of Warriors has for its director and vicar, like the Zuñi and the other pueblos, the representatives of the mythologic war heroes, who, though small in stature, are invulnerable. “Their hearts are large, for they have the heart of the sun.” ”

“ Every blanket of value has been traded for nourishment, until the family is reduced to mere tatters for garments. For several years this family has been on the verge of starvation, and the meagerness of food and mental suffering tells the tale in the face of each member of the household, excepting the worthless fellow (who visits about the country, imposing upon his friends) . Even the little ones are more sedate than the other children of the village. ”

“ As the sun left his house, the bird Shu ́ahkai placed himself so as to obscure the light, excepting where it penetrated through the space left by the plucking of the feather from his wing, and the light shone, not only on the wand on the head of the younger sister, but it covered her face, while it barely touched the top of the plumes of the elder; and so the people of the younger sister destroyed those of the elder. The two women stood still while the men fought. The women remained on the mountain top, but the men descended into a grassy park to fight. ”

“ The beings pass over the line of meal, entering the fetiches, where they remain until the close of a ceremonial, and then depart over the line.
The secret of the fire was not brought to this world, and the fire society was originated here in this way. The people grew tired of feeding about on grass, like the deer and other animals, and they consulted together as to how fire might be obtained. It was finally decided by the ti ́ämoni that a coyote was the best person to steal the fire from the world below, and he dispatched a messenger for the coyote. ”

“ We pray you to bring to us, and to all peoples, food, good health, and prosperity, and to our animals bring good health and to our fields large crops; and we pray you to ask the cloud people to come to water the earth. ”

“ They constantly dipped their eagle plumes into the medicine water, throwing their arms vehemently about, sprinkling the altar and touching the animal fetiches with their plumes, and then placing the plumes to the mouths, absorbing from them the sacred breath of the animal. The ho ́naaite with bowed head continued his invocations to the cougar of the north, seemingly unconscious of all that was going on about him. ”

“ A ho ́naaite holds a corresponding position in the spirit world.
When a death occurs any time before sundown, the body is buried as soon as it can be prepared for the grave; but if one dies after dark the body must not be touched until after sunrise, when it is bathed and buried as soon as possible. It is usual for an elderly woman of the clan to bathe the body, cold water being used; the head is washed first in yucca suds. Sometimes, however, this method is deviated from, if the remaining wife or husband has a special friend in some other clan. ”

“ The spirits of all animals go to the lower world; domestic animals serving the masters there as they did here. The masters would not always recognize them, but Sûs ́sĭstinnako knows the property of all. The spirits of the prey animals return, and know their friends, in the lower world. A hä ́chamoni is made for the prey animal when he is killed, and a dance and ceremonial are held. The animal carries the hä ́chamoni as his credential just as the spirit of the man does.
The cloud people never die; that is, no one, not even the oldest men’s grandfathers ever knew of or saw a cloud person die. ”

“ The writer gave but limited study while at Sia to myths not directly connected with their cosmogony and cult. The minds of several of the elder men are filled with the stories of the long-ago myth-makers, and they believe in the truth of these fables as they believe in their own existence, which is the cause, no doubt, for the absence of myth-making at the present time. It must be borne in mind, however, that these people have their winter tales and romances which they recognize as fiction. ”

“ When a girl reaches puberty she informs her mother, who invites the female members of her clan to her house, where an informal feast is enjoyed. The guests congratulate the girl upon having arrived at the state of womanhood, and they say to her, “As yet you are like a child, but you will soon be united with a companion and you will help to increase your people.” The only male present is the girl’s father. The news, however, soon spreads through the village, and it is not long before offers are made to the mother for the privilege of sexual relations with the girl. ”

“ They found a large comb full of honey, and Ma ́asewe proposed to his brother that they cover their whole bodies with the honey, so that the Oraibi would not know them and would take them for poor, dirty boys; “for, as we now are, all the world knows us, and to-day let us be unknown.” “All right!” said U ́yuuyewĕ, and they smeared themselves with honey. “Now,” said the boys, “we are ready for the feast. It will be good, for the Oraibi are very good people.” Upon visiting the plaza they found a large gathering, and the housetops were crowded with those looking at the dance. ”

“ The fourth child is a 10-year-old girl, whose time is consumed in the care of the children of her blind sister, bringing the water for family use, and grinding the corn (the mother and sister occasionally assisting in the grinding) and preparing the meals, which consist, with rare exceptions, of a bowl of mush. During the planting and harvest times the father alone attends to the fields, which are their main dependence; and he seeks such employment as can be procured from his people, and in this way exchanges labor for food. ”

“ I know where it is best for you to make your home. Now, all the people of the earth are good and will be good from this time forth (referring to the destruction of the Sia by the cannibals) . I think it will be well for you to make your home there high above the earth,” pointing to the Sandia mountain, “and not return to the people of the earth.” “All right, my father,” replied Ma ́asewe; “we are contented and happy to do as you say.”
Before leaving their people Ma ́asewe organized the cult societies of the upper world. ”

“ The spider is an important actor in Sia, Zuñi, and Tusayan mythology. Sia cosmogony tells us the spider was the primus, the creator of all. Sûs ́sĭstinnako is referred to as a man, or, more properly, a being possessing all power; and as Sûs ́sĭstinnako created first man and then other beings to serve his first creation, these beings, although endowed with attributes superior to man in order to serve him, can hardly be termed gods, but rather agents to execute the will of Sûs ́sĭstinnako in serving the people of his first creation. ”

“ The boys, following their mother, said, “Mother, the bear is dead.”
The boys remained at home two days completing their arrows. Then Ma ́asewe said to his mother, “Mother, we wish to hunt for deer. Our arrows are good and we must have meat.” “That is good, my children, but listen. Away to the south lives an eagle in a high rock. She has two children. The father also lives there, and these parents are very large, and they eat all the little ones they find.” ”

“ It is the paramount occupation of their life; all other desirable things come through its practice. It is the foundation of their moral and social laws. Children are taught from infancy that in order to please the pantheon of their mythical beings they must speak with one tongue as straight as the line of prayer over which these beings pass to enter the images of themselves.
It will be understood from the cosmogony that the Sia did not derive their clan names from animal ancestors, nor do they believe that their people evolved from animals, other than the Sia themselves. ”

“ Give your largest deer to the ti ́ämoni and the smaller ones to the people of your houses.” After the Sia had started for their village Po ́shaiyänne destroyed the circle of meal and then returned to the ti ́ämoni, who said: “You, indeed, spoke the truth, for my people have brought many deer, and I am much pleased. On the morrow we will kill rabbits.” The ti ́ämoni informed the coyote of his wish for the rabbits, and in the morning a large fire was made, and the coyote spoke to the fire, saying: “We desire many rabbits but we do not wish to go far.” ”

“ During the day the spirits sleep, and at night they work industriously in the fields. The moon is father to the dead as the sun is father to the living; the dead resting when the sun travels, for at this time they see nothing; it is when the sun returns to his home at night that the departed spirits work and pass about in their world below. The home of the departed spirits is in the world first inhabited by the Sia. ”

“ It is the aim of the Sia to first reach the intermediate state at the time the body ceases to develop and then return gradually back to the first condition of infancy; at such period one does not die, but sleeps144 to awake in the spirit world as a little child. Many stories have come to the Sia by those who have died only for a time; the heart becomes still and the lips cold and the spirit passes to the entrance of the other world and looks in, but it does not enter, and yet it sees all, and in a short time returns to inhabit its earthly body. ”