10 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 184 
The cultures of Sia, Santa Ana, and Santo Domingo are much alike 
at many points. And, since I have already published accounts of 
Santa Ana and Santo Domingo (not to mention my brief paper on 
San Felipe), I have not described Sia ceremonies in full where they 
closely resemble their counterparts in Santo Domingo or Santa Ana. 
Take the gallo, or rooster pull, for example. It is found at Sia, Santo 
Domingo, and Santa Ana, and the ceremonies are very much alike 
in these pueblos. Since I have described it in some detail in ‘“The 
Pueblo of Santa Ana, New Mexico” (1942 a, pp. 263-267) and in 
“The Pueblo of Santo Domingo, New Mexico” (1935, pp. 155-158), 
I have not treated it at length in the present study; I have merely 
described a feature which I did not see at other villages. 
In my study of Sia I have tried to dig deeper into its culture, es- 
pecially into its philosophy, than I have at other pueblos. I acquired 
a great deal of information about Keresan culture in earlier studies, so 
in later years, in my work at Sia, I tried to penetrate deeper into the 
concepts, the meanings, which characterize and permeate the socio- 
cultural system instead of merely describing the same or similar 
ceremonies once more. I was fortunate in having one or two inform- 
ants who were congenial with this purpose. Honawai’aiti and ‘‘wet”’ 
and ‘‘dry”’ ceremonies are examples of such concepts. I had never 
encountered honawai’aiti, for example, at any other Keresan pueblo, 
although I know now that it is present and significant at Santa Ana. 
This fact, in addition to general considerations, makes me fee] sure 
that much data escaped me at Santa Ana and Santo Domingo: I did 
not dig deeply enough. And, it goes without saying, I have not 
pumped the well dry at Sia by any means. 
My primary purpose in all my studies of the Keresan pueblos has 
been to learn as much as possible about their aboriginal culture. It 
is this that has been unique, and it is this that is disappearing from 
the face of the earth. Special problems which have been popular 
among many field workers, such as ‘‘the relationship between economic 
organization and kinship structure,” or “‘the effect of child training 
upon pueblo government and social control,” could not be under- 
taken before the basic, underlying culture was known. And conven- 
tional studies of ‘‘culture change” can be made anywhere at any time. 
But an account of the aboriginal culture divorced from the influences 
that Euro-American culture has exerted upon it would be foolishly 
emasculated. I have, therefore, undertaken to present the culture of 
Sia in its actual and proper historical setting, i.e., as a culture in a 
process of change. 
In the pages that follow, phrases or sentences will occasionally be 
found in quotation marks. Unless otherwise indicated, these are 
verbatim statements by informants; sometimes there is definitely a 
value in presenting them in their own words. 
