White] THE PUEBLO OF SIA, NEW MEXICO 45 
The percentage of single persons is thus very high in Sia as com- 
pared with New Mexico, almost twice as high, as a matter of fact. 
It seems apparent from the foregoing statistics that marriage is not 
very important, or essential, to the conduct of social life in Sia. In 
1957, 31 women, single and widowed, comprising 39.2 percent of fe- 
males of 18 years of age and over, had no husband; 42 males, single or 
widowed, or 46.6 percent of males 18 years of age and over, had no 
wife. Marriage in not necessary to procreation, and there is no 
stigma attached to unmarried mothers. In 1957 there were definitely 
3 women who had borne and reared children out of wedlock: one was 
74 years old and had reared 4 children; another was 62 and had reared 
2 children; and a third was 30 and had 4 childern. None had ever 
married. In addition to these, there were 4 women who in all prob- 
ability (I cannot be sure from my census) had one or two children 
each without matrimony; they ranged from 22 to 30 years of age. In 
one or two instances I heard of an unmarried mother whose daughter 
also had borne children out of wedlock. No one, I feel safe in saying, 
need marry to gratify sexual needs. 
Nor is marriage necessary for economic reasons in many, if not all, 
instances. The household is the principal economic unit, and it al- 
most always contains one or more men, whether they are married or 
not. And, besides, women make a contribution to subsistence, apart 
from housekeeping, through horticulture, in making pottery or curios 
for sale, or in chicken raising. 
Unfortunately, my statistical analysis of marital status at Sia was 
not undertaken until after my fieldwork there was terminated. I 
knew, of course, that there were many unmarried persons in the com- 
munity, but I was astonished when statistical analysis revealed the 
very high incidence of celibacy. Had I realized this earlier I would 
have made it a subject of special inquiry. 
DRESS 
Photographs in Stevenson’s ‘“The Sia’”’ show that the old-fashioned, 
possibly aboriginal, woven, sleeveless woman’s dress, which leaves the 
left shoulder bare, was rather generally worn during the 1880’s (see 
also Curtis, ed., 1926, vol. 16, pls.). Women are shown wearing moc- 
casins and leggings, also. Photographs in the files of the Bureau of 
American Ethnology, taken about 1890, show men wearing pajama- 
like trousers and moccasins. But photographs of that era also show 
clothing, for both men and women, that had been obtained from 
traders’ stores. 
A visitor described the costume of the governor of Sia in 1912 as 
“orthodox Pueblo costume—flapping, white cotton trousers and cot- 
ton shirt, worn blouselike outside of them, his head encircled with a 
