White] THE PUEBLO OF SIA, NEW MEXICO 75 
board. A bass drum and some traps were on the stage, but they 
were not used during the service. 
The church now began to fill up. Females were in the majority 
and they ranged in age from 3 years to 70 or more. On the stage 
was a small choir of young men and boys. Three middle-aged men 
also sat on the stage. The pastor of the church was not present that 
evening; one of the three men took charge of the meeting, another 
preached, while the third remained seated. 
' When the people who had gone outside during intermission had re- 
turned, one of the men on the stage stood up and said in a loud voice: 
“By the Cross...’’ The kneeling women stood up and went to their 
pews and everyone began to sing “By the Cross...’ After the song 
the man in charge made a brief talk and then turned the meeting over 
to Sister X, a dowdy, middle-aged, light-colored Negress. She an- 
nounced that they would now receive testimony. People would get 
up, one after another, and give their testimony. This usually con- 
sisted of a stereotyped formula: about how they had been saved, how 
they had been cured of a severe illness, how a baby had been spared, 
and how they rejoiced in their salvation—although the testimony was 
usually uttered in a rapid, perfunctory manner and in a flat colorless 
voice. Sometimes, however, a person would stand up and begin a 
song. After the first phrase or so everyone else would join in, keeping 
time by clapping their hands. At the end of the song, the person who 
began it would give his or her testimony. A young woman accom- 
panied the songs on the piano, and occasionally a young man on the 
stage accompanied with a violin. 
The testimonials were continued for an hour or more. At the end 
a collection was taken and the man in charge of the meeting blessed 
the offering. ‘Then one of the men on the stage arose and began to 
preach. Hissermon was loud, vigorous, gymnastic, and hortatory, but 
not impassioned. On the contrary, it was marked by wit and good 
humor. He asked someone in the congregation to read a passage 
from the Bible. After a phrase or so had been read, he would inter- 
rupt and comment upon it. There was humorous response from the 
choir. The service was concluded by a ritual of anointment: Women 
from the congregation went forward to the stage where the preacher 
put ointment from a bottle on their heads while the man in charge of 
the meeting and an old woman placed their hands upon the recipient’s 
head and prayed. Someone announced that there would be a meeting 
of “the saints’’at Sister Y’s house on the following evening, and the 
services for the evening were over. 
There was nothing frenzied or orgiastic about the meeting at all.’ 
1 Hawley (1948., p. 277) attended many church services of this sect and reports excited and frenzied 
behavior on the part of the congregation. 
