CULTURAL POSITION OF SIA 
The culture of Sia is definitely and characteristically Keresan. 
It resembles very closely that of Santa Ana, San Felipe, and Santo 
Domingo. But at a number of points the similarities between Sia 
and Acoma seem to be so striking and significant as strongly to sug- 
gest close tiesin the past. It is true, as I have already pointed out (see 
“Language,” p. 33), that dialectically Sia is more remote from 
Acoma than her Keresan cousins of the Rio Grande. But there 
are impressive similarities. One of the most interesting is that only 
Sia and Acoma, among the Keres, have a snake ceremony. As far 
as we know, the only reference to a snake ceremony at Acoma is to 
be found in an early Spanish account. But the snake ceremony at 
Sia is a fullfledged ceremony, and it resembles the Hopi ceremonies 
rather closely. Of the Keresan pueblos Acoma is the closest to the 
Hopi; perhaps both Sia and Acoma borrowed the snake ceremony 
from the Hopi. But it is not without significance that among the 
Keresan pueblos only Acoma and Sia have this ceremony. 
Among the Keres, only Acoma and Sia have had rectangular 
kivas (see ‘“‘Kivas,’” p. 50). Those at Acoma were incorporated 
within house blocks, whereas those at Sia stood alone and apart. 
Acoma had 5 or 6 kivas whereas Sia had only 2, the conventional 
number for the Rio Grande Keres. Nevertheless, here is another 
similarity. 
At Acoma the cacique had to belong to the Antelope clan (White, 
1932 a, p. 41). At Sia the cacique must belong to one or another of 
3 or 4 clans, one of which is Antelope Washpa. ‘There used to be 
an Antelope clan in Sia,’ said an informant; ‘it was one of the clans 
from which the cacique was chosen. When it died out the Washpa 
clan took it over, and now the Antelope Washpa [clan] is one of the 
clans from which the cacique must be chosen.” At no other Ker- 
esan pueblo is the office of cacique identified with the Antelope clan; 
as a matter of fact, Sia and Acoma appear to be the only two that 
require affiliation with a specific clan, or clans, for this office. 
Sia pottery resembles that of Santa Ana more than that of any 
other pueblo, according to Chapman (White, 1942 a, p. 48). But 
resemblances with the wares of Acoma come next, and they are quite 
close, both in form and in decoration. 
Sia resembles Acoma more closely than other eastern Keresan 
pueblos at a few other points: the presence of the masked Gomaiya- 
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