White] THE PUEBLO OF SIA, NEW MEXICO Hes 
about the excellence of a dance that you have seen, he will almost 
invariably comment upon the songs. They appear to be the most 
important part of many, if not all, ceremonies. ‘My friend,” an 
excellent informant once told me, ‘‘without songs you cannot do 
anything.” 
In one of their adventures Masewi and Oyoyewi protected them- 
selves from intense heat by ‘throwing shells from their mouths” 
(Stevenson, 1894, p. 49). 
The following is a version of the creation and emergence myth at 
Sia from one informant. He omitted a number of episodes, as we 
shall see later. I obtained some of these from other informants, but 
am not including them here. 
CREATION AND EMERGENCE 
In the beginning were Tsityostinako and her daughters, Utctsiti 
and Naotsiti. There were clouds and fog (he-yac) everywhere. 
There were four worlds. The bottom world was Yellow. Above 
this was a Blue-green world. Above that was a Red world. Andon 
top was the White world. ‘Tsityostinako and her daughters were in 
the Yellow world. 
Utctsiti and Naotsiti had a naback’ (a “manta,” or blanket) and 
a Djacoma (cane) to create things with. Utcetsiti created tiamunyi 
(cacique) first. She told him that he would have to take care of the 
people and love them as a mother loves her children. Tsityostinako 
and her daughters were sitting like tcaiyanyi (medicinemen) in a 
ceremonial house. Tsityostinako was sitting between her daughters. 
They spread the naback (manta) on the floor in front of them and 
put the cane (Djacoma) on top of it. Then, with magic and songs, 
they created things under the manta. Then they would pick up the 
manta and see what they had created. Tsityostinako could not be 
seen, but she was there, and it was she who put ideas into Utctsiti’s 
and Naotsiti’s heads. After they had created something, Tsit- 
yostinako would explain why it had been created. The daughters 
would take turns: first Utctsiti would create something, then Naotsiti 
would. 
After they created tiamunyi they created the iariko (the corn-ear 
fetish) of the Flint tcaiyanyi. It wasin the form of awoman. Utct- 
siti told her what her work would be. When the various beings were 
created and were told what their duties would be they cried because 
they saw it would be hard, but they said they would try to do their 
best. 
Shikanyi (the name of a society) was created next and then Shima 
(a society). Then Koshairi was created in the form of a man; Ko- 
shairi Paiyatyamo (youth) was his name. The songs and rituals 
