White] THE PUEBLO OF SIA, NEW MEXICO 129 
his work and advise him. They are ranked in order of seniority, but 
do not have individual names as the War chief’s gowatcanyi do. 
WAR CHIEFS 
As previously mentioned, Stevenson listed both War priests and 
and War chiefs at Sia in 1890. There are only two War captains 
now. They represent the twin War gods and are usually called 
Masewi and Oyoyew1, although they are sometimes called Tsiakiya 
and Tsiakiya teniente; in English, informants usually refer to them 
as War chiefs, or captains. The War chiefs are chosen annually, 
without regard to clan affiliation, by the cacique. Each has a staff of 
office (yapi): a stick very much like an arrow shaft, painted dark 
brown. He receives this staff at the time of installation, and returns 
it to cacique upon expiration of his term of office, to be passed on to 
his successor. In the myths about Masewi and Oyoyewi, the 
former is the elder and is represented as being shrewder and having 
more initiative and aggressiveness than Oyoyewi. In pueblo life 
today Masewi is so much more important than Oyoyewi that the 
latter appears to be little more than Masewi’s helper. 
As we have noted, tiamunyi holds himself aloof from pueblo af- 
fairs so that he may address himself more fully to spiritual matters. 
It is the responsibility of Masewi and his assistant, Oyoyewi, to 
administer pueblo affairs insofar as they involve the aboriginal 
culture (or what is considered aboriginal) and those affairs that are 
communal in character rather than private and personal (see ‘‘Gov- 
ernment”). They have virtual charge of almost all ceremonies held 
in the pueblo, at least nominally. In many cases a dance or ceremony 
is held at the initiative or request of Masewi. In instances where the 
initiative comes from some other source, and where the responsibility 
for the conduct of the dance or ceremony rests in other hands, the 
permission of the War chief must be obtained, and the dance or 
ceremony is held within his jurisdiction, so to speak. On some 
occasions at least, Masewi must obtain permission from the head of 
the singers, the Madaiko nawai, before he can put on a dance; if 
the head declines the dance cannot be held. On the other hand 
the head of the singers may initiate a dance, but he must obtain the 
permission of Masewi before the dance can be held. If a group wishes 
to put on an impromptu dance of a nonsacred nature, merely for 
recreation, such as a Comanche dance, or a very amusing dance in 
which Navaho men and women were impersonated by male Sia 
dancers—which I witnessed in Sia in the fall of 1954—they do not 
need to obtain Masewi’s permission. 
Stevenson (1894, pp. 18-19) states that ‘It is the duty of the War 
chief to patrol the town during the meetings of the cult societies and 
