White] THE PUEBLO OF SIA, NEW MEXICO 133 
FISCALES 
The Indians pronounce this Spanish word Bickari or Bickali. There 
are two: Fiscale mayor and fiscale teniente. They are appointed 
yearly by tiamunyi. They have charge of the Roman Catholic church 
within the pueblo, and deal with the Catholic priests when they come 
to the pueblo for church services. If a couple wishes to be married 
by the Catholic priest they tell the fiscale and he makes the arrange- 
ment with the priest. When the time comes, fiscale, carrying his 
yapi, will escort the couple to the church and, after the ceremony, to 
their home. Fiscales also have charge of a portion of the mortuary 
ceremony. And, according to one informant, they may try cases of 
adultery. They have no helpers of their own as do the fiscales of San- 
ta Ana and Santo Domingo; when they need assistance they are free 
to call upon the governor’s helpers. 
SACRISTAN 
The sacristan is, in a sense, an official of the pueblo, but he is not 
appointed by tiamunyi. The reason why tiamunyi appoints the 
fiscales and not the sacristan is that the former are pueblo officials who 
negotiate with an outside, non-Indian organization: the Catholic 
church. The fiscales have no religious functions at all. The sacristan, 
on the other hand, is a functionary of the Catholic church; he has 
religious functions. He assists the priest when he comes to Sia, and, 
in the absence of the priest, he performs church services himself. It 
would not be fitting, therefore, for the cacique to appoint such an 
official. A person becomes a sacristan of his own initiative and will, 
and on the acquiescence and acceptance of the community. He 
serves for life, or as long as he wants and the community wishes to 
have him. He has a few helpers, men whom he has persuaded to 
assist him, or who have offered themselves for this service. 
KAHeERA 
I have discovered no English equivalent for the term kahera and I 
do not even know if it is an Indian word—Keresan or otherwise—or 
whether it has been derived from some other source. The kahera 
might be called the ‘church drummer.’”’ He has what appears to be 
an old army type drum, which he beats with two sticks; this is the 
only instance in which a drum in a Keresan pueblo is beaten with two 
drumsticks. The principal occasion upon which he performs is in 
the ceremony in celebration of the pueblo’s patron saint. He stands 
outside the door of the church, and when Mass has been concluded he 
begins to roll his drum with considerable vigor. Beating his drum, 
he accompanies the procession in which the image of the saint is car- 
ried through the pueblo, until the saint is deposited in her “‘house’”’ in 
600685—62——10 
