White] THE PUEBLO OF SIA, NEW MEXICO 143 
and would not be qualified to perform cures; he would merely assist 
the full-fledged medicinemen in their work. 
A person very rarely asks to become a member of a society while 
in good health. The closest approximation of this that I learned of 
was the case of F. S., who lost consciousness during childbirth. She 
recovered consciousness while still in labor and offered herself to the 
Fire society. Her baby was born safely, and eventually she became 
a member of the Fire society. 
If a person has been treated by a society for a severe illness he may 
ask to become a member although he is not obliged to do so. The 
society can, however, ever after call upon him for help if they have 
need of him. T. M. used to have fits; when she had a seizure it 
would require the strength of two persons to hold and restrain her. 
Once she had a fit when the Flint society was having a meeting. The 
Flint medicinemen were sent for and they came and treated her. T. 
became a member of the Flint society as a consequence. 
A parent, or parents, may offer a sickly child to a medicine society 
in order to improve his health, or because of ominous dreams. I have 
one instance in which both of these factors were present. Juana 
(not her real name) used to have bad dreams when her son, Jose, 
was a small boy and very sickly. She used to see the bears (kokohé; 
kohaiya is the usual word for bear) of the Fire society in her dreams. 
They would threaten to take her son away with them. Then she 
used to see the bears if only she closed her eyes when she was awake. 
Once when Jose became very ill, the bears appeared to Juana in a 
dream and told her they were going to take Jose away by a certain 
date. Juana then pledged Jose to the Fire society. From the very 
moment that the Fire society accepted him Jose began to recover 
and has never been sick since that time. Jose was initiated a few 
years later. 
A married couple had five daughters but no son. When the wife 
became pregnant again she and her husband pledged their unborn 
child to the Fire society if it should be a boy. It was a boy, and he 
was eventually inducted into the Fire society. 
Trapping ' persons and inducting them into societies is a general 
practice among the Keres, and it is observed at Sia. When a society 
is holding an initiation ceremony, nonmembers are forbidden to come 
close to the house. On the first day of the ceremony an imaginary 
line is drawn around the house; where these lines intersect to form a 
corner, a stone is placed to mark the spot. On the second day the 
tabooed area is increased in size, and on the third day it is made still 
larger. By the fourth day the taboo lines would be about eight paces 
17 The Sia word here, tsi-wi-kame, is the same as that used for trapping birds or mammals; a steeltrap is 
wi-kame. 
