276 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 184 
All of this takes place at a mad gallop over the plain. Eventually 
the rooster is torn to pieces, and horses and riders become smeared 
with blood and feathers. The ceremony helps to bring rain: (1) 
“Rooster blood is good for rain’’; and (2) the lather on the horses is 
like clouds and the foam on a torrential arroyo. The ceremony pro- 
motes the fertility, and the welfare in general, of horses. 
Gallo is always held on a saint’s day, usually in the summer, but 
also in late spring or early fall. The War chief has charge, and the 
fiscales officiate. It is sometimes associated with the throwing of 
presents from the rooftops of households where someone, named for 
the saint whose day is being celebrated, lives. 
In the summer of 1952, I witnessed the concluding ritual of the 
rooster pull ceremony which I had not known about before. Some 
time after all the roosters had been used, and after the War chief, 
fiscale mayor (and perhaps the governor) had talked about it and 
dismissed the participants, each horseman, dressed only in breech- 
cloth and riding his horse bareback, galloped through the village 
stopping at houses where a Santiago (or other saint’s namesake) 
lived, where women threw water upon both horse and rider: they had 
the water ready in tubs into which they dipped buckets or pans and 
threw the water with great gusto. Great good humor and pleasure 
were expressed by all concerned. 
CHRISTMAS 
The birth of Christ is celebrated at midnight on December 24. A 
Catholic service is performed by the sacristan (a Catholic priest per- 
forms Mass at this time at some other Keresan pueblos). After the 
service a dance—a war, Comanche, or other dance that non-Indians 
are allowed to witness—is held in the church. Four days of dancing 
follow; various dances may be given and the repertoire is easily var- 
ied. The pueblo holds open house during this time. I have seen 
many Navaho at Sia at Christmastime. Spanish- and Anglo-Amer- 
icans are welcome and some always come (see White, 1942 a, pp. 
267-72). 
In 1938 I visited Sia at Christmastime. Figure 40 indicates the 
arrangements in the church at the time. A was a small house in 
which a bearded figure of Christ lay in bed, his head toward the 
altar. The Blessed Virgin, wearing a crown and many strings of 
beads, stood at his head, facing east. These two figures were sur- 
rounded by trays and shallow baskets of little clay figures of domes- 
tic animals (such as I have described and illustrated for Santa Ana; 
White, 1942 a, p. 268). Candles and incense were burning; there was 
a large abalone shell half-full of coins. 
