White] THE PUEBLO OF SIA, NEW MEXICO 309 
tail feathers are inserted. A necklace of turquoise, obsidian, and 
beads is placed around iariko’s ‘‘neck.” Iarikos are placed upright 
upon the altars during ceremonies, always facing the door (see fig. 45). 
Stevenson (1894, p. 40) says that each iariko must be renewed every 
4 years; one of my informants said that ‘‘all members of each society 
make new iarikos at one time [periodically]; it may take two or three 
days.” Each medicineman, with some exceptions, has an iariko: “‘it 
guides him and cares for him.’”’ When he dies it is buried with him. 
PRAYERSTICKS (H‘A'TCMINY] 
Sia, like all other pueblos, makes and uses prayersticks: sticks, cut 
from twigs or branches of living trees, carved, painted, and decked 
with feathers. I am sure that at least 50 pages would be needed to 
set down all the detailed facts pertaining to Sia prayersticks, were they 
known. Many different kinds of prayersticks are made and they are 
used in various combinations. There are unquestionably many rules 
and customs that specify who may make prayersticks and upon what 
occasions. Our knowledge of Keresan pueblo prayersticks in general 
is fairly adequate: they are made by medicinemen, for the most part, 
upon occasions such as solar ceremonies, summer retreats for rain, and 
mortuary rituals, and they are means of communication with the spirit 
world. However, we do not have a completely adequate knowledge 
and understanding of the Indian’s conception of prayersticks. Some 
of them have faces, eyes, and mouths, and Stevenson (1894, p. 76) 
says that they ‘are symbolic of the beings to whom they are offered.” 
Are these sticks then spirits themselves, or do they embody spirits, or 
merely represent them? ‘The sticks are unquestionably means of com- 
munication, and they, or the feathers attached to them, may possibly 
be considered gifts, or offerings, to the spirits. 
My data on Sia prayersticks are meager (because I usually gave 
precedence to other subjects when I had a good informant to work 
with). However, Stevenson has some excellent colored pictures of, 
and some data on, them (pls. xi, xii, xiii, and pp. 74, 76). And, of 
course, other monographs on the Keresan pueblos offer descriptions 
and illustrations. 
All Sia prayersticks are made of willow except in the case of some 
of the summer ceremonies for rain when spruce (or fir?), with some of 
the attached twigs, is used. Figure 48, a, is an informant’s sketch 
(redrawn by a White artist) of a “typical”? Sia prayerstick. It is 
from 4 to 6 inches long. The head end of a prayerstick is the end 
farthest from the roots of the tree from which it was cut. In figure 
48, a, the head of the stick has been cut into four flat triangular 
facets which are painted alternately blue green and yellow. The tip 
is painted blue green; the butt, yellow. The bark has been peeled off 
at certain places. A wasanyi (a feather-bunch consisting of 1 eagle 
600685—62——21 
