White] THE PUEBLO OF SIA, NEW MEXICO 313 
p. 347). All of this means, of course, that it is a very important and 
sacred object. As we have already seen (p. 135), only certain men 
are permitted, and obligated, to carry it. 
At Santa Ana I obtained kastotco’ma as the name of this “pole”; 
at Cochiti, Lange (1959, p. 347) found ka-arshti-truma to be “‘the 
most common’ name. ‘The first syllable, ka, may be the third person 
possessive pronoun, his or her. One of my Sia informants said that 
actitcomi means “something like the key that opens’; I know of no 
other attempt at translation. 
The actitcomi consists essentially of two parts: a spruce pole about 
12 feet long and about 2 inches in diameter, and an egg-shaped “‘head”’ 
at the upper end as the pole is carried. (See White, 1942 a, fig. 52, 
p. 344, for a good sketch and a description of the pole at Santa Ana; 
two photographs in pl. 5, White, 1935, show the pole in use in the 
saint’s day dance in Santo Domingo; Lange, 1959, has two sketches of 
it in fig. 23, and two photographs of it in dances in the 1890’s; photo- 
graphs in Parsons, 1929, pls. 24 and 25 show it in use in San Ildefonso.) 
At the crown of the egg-shaped head is a bunch of parrot tail feathers; 
a thick fringe of sheep wool, dyed red, surrounds the feathers on the 
head at the point of insertion. The head is painted a dark blue- 
green with a black-and-white band running around its ‘‘equator.” 
Red wool surrounds the head at the base, also. Attached to the 
bottom of the head are a dance kilt and a foxskin. Then, hanging 
down the pole is the embroidered sash worn by male dancers in the 
saint’s day dance. When I commented upon the similarity of the 
“costume”’ of the pole to that of male dancers on August 15, an infor- 
mant said that it was the dancers who dressed like the actitcomi, not 
the reverse. 
The actitcomi is “dressed,” i.e., all of its parts are assembled, by 
either Koshairi or Kwiraina—depending upon which has charge of the 
dance for the Blessed Virgin; and the actitcomi is used on this 
occasion only—and dismantled by them after the dance; it is kept in 
Lorenzo Medina’s house because “‘it was originally made by Lorenzo’s 
father.” 
One informant supplied this mythological note: ‘In the beginning 
Actitcomi was a man-spirit in the fourth, or yellow, world below. This 
was his costume. He originated the Howinaye dance (on August 15 
when the actitcomi is used). He became displeased with the bad 
behavior of the people at White House so he changed himself into a 
stick, like it is today.”’ The actitcomi is ‘‘alive,” i.e., it has been 
animated, in all probability, by a medicineman or a society, and it has 
a heart (probably a piece of quartz crystal). It has a face, too, and 
“the man who carries it in the dance must know which way to face it 
[toward the front].”’ 
