108 BUEEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 55 



The Rio Grande Tewa raise wheat by means of irrigation, prepar- 

 ing the ground by plowing. "When American iron plows first began 

 to supersede wooden plows of Spanish pattern, there were only one 

 or two such implements in the pueljlo of Santa Clara; these were 

 communal property, having been given by the Indian agent, and 

 were used by all the men in turn. (Similarly, some iron tools — 

 scythes and hoes — at San Juan Pueblo are kept in the governor's 

 storehouse as communal property.) The time for sowing wheat 

 "v^s formerly fixed and proclaimed by the oflciales^ but after a series 

 of disputes which began about YO years ago, liberty of private 

 action in this respect was established, at least in the pueblo of Santa 

 Clara. As might be expected, the sowing of this Spanish food plant 

 is accompanied by Christian rites. A small cross, peywiy {pe^ 

 stick; ywvrj, to stand upright), made of two twigs, with sprigs of 

 pinon and juniper cedar tied to it with strips of yucca, is carried 

 to the church at Santa Cruz to be blessed by the priest. After 

 wheat sowing, this cross is stuck in the field to benefit the crop, much 

 as the Tewa of Hano set up prayer-sticks and feathers in their maize 

 fields. When the wheat has been harvested the cross is brought 

 home and put away in the house. If a young boy should die, this 

 cross would be laid on his breast. 



The Tewa threshing floors, like those of the New Mexican Span- 

 iards, are circular areas of level ground about 30 feet across, plas- 

 tered with adobe, situated on the outskirts of the villages, generally 

 on high ground near a steep declivity, where a breeze will assist 

 the work of winnowing. Each ^e<ia (< Spanish era) may belong 

 to five or six men, relatives or connections by marriage, who have 

 made it by their joint labor. In September the wheat is piled on the 

 '^a, a temporary fence of stakes and ropes (formerly of rawhide 

 straps) is set up, and a number of horses are driven round and round 

 in the inclosure until all the grain has been trodden out. Unbroken 

 horses and mares with their foals are driven in from the hills for this 

 work. The men spread the wheat with pitchforks for the horses to 

 trample, and from time to time fork the straw out of the ''C'la. When 

 the threshing is done, the men throw the trash to the wind so it may 

 blow away, and the women and children sweep the grain into baskets 

 and winnow it by tossing against the wind, or sift it through trays of 

 roughly perforated tin; after this they carry it home in sacks and 

 store it in built-up bins of wood or of plastered adobe. An Ameri- 

 can threshing machine was used in 1912 for the first time at the 

 pueblo of Santa Clara. 



From this point the care of the wheat belongs to the women, who 

 sort and pick it clean by hand and wash it in the creek or the acequia. 

 It is ground in water mills, some of which belong to "Mexicans" 



