132 THE SIA. 



CHILDBIRTH. 



One of the most sacred and exclusive rites of the Sia is associated 

 with childbirth. 



The accouchement here described was observed in May, 1890, at this 

 pueblo. Upon discovering the woman to be in a state of gestation, 

 the writer made every eflbrt to obtain her consent, and that of the doc- 

 tress and members of her family to be i)resent at the birth of the child. 

 She kept vigilant watch upon the woman and on the morning of the 

 twenty-second learned that the event was imminent. 



Upon inquiring of the father of the women the same morning why 

 he did not go to the lields, he replied, " I can only sit and wait for the 

 little one to come ; I must be with my daughter." He was busy dur- 

 ing the day making beads of bits of shells, reducing them to the proper 

 size by rubbing them on a flat stone, afterwards piercing each i>ieee by 

 7neans of a rotary drill. The following day he sat weaving a baud to tie 

 his grandson's hair. The woman worked as usual with her sewing and 

 prepared the family meals. 



After the evening meal (which was some time before dark) on the 

 22d, the family, consisting of the parents of the woman to be confined, 

 her husband and two boys of s and 9 years, gathered in the family 

 living room (this room being 15 by 35 feet). It was evident that the 

 woman was regarded with great consideration and interest, especially 

 by her fond parents, who by the way, were foster parents, the woman 

 being a Navajo. At the time of the removal of the Navajo to the 

 Bosque Redondo, this child was left by her mother in the pueblo of Sia 

 and has since lived with her foster parents. 



On the evening of the 23d they gathered as before into the living 

 room, which had been specially prepared for the event. A small quantity 

 of raw cotton, a knife, and a string lay upon a shelf, and the infant's 

 small, wardrobe, consisting of a tiny sheet of white cotton, pieces of 

 calico and a diminutive Navajo blanket, which were gilts to the child, 

 were laid on a table in the farther end of the room. The family sat in 

 anxious exjjectancy. 



It is the woman's privilege to select her officiating ho'naaite theur- 

 gist, and if her husband or father be a ho'naaite, or vicar of a cult 

 society, she usually selects one or the other, otherwise she requests her 

 husband to visit the ho'naaite of her choice and ask his services ; in 

 the absence of her husl)and her brother goes. The woman, httlding 

 shell mixture' in her right hand (when meal or shell mixture is used 

 in connection with the dead it is held in the left hand), breathes four 

 times upon it, that the expected child may have a good heart and walk 

 over one straight road, and then hands it to the bearer of her message 

 to be presented to the ho'naaite, this shell mixture being the only 

 compensation received for his services. 



In this case the woman chose her father. 



' Shell mixtare and sacred meal are synonymous. 



