The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1883-11-09
MAQUIS SNAKE DANCERS,
AsAcRED FESTIVAL WHEREIN LIVES
ARE SACRIFICED.
4 OIL Wen vVho F.;rnl TsieMscivs g.
be saittrn by Eseptiics-snvage Eso-
Iininus Rites.

dance. How they dance it at their own
home has been seen and described by only
two white men, Captain S. G. Heaps and
Indian Agent Sumanstein, who give the
following account of the horrible orgie to
the Rocky Nountdin Nops:
The snake dance is "A religious rite, and
only occurs at long intervals. Eight days
before the time for the dance the men go
out to hunt for the snakes. They take
with them the sacred meal, which is
chanted over and over which the sacred
rods are waved. The sacred rod is a stick
about five feet long with fork at the
end. They take every snake which they
find and carry him to the Pueblo, where
they put them into place called an es-
tufu, which is a hole in the ground about
ten feet deep, eight feet wide and fifteen
long, and which is covered all over. cx-
cept round hole in the center. They
enter the estufu by ladder
One-half of the estufu is raised about
one foot higher than the other, and in
this end the snakes are kept by the
snake herders; in the other is the altar,
which is about six feet square, painted'on
the floor in different colors, around
which are hundreds of huge serpents
bdluitNl anu ub Olt GUtl VI MlllCu Is llt
snake god, horrible clay image.
Around the altar at equal intervals are
the rain stakes, >thirty-three in number
round stakes an inch in diameter and
eighteen inches long. When any one
brings snake he goes to the altar and
breathcs over one of these rain stakes and
calls on the snake god to send rain.
Should none come in their own name be
fore noon of the eighth day the thirty
three oldest men of the tribe take the
rain stakes, go half mile to the cast,
and in the name of their squaws implorc
the rain god to send rain and each one
digs hole and lays in his rain stake and
puts in little sacred meal and buries
them, and returns at precisely high noon
of the eighth day.
They drank detection prepared from
herbs and roots, which sometimes makes
them very sick and which they think
will protect them from the venom of the
snakes should any bite them, but which
will not protect them, as those who are
bitten die Meanwhile the snake herdcrs
are collecting the snakes, which he says
were several hundred into sacks the rat
tlesnakes are put into buckskin sacks,
the others into common sacks. The
dance ground is Il common piece of
ground about sixteen feet in diameter,
in the center of which is the sacred rock.
On one side is the snake shade, place
about four feet square, with walls on
three sides about four feet high, and
curtain hung in front, before which is
fiat board. AT given signal eighteen
men quickly ascend the ladder and rush
to the dance ground. The snake hcrdcrs
bring out the snakes and empty them
into the snake shade, where they are
kept by the hcrde;s with sticks. The
eighteen men rush three times around the
sacred rock, stopping each time in front
of the snake shade and stamping three
times on the board or timber in front
of the snake shade eighteen women
and eighteen children form circle
around the outside of the dance ring,
each with dish of the sacred meal
eighteen other men rush out, each
with Il stick two feet long, on the end Of
which are three sacred feathers tied
They wave them above the snake shade
three times, each time making loud,
kissing sound, like the Kissing of a ser
pent. The first eighteen men then form
Il line, the right resting close to the
of them, the curtain is quickly drawn
aside, the herder stirs up the snakes with
his stick, all the women shout, the first
man with the speed of lightning seizes
handful of snakes, grabs them with his
mouth, the man opposite to him seizes
him around the waist with one arm, with
the other hand he waves the stick and
feathers in the face of the snakes to
attract them, the man with his mouth
full of snakes rushes madly around the
the ring supported by the other one as
partner, who is waving the stick and
feathers all the time. AS he passes the
women each one throws the sacred meal
On the snakes, meanwhile each man
is Selling handful of snakes and
putting them in his mouth-it all
being done in a mOment-each one
having his partner with the feathers,
and all rushing around, the snakes with
ing in contortions, the rattlesnakes rat
Ting, the copperhead and bull snakes
missing, the women shouting and throw
ing sacred meal, the whole forming one
of the most terrible, horrible and revolt
ing and unearthly sounds and sights that
man ever beheld. They rush around
the ring three times when the snakes are
dumped by the sacred rock.
One man had five snakes in his mouth,
bne of which was a rattlesnale four feet
ong. A rattlesnake caught one of the
men by the neck; his partner seized it by
he head and picked it back Another
Taught man by the side of the head and
gould hardly jerk it back. If the snakes
are not all taken out of the snake shade,
another lot go through the same thing
Until the snakes are carried three times
round the ring At the conclusion of
he dance the eighteen madens form ring
With the sacred meal, about six feet in
diameter; the eighteen old women form
wo lines across the ring at right
angles with the sacred meal; every man
yho can get one catches a snake, throws
t into the ring, and the hcrders keep
hem there until the sun is just out Of
light, when every man again rushes into
he ring, seizes snake, and all run as
asst as they can toward the four Doints