Arizona weekly citizen., 1885-10-24
A SNAKE DANCE.

Religious Festival or Arizona Indians
 The sight of young men snake-hunting
 days beforehand had ralsed expectation
 ou tiptoe. We knew that a priest was
 praying and fasting in the estufa where
 the snakes were imprisoned ID broken
 water Jars; We knew also that a Moqui
 has skill to charm a refractory snake by
 tickling his back with the vanes of wo
 long eagles pens that he Carries fixed to
 a wooden handle. When We rode into
 the village on that momentOus afternoon
 all We saw at first was leafy bower or
 tabernacle in the middle of a court that
 was newly-swept, but not cleared of
 dogs; but s string of fOx-tsils hung over
 the entrance of an estufa. l descended
 the ladder and was in the green room"
 of the AntelOpes. Some twenty Indians
 of all ages were reckoning theIr mOccs-
 sins, brushing theIr yard-long hair and
 amounting their bodies with a black
 pigment made of decompOsed corn. A
 large picture, done in cOlOred sands on
 the floor, figured four serpents, a white.
 a red, green and a brown one, rear
 ing their heads over a b ank of clouds of
 the same four cardinal cOlors.
 In another estufa l found an equal
 number Tn a more advanced stage of cos
 tuning. These were the Snakes" Their
 bodies also were blaekened; their shOul- dsrs, three spots on their bodies, and the calves of their legs were painted pink.
 They wore heavy necklaces, painted aprons of strange design, and fine moo casins and gsrters. Their faces were sOoted, and red feathers were in their hair. A tortOlse-shell rattle was attach
 eslN ha. .l.S L.. n they carried feather-sticks, and a pouch filled with cOrnmesl was slung to one wrist. Splitting corn starch on each Oth- CTS faces for gloss to the 500. was the finishing touch. Climbing the ladder m silence, they were hideOus enough, 8 fit impersOuatiOn of poisonous reptiles or demons, for that matter. They stood upon the order of their going; size, not age, determined the place of each. The last three, very small boys, had to take two steps on each ruDg- followed on tine heels of these precOcious children, and hasteDed tO favorable point of observation among the multitudes on the flat terraced roofs. The AntelOpes were ranged before the leafy tablernaclt m the midst of the court, the Snakes formed a row opposite. 4 "treadwater' dance step. accompanied by angry rat ting weiId song, aiternated for twenty minutes with n silent wave of feather sticks to low rattles.
 Suddenly the song became fierce. and a lively back-and forward step on the part of the AntelOpes was the signal for the Snakes to break into couples. Thus they entered the tent through the OppO- sing line, to issue from 1t with wrlth- ing serpents in their bare hands, or en- twlned m their arms, mOccasins and VI pers, black snakes and heterOdOns, blow l snakes and that arch tOuch-me-not, cro- talus horridus, vulgo rattler. Are the | serpents drugged? No, for many a hissing head darts forth to bite holder or fellow-dance7, Every participant carries a wriRgling tangle of the veno- nous creatures. Dozens escape and slip among the bare legs. But the feath- stick seems all-powerful A touch with the esgle-vanes, swift grab, and the are caught and fiOurished alOft, | bus caught with wariness and four shed with e brsvRdO that dispel all mo- ton of extracted poison 1. ngs.
 One gray haired performer was quick | To snatch any large reptile too timidly | pursued by some young man or boy of | less experience. At last he was happy, ! bunch of rattlesnakes in either hand, | md a four-iOOt specimen in his mouth. l The close and climax came suddenly. A l lancer to one Q sprinkled a circle of | neal on the ground. and running round | | threw a streak to it's center from each | # the eight points of the compass. All the serpents were at once thrown n pile on this figure of wheel, and the whole pc pie. down to he smallest diposhhOya that could tod He, spat chewed corn meal at them, Ehen sixteen GasinAs, or messengers to he gods, ran with armfuls of them from be gates of the village. Riding camp yard, We saw them scattering the crea- ures tO the four quarters of the earth. Corr. of Baltimore Mirror.