News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1889-09-19
INDIAN SNAKE DANCE.
AN ANNUAL RITE OF THE
MoQUIS OF ARIZONA.

"a MUCOUS OeTeHlOuy III w AASA
venomous Serpents Play Prom
Inent Part-Details of the Spec
tacle.
'The Moquis," said Captain John G..
Bourke, to a Washington Star reporter,
"are separate tribe of Indians, Occu-
pying tract of land in northwestern
Arizona, on the Little Colorado and San
Juan rivers. They are naturally peace
full, but have been the bitter enemies of
the Apaches and Navajos for years,
these tribes having attacke them when
ever chance offered. They are agri-
cultural in their habits and live in stone
dwellings piled together on cliffs, after
the manner of the Indians of New
Mexico. There are nine families, the
division lines being kept very distinct.
When the Government first took charge
of them they numbered about eight
thousand, but since then ravages of
smallpox and famine have great y de-
pleted their population, and in 1872
they were reported at eighteen hundred
and sixty six. They are extremely tenn
pc ate and preserve a comparatively
high moral standard.
$50 much for the Moquis. Now for
their dance which you ask about. This
rite is the grand ceremony of the tribe,
and is intended as a prayer to the di-
whites for good crops. Snakes bear an
important part in the ceremony, and
for eight days previous to the dance the
young men of the tribe are in search of
reptiles of the right kind and size.
They seek for the largest and most ven
omous ratt!esnakes, which abound in
this region, though if there is q scarcity
copperheads are brought in. There
cannot be too many, it would seem, the
young men hunting for them up to the
last day. The snakes are stored in .ars
and kept in place unknown to all but
the grand medicine man and his chief
assistants. They are watched with care
that no harm shall come to them. The
death of one would be an omen that
would cause CONSERVATION throughout
the tribe.
"On the day before the dance the
snakes are turned loo-e into a court
| yard that is formed by surrounding
| houses. In the centre of this is q rock
that stands high from the ground and
small skin tent or lodge surrounded
with sacred atmospheres. The snakes
are cora lei inside of certain limits on
the other side of the yard, the attend
| ants keeping them within bounds by
| frightening them with wands of eagle
| feathers, of which the rattlesnake is
supposed by the Moqui to be afraid.
| The Indians handle them with the
greatest impunity, carrying them about
in their hands and bringing the fatal
mouths dangerously close to their per
sons with n rec lesSncs that seems in
spired by pleasure When carrying II
snake they hold it with one hand, usu-
ally the right, firmly around the neck,
or rather that part of the body just be-
hind the head, with the thumb ex-
| tended upward along the head to keep
it from moving from side to side with
too great freedom. The other hand con-
stantly strokes the body of the reptile
with caressing, downward motion, the
| fingers loosely encircling it. This is
both to soothe the snake and to prevent
it from coiling around the arm, which
might result in unfortunate complica-
! tions.
"There can be no doubt that the
snakes used in the dance and handled
by tho Indians are vcnomous and arc
able to inflict fatal bite. 1t was sup
posed by some that their fangs had
been drawn or their poison glands re-
moved, but DIR. Yarrow, of the army,
and an authority on snakes, who was
sent out by the Smithsonian to in
vestigate this point, reported that he
found the snakes to be undoubtedly
venomous, with their fangs and glands
! in pace and the latter well filled with
poison. Iso ated instances of death by
! bites from the snakes among the tribe
also prove this point.
| GG Tho fnnoa noct1ru ~, tha tNunhlO and
| is performed by upward of a hundred
Indians -nen women and children
who have boon trained to their duties.
Tho performers are attired in special
costumes Tor the occasion, those Of the
men being of the most ost--i+,+r,l,,--l.-----------,
while the women array themse YES in
all possib'e co!ors and wear dresses of a
certain cut and pattern. The men are
painted in hideous style with sort OF
; kaolin paste, and the little boys, partly
and wholly naked, are decorated in
much the same fashion. The chief
medicine man, arrayed in a most fan
tastic costume and wearing a top knot
of green leaves, is master of ceremonies.
The dance consists of professions and
the carrying of the snakes from the
jars, into which they have been re-
placed, into the sacred lodge, oblations
at the Icrcd rock, incantations and
prayers, and finally the disposition of
the serpents. The professions are wierd
and impressive, the Emusic" coming
from gourds filed with pebbles to make
sound like the falling rain. The
women group themselves in one
corner and the boys next to them
The men then enter the pueblo and
march around it, returning to the
place from which they came. When
they next appear, in a double line,
each left-hand man holds in his
mouth one of the wriggling, Shiny,
venomous serpents with the fangs,
ready to deal forth death, playing with
in an inch of the face. The teeth grasp
the body just behind the head, which is
pointed to the right. The other man
keeps it from biting with his eagle feath-
ers. The snakes are spat out on the
ground in front of the women, who
douse them with corn meai, signif-
cant material. They are then picked
up by the little boys, who seem to have
no fear whatever, and placed in the sa-
cred lodge. The second procession of
the men is even more frightful than the
first, for each one holds n snake in his
mouth with no one to amIlse them with
feathers. AS the frenzy increases the
mouths carry two snakes at time, and
some even try to carry scrpents that are
too large round to go between the teeth.
All is the widest excitement. Snakes
are continually getting away and coil
ing themselves up in belligerent atti-
tudes, from which they are driven by
the old men, who are experts in the art
of snake handling The women are be-
ing driven from their position by angry
reptiles. the crowd, numbering many
hundreds, enter into the spirit of the
occasion and shout forth plaudits for
acts of especial recklessness. The
thing is kept up until all of the snakes
have been doused with the med and
thrown into the lodge, when prayers are
offered and incantations performed by
the medicine man. Then, at a given
s;c ba loIora &c fbrOu-,, oDo,, and