Los Angeles herald. [volume] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1890-1893, 1891-10-06
A M0QUI SNAKE DANCE.
INDIANS DANCING WITH RATTLERS
IN THEIR MOUTHS.

Which Excite the Members of the Mo-
qui Natives TO State of Frenzy.
The snake dances of the Moqui Indi-
ans have been frequently written about,
but usually simply on hearsay evidence.
1t is seldom that any white man is al
lowed to be present at these ceremonies.
A scout attached to the force at Fort
Wingate, N. NJ, however, was so fortu-
nate as to be in one of the Indian vii
lagos, and to witness the preliminary
dance What he saw is described in
this letter sent from the fort:
The participants were composed of
two bodies of men, thirty-six of whom
danced with the snakes, and a smaller
number who formed chorus of singing
men. These latter were the first to
come upon the scene, and were dressed
in bright colored embroidered kits,
sashes, anklets and beautifully tanned
yellow foxskins hanging down behind
the body They bore small rattles in
one hand while in the other was held q
stick, to which was fastened a couple of
turkey feathers This stick, they claim,
carries the necessary protection of ones
life and let's the snakes tutelary god
know that none of his progeny will be
injured or carried to remote lands.
These men made four or five circuits
of the small plaza and then took up u
position to the west side of it. In the
center of the plaza was cottonwood
shed. After they had arranged them
col 1a1.lty in cfot ,Ae
nary exaltation, tho snake men came
marching in to bound across the mesa
with y single stride
These dancing men, like their prede-
cessors, made four circuits around a
large rock which stands in the center of
the place They then faced the chorus
and a song was gone through with. AZ
ter this ceremony the snake men were
divided into groups of three, and one
from each three went into the cotton
wood shed and extracted snake from
one of the logs, and after putting it into
his mouth and firmly fixing it there
with his teeth, he started on his round
A DISGUSTING SCENE.
His companion, with his arm around
his neck, kept the tail of the snake in
position with his left hand, while with
his right, in which he carried stick
with two long feathers attached, he kept
the serpent from becoming entangled in
the hair of the dancer. The snake, after
being carried around the circle, was
thrown from the mouth, when the third
member of the group gathered it up and
carried it for the rest of the dance.
At times the serpents would try to
make their escape and would make q
dash for liberty through the crowds
which surrounded the dancers, and the
spectators would scatter in all directions
nntil the snakes were recaptured by the
dancers and carried back into the circle
and more securely held.
The visits to the shed were continued
until at least $50 snakes had been
brought from the Enclosure, and all ap-
peared to be in excellent condition, judg-
ing from the manner in which they re-
sisted capture after they had been
dropped from the mouth. Two or three
instances were noticed of large bull
snakes being held by the neck and twin
ing their bodies around the legs of the
dancers. In one instance the snake had
so entwined himself around the per-
former that he was unable to move for
fear of falling. This predicament caused
great outburst of laughter, but it
looked anything but funny to the
dancer.
Those who danced with the snakes
not unfrequently had three or four in
the mouth at the same time, which, of
all the performance, was the most re-
pulsive. To see these naked human be-
ings going around with the face COM
pletely hidden behind a mask of twist
ing and squirming snakes was enough
TO make the stoutest hearted man shud-
der with disgust, yet the other members
of the tribe greeted these manifestations
with applause.
SNAKES CHEWED IN HALVES.
The applause of the spectators urged
the dancers to greater feats, and as the
dance proceeded the performance became
most horrible to behold. Some of the
dancers world take two large rattlers in
the mouth at the same time, and as they
slowly swung around the circle would
chew on the living snakes until, in some
instances, the serpents would fall to the
ground completely bitten in two. One
dancer, who appeared to be a leader, at
ON, time had six serpents in his mouth,
and the swinging ends of the reptiles
made 4 Horgon appearance of his head as
he whirle6 around the outer edge of the
circle.
This ceremony lasted two hours, and
when the dance was over the partici-
pants were thoroughly exhausted. While
during the dance they had been upheld
by the ecstatic condition, the reaction
was terrible, and while there was no
permanent injury to the dancers, it took
several days for them to recuperate.
This time was spent in sleeping and
drinking Il weak sort of broth made
from the dead snakes which had per-
ished in the ceremony. During this
dance there is o peculiar luster Of the
body and eyes which would indicate that
the performers had been medicated and
prepared for the ordeal through which
they were about to pass.
It was supposed by some that the rat
f1esnakes had been rendered harmless by
the extraction of their fangs, but to
show that such was not the case dog
was brought into the circle and was bit
ten by snake. In a very short time