Daily Kennebec journal., 1902-04-23
A M0QUIS DANCE.
A Weird Ceremony of Arizona
Indians.
Rattlesnakes Handled Without Fear
or Injury.
Dance Had Its Origin in an Ancient
Myth of the Tribe.

Nearly every person mas Itstd Splilc-
thing of the weird and creepy snake
dance" of the Moquis. Yet, in all that
has been written, published, ana pct
urel upon this subject there Is lacking
the very thing that all persons, from
the scientific man down to the day Ia
borer, would like to know.
First. IS it Il fact that the dancers
are frequently bitten by the reptiles
which they handle with 50 much aban-
don during the ceremonies.
Second. If 50, what remedy do they
amply by way of antidote?
In The reports Of the Bureau of Eth
nology. the snake dance of the South
western Indians has been treated ex-
haustivciy by i score of gifted anthro-
biologists. thoroughly familiar with
their subject, yet in only one of them IS
there anything said about the dancers
Being bitten by the rattlers and what
they take in the way of an antidote,
ana even this leaves the reader with Il
mind full of unanswered questions. A
Post reporter called on Dr. J. Walter
'cWkeS. one of the leading anthropolo-
gists of Washington, and the best au
thorftv on the subject of the Indians of
the Southwest, their beliefs, customs,
etc, in the world. ana propounded the
foregoing questions. DR.. FeWkcs said:
1t is very much as you say, these
are questions that every one would like
10 have answered. Before doing So
however, | must explain, first of all,
something of the meaning anu slSnih-
c;lnce of the snake dance of the Mo-
quis: This dance and ceremonial is
performed by one only of several secret
societies existing among these Indians,
namely, the Snake Society. The Snake
Society is simply a gems, or very large
family connection, that by reason of
increase of numbers, has become 4 so
cfety. Now, according to the traditions
of the Moquis, there were, about the
time Of the creation, a man and his
wife whose children We're rattlesnakes,
or. in other words they were able to
change from reptile TO human at will.
"As time went on, some of these chill
dren preferred to, and did, retain their
! human shape, while others found it
more convenient to remain reptiles for
| all the ages. Those who took the
| human form Were the founders and
| forefathers Of the Rattlesnake gems, OF
| family, that in time came to be a so
ciety. as it is today. Therefore the
snake dance is, or rather was in very
ancient times, nothing more than this:
! Once every year the Rattlesnakc
/ Family held a reunion.
Runners were sent out in every d-
rection to gather up every rattler they
could find, to bring them in to the fam
lily temple, where they were placed ir
a large carthern jar The day follow
ing, when the reunion took place, the
men OF the gems purified their heads
ana hands in clear water, and, as tho
rattlesnakcs could not do this fol
themselves, they were taken out of the
jar one by one and handed about tt
members of the society, who washed
their heads in sign of publication. Af-
ter this, each member of the gems tool
q snake in his hands, and the Who'll,
body, moving in single file, marched
out on the plaza before the entir,
tribe, gathered to witness the cere-
mony. The performers chanted a few
L hymns, sprinkled the snakes with sa.
cred meal, and then marched back t
the family temple.
THAT was all there was to the cere.
mony as it existed several hundred, or
perhaps, thousand, years ago in tht
Southwest, and its meaning was OBJ
vious. In marching out on the plaz;
i'm view OF the entire tribe, each mem
bcr of the gems holding in his hands
live rdttlcSnakc, they as good as said
We are holding our reunion, and, Il!
you can see for yourselves, we hav,
al our relatives, Zoomorphic as well a
anthropomOrphic, with us This done
the rattlCrs We're taken outside tn
town and released with the well wishe
ana gcdspeeGs of their human relatives
AS time went by, some member 0
the gems, 4 trife bolder than the Others
ambitious and fond of notoriety an,
the applause of the public, put one o
the snakes i'll his mouth-that is TO say
held the reptile between his lips o
teeth. Then another innovator cam
along and made dance out of wha
had formerly been a solemn parade
and 50, little by little. possibly no
more than one or two changes or addi
tions in n century, the Moqui snak,
dance came to be what it is today S,
much for the dance, now for the snake
the second and most important ele
ment of the ceremony.
In this connection one must. under.
= stand from the outset that rattle.
snake does not bite like a dog or a cat
or, for that matter, any other variety
of animal or reptile. A rattlesnake
can bite only when uncoiing, and this
he does as follows: The fangs of the
rattlesnake are implanted in the flesh
Of his victim not by any up-and down
motion or movement of the Jaws for
IRIS IS rendered out of the question by
the peculiar manner in which these
teeth are implanted in his jaw. and are
thrown forward when in the act of
striking; but on the principle of
throwing spear, shooting a bullet, or
thrusting @Inife into something.
/ When the rattlesnake bites. or rather
strikes his jaws do not move particle
! other than to remain open from the
| llme he sounds his note of warning un-
| III ne has bitten something. In order
then, to strike his enemy, the rattle
| snake must, first of all. coil himself.
rms done, he is ready for action. When
ready to strike, he uncoils with n p,rc