Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-08-11
MOQUIS CATCHING RATTLERS
Agents Shut Their Eyes During For
hidden Ceremonies.
DANCERS BECOME MEsMERIzED
Strange Tales of Weird Experiences
Made by Souls in Trance Visits
to Other Worlds.

Copyright, 1906, by John Elfreth watkins)
In midsummer Poor Lo must placate his
gods by dancing, and every tribe about now
is decking itself to chant and sway to and
fro in defiance of the August heat. There
is little of the graceful art of Tcrpischore
In this dancing of the red Indian. He
never trips the light fantastic after the
fashion of his white brothers; yet there Is
a wealth OF barbaric passion and splendor
In these ceremonies soon to be foregone
and forgotten.
And 1t is every bit Of ii illegal-this saw
age poetry OF be-moccasined feet. - An
order published during the Arthur admin
istration forbidding all Indian dances what
soever still stands on the boards, although.
happily. II is rather a dead letter. That
depends, however, upon the liver OF the
Indian agent, and today We find one OF
these functionaries forbidding such heathen-
ism absolutely. vet another-hc of the ad-
Joining Notwithstanding his eyes In
dance season. Indeed, one railway in re-
cent wears has advertised one Of these
dances and has referred the public to the
Indian agent for full particulars.
Snake Dance Next Week.
The snake dance of the Moquis Is sched-
uled for the coming week and, as usual.
many tourists will go out to witness 1t. 1t
IS the most weird of all the dances of the
red Americans and the real welrdness of
It all Is never viewed by the spectator. I
was talking yesterday with the only pale
face" who has been allowed to witness
these secret rites-Dr. ]. W. Fewkes of our
bureau of ethnology. To do so he had to
undergo the ordeals of initiation into the
Moqui priesthood
Four days preceding this dance the
priests, stripped to their breech cloths and
with bodies painted red. collect in bags
all of the rattlesnakes and other venomous
serpents to be found in the desert surround
ing their steep mesa These reptiles are
placed for safe keeping In certain large
Jars kept upon the floor OF the under
ground chapel OF the priests Some time
later they are taken out and allowed to
crawl upon the floor OF this subterranean
chamber Without having removed the
fangs OF these reptiles or drugged them In
any wise the priests sit among these wrig-
Cling tangles of animation and prepare
their dance paraphernalia. On the day of
the dance which Dr. Fewkes recently wit
messed he and his fellow priests were re-
ouired to wash their heads. those OF tho
snakes being also cleansed amid great cere-
mony. Around a dim fire burning In the
underground room were collected all OF the
naked priests with bodies painted red. DR..
feWkeS sitting among WIN SHdhS
whips" made Of feathers they kept time
to a weird chant. while within the circle
several others took the writhing serpents
up In their hands. eight at a time. from the
Jars and handed them to four of their
colleagues. stationed before bowl. Each
OF the latter had a serpent in each hand
ana lifted them UP and down with the
rhythm OF the song, finally submerging
their heads In some liquid.
The snake dance always occurs just about
shutdown In the plaza OF the pueblo. the
spectators viewing the ceremony from the
roofs OF the surrounding houses. 1t COM
nences with separate professions of two
orders OF priests, in gaudy array. To one
line OF these functionaries Is distributed
the live snakes, each placing one-usually
big rattler-in his mouth so that his
teeth close upon its middle. Then with
eyes closed each priest so encountered is
led about the plaza by a member of the
other order. who brushes the head of the
serpent with his feathered "snake-whip"
A third priest follows each OF these couples
ana stands prepared to catch the serpent