Norwich bulletin., 1914-07-18
SNAKE DANCE OF
 THE HoPI INDIANS. Weird Affair Described by Daughter of Former Secretary of War.
Especial to The Bulletin.)

N0p6Cl81 IO n0 oQllol&u)
 Washington. D. C.. July 17.-Tae Hopi Indians is described in a com munication to the National Geogra- phfc Society. at Washington, D. C., by Miss Marion L. Oliver. daughter of former Assistant Secretary of War Robert Shaw Oliver.
 The chief of the harvest priests first appeared carrying in his hand a weird wind instrument, which as he swung sounded like the angry soughing wind of storm. she writes. s"Others fol- lowed carrying rattles which made the sound of falling rain; others had ears of corn, or others harvest emblems. Suddenly l saw a priest ascending the ladder leading from the Snake kiva. He was covered with a long coat, and carried a great bag, the contents of deposited his bag of snakes under the tepee-Hke alter. Just as the rays of the setting sun struck the top rung of the ladder, several wild fguIrHs emerged. Now the ceremony began. Crossing hands, they swayed from east to west with eyes half closed. After about 20 motions they burst into deep voiced chant. Soon some of the priests began to look half hypnotiZed and sang with their eyes and heads bent.
 Suddenly the singing stopped and the Snake priests stood in line. single
 
 hand on the shoulder of the one in front of him and in the other hand carried wand of eagle feathers. Around they went, around the plaza, with a funny high stepping motion. As they passed the altar they paused and stamped twice on a board that was over hole to awaken the spirits to hear their prayers. The second time the priests passed the altar I saw them pause, but only when they
 had turned facing me did I realize the horror Every other man had a squirm- ing live rattlesnake in his mouth! lTne snakes were curling themselves into all kinds of horrible shapes. and thalr
 evil heads went darting this way and that. I saw one rattler strike man just under the ear He had to pull it l loose. but took a fresh hold of the snake nearer it's head and seemed l none the worse for it.
 1Now saw the reason for the sec ond priests with feather wands. Their | duty was to soothe the snake by strohing it with the feathers, and to | guide the snake-carrying priest, wno l often looked as if he were in a trance | Tie snakes would hiss and try to~coil l and strike. but the tickling of the i feathers would make them uncoil and ] the priests would pick them up with | about as much concern as most people l would pick up rope Two of the Snake priests were little boys who | could not have been more than eight l years old. One of them danced with a l bull snake bigger than himself, which 1 he had to hold with both hands as well i as his teeth to prevent it from get
 ting away.
 "A group of Hopi naidens now en- l tered. The priests then threw all the l snakes on the ground in great 1 squirrning mass at their feet, and the
 maidens sprinkled the hideous reptiles with sacred meal. Then the priests bent down and each seized two hand l fuls of snakes, and turning ran with | incredible swiftness out of the plaza down to the desert, where. with a l parting message to their spirit broth l ers they left them
 I T rode back to camp very silent, the I whole thing leaving me rather dazed, i it seemed so weird, so unreal; and yet l the Knowledge that the dance was -he 1 culrnination of 1G days of fasting and 1 prayer, and the intense religious atti- i tude of both priests and people, im- 1 pressed me more than I was willing 70
 admit. How was it that the posion of 1 the snakes had no effect on the danc- CTS? I asked many the solution of this | problem, and their answers were al- ways the same, We don't know; all we know Is, if any trader or sheep herder is bitten by a rattler. if we can l get him to the Snake priests he is al- ways saved. The cure whether drug | herb or incantation, is kept secret, and ] the Snake clan guard it as a sacred l trust, never to be divulged under any l conditions