The Coconino sun., 1916-05-05
THE M0QU| INDIAN SNAKE DANCE
 INTERESTING PREHISTORIC LECTURE
Most Interesting Story of the Tribal Customs of An-
 clent Race-Reasons for Their Queer Ceremonias.

spectable sum of money, thus giving them more of the comforts and bene- fits of civilization in the form of pro- visions, tools, etc. The Hopis are very thrifty people. They make it rule to have in their storerooms at all times enough provisions to last them forf from one to two years in case of a drought or famine.
 "The men are occupied in many in- dustries. Besides tending their crops and working with their teams, they do most of the spinning, weaving, and sewing in the household They make excellent yarns and cloths, and it is not unusual, since the advent of improved methods of sewing, to find the husband of family busy at sewing machine, probably sewing his wife's dress.
 "The women's dress consists of a blanket dress, which leaves the right arm entirely free and unhindered; many beads, and high buckskin moe casins. When girls approach mar riageable age, they wear their hair tightly drawn over their heads, and coiled over frame over each ear in- to a large flat disk, so that the young braves may know that they are tout" for husband.
 "The religious ceremonies of the Hopis may be divided into two class es, those which occur in the summer and those which take place in the winter The most important and sig nificant of the Hopi ceremonies in the snake dance, which takes place in the summer time. from August 16 to p. Tn this the priests wear quite an ela- borate costume. but no masks, signi- ficant of the fact that they do not ex pect the gods to appear in person and take part in their ceremonies. This ceremony lasts nine days and is pe tition for rain and good crops. On the first four days the ceremonies are secret and take place in the kivas. But from the fourth to the eighth day the priests are busy capturing the snakes which play such an i'm portant part in the dance. The priests go in all the four cardinal points in their search for the snakes, going each day in the direction of differ ent point. When the snakes are cap tured they are put in the kivas. On the ninth day in the morning they are washed and at noon they are anoint- ed and dried on sacred meal, after which they are placed either in large ollas or sacks to await the ceremony. Late in the afternoon the priests form in two long rows and the snakes are placed in the shade of brush covered roof In this ceremony the antelope priests also assist. The priests seem to be divided into three groups, the carriers, the huggers, and the gatherers. Each gatherer catches up a snake, and with the back of it's neck in his mouth, and carrying the body in his arms, the priest circles a sacred bower previously erected, closely followed by the carrier and the hugger. After each snake has been carried around the bower four times, it is put on the ground. Then the gatherer again picks them up and places them in heap. On given signal the remaining priests rush upon the snakes, gathering up as many as possible, and hurry to the mesa to set them free unharmed. These snakes are the Indians elder brothers, and they are especially wanted to take part in the ceremony, as it is thought that they have spe- cial influence over the rain gods.
 Another very important ceremony among the Hopis is the flute dance. The flute clan is divided into two branches, the blue and the drab flutes.
 In this ceremony they unite and both take part in the rites. The ceremony is not an elaborate one. After much chanting and singing to the rain gods about the springs, a procession is formed and winds its way back to the village. This pro- cession is headed by an old priest who every fifty feet or so strews sacred meal on the ground in the rain symbol Following this priest come two flute maidens, with flute boy between them. They deposit prayer plumes in each symbol, and are fol- lowed in turn by the remainder of the priests, all in elaborate costume. The purpose of this ceremony, like that of the snake dance, is to bring rain and good crops.
 "In these ceremonies the priests seem greatly impressed with the seri-