The Coconino sun., 1919-08-15
HOPI INDIAN SNAKE DANCE TO
 TAKE PLACE LATE THIS MONTH

The world-famous snake dance of the Hopi Indians will be held this year at Polacca (First Mesa) on Au- gust 20, and at Second Mesa on Au- gust r. Its advent is of perennial in- terest, not only to people of the entire Southwest, but to people from all over the country, who come each year to the little villages on the Moqui res- ervation, located 80 miles north of Flagstaff.
 The Blue and Drab Flute cere- monies may be witnessed this year in the villages of Oraibi, Shumopovi, and Shipaulovi, and the Snake-Antelope ceremonies in Mishongnovi and Walpi.
 In each of the five villages of the Hopi there are two Flute organiza- tions, one known as the Cakwalenya, or Blue Flute, and the other as the Macilenya or Drab Flute. Their rites are very similar, and description of one will suffice for both.
 The secret rites are not held in kivas, but in the chamber of house of some leading member. Here the altar is erected, prayers are offered, and the sacred traditional songs are sung. On the ninth day there is public performance at spring near the foot of the mesa and early in the ceremony the six directions altar, with its accompanying charm liquid, is erected. At sunrise of the ninth day spectacular foot race from the plains to the village is held, and the winner places the prize on his field to insure special success for his crops. These ceremonies are elaborate pray CTS for rain, and it is this idea which dominates the whole idea of the ritual.
 A description of the performance at Mishongnovi, where part of the Snake-Antelope ceremonies are being held this year, is sufficient to give an idea of the whole ceremony.
 Four days after the close of the Niman celebration in the neighboring village of Shipaulovi, the chief priests of the Antelope and Snake clans as- semble in Michongnovi in room at the home of the towns chief crier, where they manufacture bahos or prayer offerings and smoke together. The next day at sunrise the crier an- nounces the time for the ceremonies from the housetop.
 Nine days after this ceremony, the first day of the ritual begins. At about 10 o'clock in the morning of the second day three or more priests, naked except for the loin cloth, each bearing small packet of food on his back, small snake whip, rude dig ging stick, and bag of meal, start from the village in a northward direc- tion. Scattering, they begin the hunt for rattlesnakes.
 As soon as snake is found, either sleeping beneath a sage brush or crawling along in the sand, the priest halts, casts pinch of sacred meal upon the reptile, and addresses 6 short prayer to it. Stopping over, he waves his whip slowly in front of the snakes eyes, whereupon the snake be- gins slowly to uncoil. The Hopi priest then swoops down upon it and drops the snake into buckskin bag. The bags containing the snakes are depos- tied in the kiva in the village at the end of days hunt. The three fol- lowing days are devoted to the hunt to the three remaining points of the compass, and a general hunt up until the ninth day occupies the various members of the clan after the prelim- mary search.
 Early on the sixth day, as the morn- ing star appears, the Snake priest, accompanied by a young man, enters the kiva, where the priests are as- sembling. The Antelope priest like wise brings in young maiden, one of the prettiest of the tribe. These ! two are led to the altar, where an earthen vessel containing growing i corn and melon vines is put in the | hands of the Antelope girl. The young man&of the Snake clan is given one of | the tiponis in one hand and snake in the other Songs of great an- | tiquity are sung, holy water is then sprinkled on the sand, invocations are sung to the yellow clouds of the north,