The Marietta journal. (Marietta, Ga.) 1918-1944, 1920-11-26
Arizona Indians, Far Removed
From Civilization, Cling to
Ancestral Customs.
AS IN DAYS BEFORE COLUMBUS
Mokiland Is the Richest Part of the
Union for Prehistoric Exploration
medicine Man Determines
Date for Snake Dance.

Smithsonian psychologists say that
the most interesting aboriginal cere-
monies performed nowadays in Amer
lea take place in midsummer days
among the Moki Indians, who live in
northeastern Arizona. Scarcely touch
ed by our civilization and clinging to
ancestral customs, H. G. Tinsey tells
the Dearborn Independent, the Mokis
perform during the last days of each
August dances and rites in propitia-
with those of their ancestors ages be-
fore Columbus sailed from Spain.
Mokiland, or the province of Tusuy-
an as the Spanish named it in the
early part of the sixteenth century, is
the richest part of the Union for pre-
historic exploration. Cities of strong,
intelligent people flourished here in
the time of the Caesars. Ruins of
heather temples, which crumbled be-
fore the Montezuma dynasty began,
lie among the drifting sands. The
land of the Mokis abounds in an
cient traditions still kept in their
pristine freshness.
Studying Mokis' Customs.
This month two score of American
ethnologists and psychologists, besides
some from Europe, have gathered in
the Moki pueblos to study the GUS
toms, habits, thought and traditions
of man in prehistoric America, as they
have come down through generations
of Monks.
Spanish Adventures under Cor
onado reckOned in 1912 that there
were about 1900 souls in the. Tusuy-
an confederacy of Moki tribes. Now
there are but a few hundred Mokis.
They are known also as Hopis; and
their name signifies peace loving"
They have a tradition that several
hundred years ago the warlike
Apaches waged a terrific war against
the tribe. The remnant Of the Mokis
fled in terror and took refuge on the
two great tablelands CT red sandstone
which rise sheer some 70 feet out of
vast sea of sand. The great rocky
formation has been a veritable Gil
br<ar of defense to the tribe and from
the day the ancestral Mokis fled they
and their descendants have dwelt
there isolated. Rain is the all-essen-
tial element in the success of MOki
agriculture, and in the desert region
rains come capriciously.
The date of the Moki snake dance
is determined by an old medicine man
in the tribe. When during August the
sun at it's setting glints the sacred
rock that stands before the door of
the tribal kiva, the old medicine man,
HOni, mounts the highest point at
either Walpi or Oraibi and solemnly
gives notice that 16 sunsets hence the
solemn snake ceremonies will take
place. He ends by invoking all to be-
gin immediate preparation for the oc-
casion. The women are to bake for
a tribal feast, to dress themselves and
their children in their best garments,
and the men are to perform their sew
eral parts in the ceremonies.
A certain number of young men, ap-
pointed for the purpose, start out at
next dawn to perform their part of
the preparation for the dance. They
are jakulali (snake gatherers). They
roam over the desert with a forked
stick in one hand and bag made of
skins in the other. They know where
to look for rattlesnakes and some
times they get more than 200 serpents
in a week. They plant the forks of
their sticks over the neck of the re-
cumbent snake, and by an adroit move
ment throw the reptile into the bag.
The serpents are brought to the pueblo
and turned over to the old snake
priests.
The Preiiminaries.
Civ dayS affat. fh0 cffioiaI annnlInpa-