Cleveland County herald., 1920-12-02
MOKIS DANCE
 TO pR0pITIATE GOD 0F RAIN
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 .-Medcine Man Determines
 Date for Snake Dance.

Smithsonian archeologists say that the most interesting aboriginal cere- monies performed nowadays in Amer lea take place in midsummer days among the Moki Indians, who live i'll northeastern Arlzona. Scarcely touch- ed by our civilization and clinging to ancestral customs, Fl. G. Tinsey tells the Dearborn Independent, the Mokls perform during the last days of each August dances and rites in propitla- tion of their god of rain, identical 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 fiourished 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 Moks' Customs.
 This month two score of American ethnologists and archeologists, besides some from Europe, have gathered in the Moki pueblos to study the cus- toms, habits thought and traditions of man in prehistoric America, as they have come down through generations of Mokis.
 Spanish adventurers under Cor enadO reckoned in 1542 that there were about 13,000 souls in the Tusuy- an confederacy of Moki txibes. 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 AHaehes waged terrific war against the tribe. The remnant of the Mokis lied in terror and took refuge on the two great tablelands of red sandstone which rise sheer some 70 feet out of vast sea of sand. The great rocky formation has been a veritable Gi- braltar 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- tal element in the success of Moki agriculture, and in the desert region ra.ns 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 Sev- eral parts iR the ceremonies.
 certain number of young men, ap- pointed for the purpose, start out at
 
 the preparation for the dance. They are jakulali (snake gatherers). They roam over the desert with a forked suck 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 POO serpents in a week. They plant the forks of OF rD- 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 Preliminaries.
 Six days after the official announce ment of the annual snake ceremonies, mysterious rites among 27 of the fore most men in the Moki tribe begin in chamber hewn into the rock down be- low the pueblo. This Is the kiva. the holy of holies of Moki belief. Dr. J. Walter Fewks of the Smithson- ian institution is the only white person who has ever entered the kiva, and he says that the ceremonies there consist in washing the SerpentS captured and brought there by young men. The old men engage in barbaric incantations and chant appeals to the serpents tC bear messages of devotion and friend ship to the powers that rule the rain clouds. The snake priests wear noth- ing to protect themselves from the rep tiles fangs. Each day they wash the rattlesnakes, sprinkle sacred cornmea on the serpents' heads, and deposit the creatures in jars. Meanwhile the Mok housewives cook and bake in prepara tion for the event of the yeGr-the snake dance on the plaza of the pu eblo. The gaudiest tribal finery is brought forth and made ready. White and Navajo Indian visitors come across the desert to see the public ceremonies and for 6 week all Mokiland bustles and hu1zaS