Paragould soliphone. (Paragould, Ark.) 1918-1950, 1921-09-26
WHITE MEN See
WEIRD HOPl
SNAKE RITES
Rattlesnake Worshipping
Tribe of Southwest Per-
forms Sacred Service for
u. S. Army Men.
international News servics)


Gallup, n. M.-General Hugh l..
Scott, hero of many Indian battles,
encountered his strangest experience
among the red men when be wit
messed the wierd Hopi snake
dance" at the Hopi Indian reserVa-
ton, in Arizona, just across the
New Mexico-Arizona boundary line,
according to information reaching
this city recently.
General Scott, accompanied by
General John A. johnson and Col
lionel j. II. Slocum, visited the rcser-
walton recently when the SNAKE
dance" most wierd' Of all pagan
rites on this continent, was in prog
ress. The party was on tour
of inspection of government prop
critics and was enroute to Fort De-
|fiance. west of this city.
Twenty feet beneath the surface
of the ground, in a small room
hewn from the raw earth and light
ed only by a Pickering torch at
the far end, above sacred sand
picture, sat the three white men and
half-a-dozen IIopi Indian medicine
men, In \ pit at one side OF the
sacred kiya, for thcee men were
gathered in the lIopi holy Of hoics,
were nearly 200 rattlesnakes, thu
whirr of their rattlcs morbidly
breaking the underground silence.
One of the medicine men rose and
lmumbled a prayer over an earthen
| jar of Indian cornmeal. His naked
! lime-smeare body appeared CHASTITY
as he passed the sacred cornmeal
to General Scott and mOtiOned him
to cat. The general touched a bill
of it to his lips and passed it tc
| his two aides, who followed his
example. The army officers mum
bled Hopi words, syllable by syl
labo, after the snake priest" and
then climbed the rude ladder tC
the open air above.
| A solemn seriousness marked tht
tenure proceedings.
General Scott, General Johnson
aud Colonel SlOcum, it is believed
arc among the very few white mcr
who have been accorded the privi
| lcgc of witnessing the saWed rit,
! of the Ifopi snake dance. The late
former President, Colonel Theodore
| Do ;t, TO ,,-itn or
the ceremony.
| The Hopis worship rattlesnakes
They believe them to be in close
communication with the gods that
control the weather elements. Eacf
! year several hundred snakes arr
gathered for the ceremony and i'm
Iprisoncd in the kiya for two weeks
where prayers are said over Tho
reptiles and messages" given then
! for delivery to the gods. Then The
Snakes are brought TO the surface
by the snake priests and tho
Idancc begins, to the accompaniment
of huge tom toms. The priests
grip the snakes in their teeth. just
back of the heads, and thus hold
them and dance for hours at {
time.
\ majority of the dancers arc
bitten during the ceremony, but
| none have ever been known TO suf-
fer or in any way become affected
! by the bite. The Indians are eX-
! tremely reticent about discussing
| their apparent immunity from the
snake bites, laconically answering
questions by saying that the rattlery
are friends of the snake priests.
Several theories have been adj
vanced in explanation Of the nou-in'
lection of the snake bitos. but the
) most generally accepted one is that
the dancers rub tiny bits Of tho
venom into their skins before the
dance and gradually increase tho
quantity until they are completely
immunizcd. 1t is known that Meth
err the rattlcrs nor the venom sacs
arc removed from the snakes before
the wicrd ceremony startd.
Upon completion of the dance the
snakes are released and, according
to Hopi tradition, they return tc
the gods beneath the earth with
In L..