The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1922-09-16

Inc next morning before dawn run
ners have gone far out on the plain
that they may race to the mesa top,
hoping to reach it as the sun rises,
They go Looping in long various paths,
all OF which converge in the trail to
the top. Up they run, seemingly IN
wlnded and ~unwearied. Young girls
are standing at certain points with Of
fer1ng OF melon vines and corn stalks.
which h runners seize as they pass.
Old women have drawn lines of sacred
meal from the trail top towards the
klva court. No stranger must cross
these lines under penalty of much
chattering and scolding. The runners
dash through the lane Of. meal and
then, in open court, battle with a bevy
OF girls for their green offerings.
Indian girls, like their white sisters,
are voluble in their play-they shrek
n squeal with laughter. 1t is evil
dent that the girl favored of each run
ner always wins.
The court in which the dance occurs
looks as usual except for the kisi
built at n end. The kisi is the
shrine of cottonwood boughs covered
with canvas wherein the snakes are
put for the ceremony. A shallow hole
is dug in front of it over which a board
is laid. This is Shi-pa-pu, the entrance
to the underworld or the abiding place
of the gods.
At 5 p. m. or a little later, the Ante
lope priests enter the court with the
same paraphernalia they employed the
day before. After circling over the
Shi-pa-pu a few times they take their
places on either side of the kisi and
sing Justify, rhythmically, and with 4
wild, vigorous melody. Two or three
times during the the song they hum
a deep reverberating refrain that has
the effect of many cellos. They en-
ploy no drum, though a shrill rattle
and a "bulLroarer" are occasionally
used All the time they keep up a
certain rhythmic, weaving of their
feathered wands.
Then the snake priests dash init
orally dash in-their rattles jingling
madly, their feet padding the hard
packed earth faster than ear can con-
venlently count. They are wild look
ing creatures, painted reddish brown
from head to toe. Their hair is rag
ged and fluffy with parrot plumes stain
ed a soft rosy brown Their jaws and
chins are painted black, the mouths
broadly outlined with white.
The Dance
Grows Furious.
They take their places in front OF
the Antelope priests and with them
chant and wave their wands for many
minutes. The music seems to grow
wilder. Suddenly it breaks. The
Snake priests separate. One of them
kneels in front of the kisi, reaches in
and pulls out a snake. He grips its
neck with his lips so that its head
projects a little beyond his left jaw
and if it is a large snake, 6 or z feet
long, he grasps its body with his
hands. Meantime another priest
with a feather wand, has taken his
place at the dancers right, places his
left hand on the dancers left shoulder
and with the wand strokes the body Of
the snake. Together, with high rythm
ic step, they start around the court
A third priest, also with a feather
wand, falls in behind. Thus the whole
fraternity forms into groups of thre,
faster than words a describe, max
ing the circle of the dance. Every
!, time they o Shi-pa-pu, they STAMP
t upon the board. These beats fall as reg
0AAAA 0o lAO50 VI q IL dli0 hCGp pei
feet time to the song of the Antelopes
Both movement and song are swift anC
{ wild.
r Several times each group of three
makes the circle, and the. the dance,
drops the snake. The third of thu
t group, the "gatherer', now brushe!
the snake with his wand, and seizins
it by the neck swings it high in thu
air. Then he drapes it over his lef
arm as un~concernedly as a woman ad
Justs a bouquet. Meantime his tive
companions, the dancer" and tn,
"hugger", have gone around to tn,
I kisi and secured another serpent. AnC
) so on and on and around and arount
6 until the "gatherers" have armfuls o
5 reptiles. Now and then they hanC
: them to the Antelope priests VIII
nonchantly fold them over their arm
without losing a beat in their songs
a Altogether they use 20 or so of thu
creatures, big and little, harmless ant
S poisonous, whip snakes, bull snakes
p rattlesnakes, any kind of snake.
Finally, almost unnoticed, wome
come from an inner room with plaque
of sacred meal and draw a huge whit,
t circle in n corner of the court. Thel
the lines break. The snakes ar
thrown in a heap inside the circle, tn
women hastily and timidly sprinkl
them with meal, and as hastily depart
Certain of the younger Snake priest
dart in, and, Selling as many reptile
as they can hold, dash in four direct