The Caledonian-record. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1920-current, 1922-09-15

they enacted a prayer for rain anC
for their brothers, the snak,
priests. When the primitive cere
mony was over, the white invad
ers returned to their camps anC
the Hopi men silently watched
their dusky figures against the
sunset skies.
Long before dawn of the next
morning the runners who were to
take part in the races had gone
out on the plains. Just before
sunrise the races began. Far, far
down the prairie the racers came
running. For miles they ran until
they reached the foot of the great
mesa. Undaunted they dashed up
the cliffs into the cheering crowd.
Behind them painted men bearing
cornstalks. Also came painted
"devil chasers", and young braves.
The waiting women greeted them
with laughs and cries and fought
for the corn stalks Never did the
Hopi man allow his stalk to be
taken until his own woman had
been sufficiently tantalized when,
with grin and a shrug, he sur
rendered it to her.
In the afternoon as the shadow
of the sun reached the sacred rock
the beating of the tom-tom was
again heard, and the antelope
dancers dressed as on the previous
day issued from their kiva into the
court yard. At one end of the
court yard was built a shrine
(kiski) of cottonwood boughs
covered with canvass in which the
snakes had been placed for the
ceremony. In front of this had
ben dug a hole. over which a board
had been laid This hole is the
entrance to the underworld, the
abiding place, shipa-pu, of the
gods, They circled over shipa-pu
a number of times and then took
their places on either side of The
kisi, bending and swinging in time
t. their weird chant and waving
their feathered wands.
Then the snake priests dashed
in. Eagle feathers formed their
barbaric head dress. Black paint
made their faces hideous. Bizarre
necklaces hung on their naked
chests. Ceremonial blankets hung
about their waists and dangling
coyote skins gave them the fan
tastic appearance of huge, strange
animals. They took their places
in front of the antelope priests
and with thcmchanted and wav-
ed their wands while the music
grew wilder and wilder and then,
suddenly broke. A dancer reached
down into the kisi and pulled
forth a great wlithing snake. For
moment the crowd was breath
less, 1t was a RATHER! Without
seeming fear, the dancer put its
neck in his mouth and its great
tail wound around the dancers
arm. A second dancer placed his
hand on the first dancers arm and
stroked the snake with his wand
while a third fell in behind and
with rhythmic step they three
started around the court yard.
Very quickly the entire number
of dancers had forced into like
groups of three and with their
snakes had made the circle of the
dance, their movement and song
were both wild and swift. After
circling several times the dancers
of each group would throw their
snake to the ground where it
writhed, coiled and shot into the
crowd. Women shrieked in terror,
children screamed and the people
on the roof trembled with excite
ment. Then the shining body
o. snake priest would dart after
the escaping reptile, selling it and
swinging it high over the heads of
the throbbing crowd. In the
meantime the first two dancers of
each group would go on around
to the kisi and obtain another SER
pent and so on and on until 70
or 80 snakes would be gathered;
the wild, beating music never ceas-
ing until the last snake had been
taken from the kisi. At last they
formed a circle into which all the
snakes were thrown, "a twisting,
turning mass. After sprinklng
them with sacred meal each dancer
seized as many as he could, rat
tiers, bull snakes and racers, and
away they ran to the four winds,
far out upon the prairics where
the snakes were permitted to seek
their holes and so carry the pray
ers of the mesa people to the I'M
derground gods. Their sacred
duties being performed, the
snake priests returned to the ira
ditional we'll where they were
bathed and purified, thus escaping
in some unknown way the deadly
effects of snake poisoning. Thus
ended the Indian Hopi Snake
Dance.
That night we camped under the
cottonwood trees at the foot of
Walpi. We were awakened early
by the singing of goat herder far
up on the mesa. 1t was steep
wagon road that wound in that
direction. AS we later climbed it,
the engine of our car pointed near
ly straight into the sky. At the
last climb, we stopped at the big