The Winslow mail., 1926-08-20
Snake Dance AT
HotevilIa Draws
Large Crowd S
Continued from Page Il

with prayers and invocations at
each step of the procedure Each
participant smokes the sacred pipe,
and the altar is consecrated and
blessed morning and night. Sixteen
songs are chanted each day, TO the
accompaniment of rattles shaken
by the priests.
In the snake ''kiva," a sort of IN
derground council chamber, the
snake charm liquid is made An
Indian basket is placed on a spe-
cial altar. In it are placed shells,
cha rms, crushed nuts, and sticks.
A priest, with much chanting and
ceremony, pours water into it from
the north, east, south and west.
Other priests circle about it, chew
ing some desert herb and putting
the liquid in the basket.
Priests Are Amounted
At last the charm nears compile
ton Each priest waves a ''snake"
and the sacred pipe is lit, the
smoke being blown into the liquid.
Four songs are chanted. Then the
little chamber rings with the fierce
Hopi war cry, the head priest mix
es the liquid with corn meal, sprin
kles it to the four points of the
compass, kneads it with white clay.
and rubs the resultant paste on the
bodies of all the priests.
This ceremony is supposed to
protect them from snake bites in
the dance that is to follow.
All of these ceremonies are per-
formed by priests of the Antelope
clan. While they are thus engag-
ed, the men of the Snake clan go
north, east, west and south to catch
the deadly rattlesnakes for the
snake dance. When rattlesnake
is found a prayer is offered, meal
is scattered on it and it is seized
alive and brought back to the viii
lage. The Indians catch the snakes
with uncany skill. Four days are
consumed in this snake hunt.
On the evening of the last day of
the hunt the Antelope priests dance
in the plain. On the morrow the
snake dance begins.
It starts with the race of the
young men. Long before sunrise
the young Indians start from a
place far out on the plain, beside a
sacred spring. They cover the in
tervening miles with remarkable
speed, loping up the sloping mesa
to the cheers of the crowd. The
priests receive them, and each run
ner deposits prayer offerings at the
altar.
Then the captive snakes-some-
times there are as many as hun
dred of them-are washed in the
underground kiva. The priests
squat and sing. Two priests take
a handful of writhing, twisting
snakes out of a jar and hand them
to other priests who sit by a jar of
consecrated water The snakes are
dipped in this and tossed on the
sand of the sacred altar, to the
tune of blood-curdling yells.
At sunset comes the snake dance
proper, on the open plaza. Visi-
tors, both Indian and white, line
the mesa above.
First the Antelope priests appear
marching to a little cottonwood
structure called the ''kisa," in
which are jars containing the
snakes. In front of it is hole
covered by planks. 1t is supposed
to be the entrance to the under
world, and the priests sprinkle
sacred meal on it to notify the gods
of the underworld that the dance
is about to begin. Then they form
a line and chant a monotonous sort
Of song.
The Snake priests appear next.
They too sprinkle meal on the
planks. Then they divide into
groups of three and each group ap-
proaches the kisa in turn. One
member takes a rattlesnake from a.
jar, puts it in his mouth, and
prances away. One of his COM
rades dances beside him and the
third follows in the rear.
Throws Snake Away
Presently the man with the
snake tosses it away; the third
man sprinkles meal ON it and picks
it up, after which the two men in
front of him return to the kisa for
another snake.
When all the snakes have been
taken from the jars the chief priest
draws a sacred circle in the ground
and all the priests rush up and
drop the snakes into it. Then, at
another signal, they seize the
snakes up again, dash off to the
four points Of the compass and re-
lease them. After that come two
days of feasting although each
priest is obliged to take a power
full emetic before he may join in it.
That is the famous Hopi Snake
Dance-an attraction that brings
tourists from all over the world.
How the Snake Priests avoid being
fatally bitten by the live rattlers
they handle so carelessly is a mys-
terry. But they always do.
The nighttime route from Wins
low and Sunshines through Leupp
to Oraibi is described by Indian
traders and merchants who make
the trip from day to day as being
the best and safest route to the
scene of the ceremonial This in
formation has been broadcast in