The Winslow mail., 1926-08-06
. . g . 3 . 3 3 3 3 3 . 2
The Indian Snake
Dance
+ j. :. = j. :. Z. :. !. :. i j. !
(By VIRGINIA. HAMMOND

sandstone mesas are the Hopi In
! dian Villages built of adobe and
sandstone, several stories high and
Of the same structure and material
as the Cliff Dwellers' homes that
stand today as monuments along
the Colorado river, to that long ago
perished tribe.
Far beneath the Hopi Mesa Viii
lagos the gray desert floor with its
valleys and sand hills reminds one
Of the roll and swell of an oceans
waters in the early gray dawn OF
new day. The Hopi Indians are
happy, religious and Industrious
little people. They faithfully farm
the sandy waste-land in the valleys
| and raise much corn, beans, melons
and peaches. The women unlike
other Indian women, do not go to
the fields or tend the sheep. But
they stay at home to cook the food,
grind the corn, carry the water in
large earthen water jars, up the
steep winding trails to the villages
The women also make pottery for
sale to tourists or to take to the
railroad a hundred miles South to
sell. The Hopi pottery is the most
famous pottery made by Western
Indians. The Hopi men tend the
sheep, farm the land, gather the
crops, weave such blankets as used
IN their homes and carry cedar and
pinon wood for fuel from miles
away on pack burrOs, the Hopi's
| much-used beast of burden, to the
Mesas top by the narrow winding
paths that are worn waist deep in
solid sandstone. Paths that are in
deed made by the foot prints of
time, for the HOpi's have lived.
loved and died on first mesas top
for more than Seven Hundred
years. The old homes one visits
there in old Walipi, stand unshaken
by Seven Hundred summers glaring
sun and winters chilly blasts.
The last weeks of August are
busy weeks for the Hopi Snake
Clan. The men go into the valleys
searching high and low for snakes
any kind of snakes, big snakes
and little snakes, long snakes and
short snakes, ratt1esnakes, bull
snakes, and prairie racers. The
rattlesnake seems to be the favorite
for they predominant in number at
the HOpi Snake Dance.
The Hopi catch their snakes by
the method of forked stick which
is placed across the snakes back
and it is then taken prisoner for
many days-eventually to be turned
back into the desert to go forth and
seek rain for the Hopis from the
Rain Gods.
The Hopi snake dance is not a
festival but is a religious cere-
mony, prayer to their Gods to
send forth rain for the crops of
corn, beans and melons, that aplen-
ty may be stored away for the long,
hard winter months.
The actual date of the Snake
Dance is seldom set until a week
or so before the dance, for the
Hopis themselves do not know the
date until a few days before. They
use the moon as their calendar and
can only tell the white man a few
davs prior to the dance the actual
date. However. it is ALWAYS in the
latter part of August. The dance
only lasts from forty minutes to an
hour. From sixteen to twenty men
dance and sometimes very small
BOYS dance with the old Chiefs, car
rying their burden of large rattle
snakes as do the old men and keep
ing time to the drums and songs Of
the dancers with their little and
swaying bodies, tirelessly. 1t is a
grotesQue sight to see the Indians
with their half-naked painted bod
les dancing so madly with repulsive
reptiles twisted around their arms
and neck and holding them between
their teeth while the snakes strug-
gle and wreath and often bite their
captors face and body, which never
to white mans knowledge effects
the dancers. 1t is hard to compre-
hend a tribe so primitive today,
or a ceremony so unique as the
Hopi Snake Dance.
Many tourists gather there from
all over the United States to see
this impressive awe-inspiring cere-
mOny. The Indian would much
rather have the white man stay
away from this religious ceremony,
for to them it is very sacred, but
| the HOpis are a courteous and
kindly people and if the white
brother comes quietly and respect
fully to attend this sacred rite, the
Hopis make no protest. To them
the dance is inviolable for the
| snakes of the desert are the Hopi's
brothers, so they say. The legend
runs thus:
Many years ago when the Grand
Canyon of the Colorado was minia-
ture compared to the Grand Can
yon of today, a young Hopi brave
grew restless and tired of his Mesa
life and longed to roam far be-
yond the sky line toward the set
ting sun and seek out a new home
for his people. But the old Chiefs
refused to listen to the youths
dreams and of what he visioned lay
over the horizon. So the young
brave grew sick and wasted and
grieyed so that finally the people
went in body before the Chiefs
and asked that the brave be al
lowed to go away if he would pro-