The Coconino sun., 1927-08-12


Each day is songs are rendered by the
priests to the accompaniment OF rat
Ting, in imitation of the sounds of
rain.
Then comes the making Of the
snake charm liquid which the Hopis
do not believe protects them from
death from the snake bite, but that
the ceremony in its preparation does
so protect them.
An Indian basket is placed on a
special altar in the snake kiva. Upon
charms, shells, crushed nuts and
sticks the priest pours a liquid with
much ceremony, meanwhile priests
squatting in a circle chew some sub
stance and put it into the liquid in the
basket. Follow other rites, all of
mystical Importance, eliminating in
the fierce Hopi war cry, and smear
ing of the white pasty liquid upon
the breast, back, cheeks, forearms and
| legs of all the priests.
On the fourth day following the
setting up of the Antelope altar the
snake men start out to catch the
snakes needed for the snake dance.
When one is seen, prayer is offered,
sacred meal is sprinkled upon him, he
! is tickled softly with the snake whip,
! then seized and placed in the snake
/ bag. -Four days are used IN catching
snakes, one for each cardinal direc-
tion from the village. On the eighth
day at. sunset the Antelope priests
dance in the plaza; this dance resem-
! bling somewhat the snake dance
though cornstalks instead of snakes
are carried.
Now the day of the snake dance
dawns. On the morning of this, the
ninth day, first comes the race of the
young men, which begins long before
sunrise away off on the desert near
one of the springs. Everyone not in
the race is watching it from the mesa
| top At remarkable speed the runners
cover the miles, reach the bottom of
| the mesa, and bound up the steep
cliffs. The jingling of the bells that
each runner wears, the shouts OF the
watchers, the cheers-all add to the
excitement.
At the head of the trail stand the
priests to welcome the racers. The
first is sprinkled with sacred meal
and water and taken to the Antelope
kiva where he is given an amulet of
great power.
In the underground snake kiva on
the ninth day is the ceremonial wash
| ing of the snakes. The priests squat
and sing around a large bowl of
sacred water, some of the older priests
nearest the water are handed hand
fuls of snakes from a large jar. They
are dipped into the water while the
priests sing in constantly increas-
| ing volume of sound concluding in a
blood-curdling yell as the washers
throw the snakes oyer the heads of the
singers and onto thu sand of the sacred
altar at the other end of the room.
Often a hundred or more snakes,
many of them rattlers, are thus
thrown together in wriggling, hor-
rid heap, from which some of them
scatter and crawl about the room.
i At sunset comes the snake dance,
! the spectacle for which all this pains
taking, elaborate preparation has
been made, the concluding event of
| the nine days ceremony. Every van
/ tage point above and around the
plaza is occupied by a crowd, not only
of Indians, but of visitors from all
parts of the world.
The priests of the Antelope clan
emerge from the kiva and march to
the plaza where there is a cottonwood
structure called the kisi in which are
the ollas containing the snakes. In
front of the kisi is a hole covered by
a plank, representing the entrance to
/ the underworld. The priests sprinkle
sacred meal over it and stamp upon
it, circling and repeating this per-
formance four times, thus notifying
the gods of the underworld that the
dance is soon to begin. The Snake
priests then arrive and perform the
1 same rites after which they line up
with the Antelope priests near the kisi
and chant monotonously.
The priests of both clans are partly
clothed in feathers and furs, their
4 trunks bare but elaborately painted
in fantastic designs.
On signal the Snake priests divide
into groups Of three, the first group
approaching the kisi. One man
kneels, he is handed a snake from the
kisi. He breathes upon it, puts it
into his mouth and stands. Another
member of the group puts his arm
around him and the two prance away
/ followed by third. This is repeated
until all the captured snakes have
been used. The gatherer has lively
time of it usually, as he has to keep
in his control all the snakes his dancer
drops, unless he can get an Antelope
priest to help him.
Then the chief priest comes out OF
the kiva, and makes circle of meal,
On signal all the priests, both Snake
and Antelope, rush up and throw the