June, 1902. The Mishongnovi Ceremonies — Dorsey. 247 



their bare feet rested on the sand field. Sos6nkiwa, dressed as a 

 Kalehtaka, assumed a position near the center of the line. The bags 

 of snakes were brought to his side now by one of the men, whereupon 

 Lomanakshu uttered a prayer, when Homiwushyoma followed with 

 this prayer: "Yes, all right I Yes, we work here with our animals. 

 This way we have here our ceremonies, here with our fathers. Later 

 they will again be released. May we be glad! May we be strong. 

 May we be watchful. Yes, that way." All now beat their whips, 

 and the priest, who sat next to Lomanakshu, vigorously shook an 

 antelope rattle. The Kalehtaka now plunged his hand into a sack 

 containing the largest of the snakes and drew out a handful, which he 

 then plunged into the bowl of medicine water and dropped them down 

 in front of him on the sand field. Two of the men, Luke and 

 Nakwayeshwa, stood behind the Kalehtaka, waving whips. The 

 snakes were now passed in handfuls to the Kalehtaka, who plunged 

 them into the water and cast them upon the sand field, the priests 

 waving their whips vigorously and all the while rapidly singing a song 

 which was now weird, now low and with slow measure, now faster 

 and now more vigorous (see PI. CXXVI). Naturally, as the snakes 

 were dropped upon the sand field many of them attempted to escape, 

 starting rapidly, trying to crawl away between the feet. and knees of 

 the priests, in which case they were pushed back by the whips or 

 grasped with the hands and placed on the sand field. The perform- 

 ance concluded by the priests dropping their whips, and those who 

 wore hurunkwas took them off and cast them also in among the snakes 

 on the sand field. It was now noticed that only three of the priests 

 in the entire line wore no hurunkwa, while three of the priests and 

 one boy had no bandoleer. At the conclusion of the washing of the 

 snakes, the Kalehtaka took up the bowl of water and carried it out of 

 the kiva, where he made a sinistral circuit of the village, pouring a 

 portion of the water at the head of each trail (see PI. CXXIX, a and b). 

 Later, the four receptacles, which had until now confined the snakes, 

 were carried out and deposited on a ledge of rock at the west of the 

 village, where may be seen many similar jars used in former years 

 (see PI. CXXXI). 



The older priests assembled in a circle around the hearth, where 

 they engaged in fraternal smoking (see PI. CXXVIII), the care of 

 keeping the snakes confined to the sand field being left to three or 

 four of the smallest boys. This they did for two hours with unfailing 

 pleasure and delight (see Pis. CXXVIII and CXXIX). These boys, 

 barefooted and otherwise entirely naked, sat down on the stones and 

 with their whips or naked hands played with the snakes, permitting 

 them to crawl over and under their feet, between their legs, handling 



