COLUMBIAN HISTORICAL EXPOSITION AT MADRID. 285 



festival lasts. The pictures are typical of the antelope, Sa-li-ko, and, possibly, 

 represent the family of the person who bears it. The picture at the side repre 

 sents various objects, and the pamphlet contains a description of this cere 

 mony. The town of A-wa-to-bi formerly observed this woman s rite, and when 

 it was destroyed the ceremony was taught to the Walpis by one of the members 

 of the family of the Serpent, whose descendant and maternal representative 

 is now one of the chief priestesses. 



In the following numbers are shown the various appurtenances of dress and 

 articles used in the ceremony called the serpent dance; it lasts nine days and 

 nine nights, is celebrated every two years, and is a most interesting drama 

 tized legend. Two brotherhoods of priests, called the Snake and the Antelope, 

 unite in the presentation of it. 



Seven of the nine days are secret, and consist of private ceremonies which 

 take place in sacred subterranean rooms called kib-vas. During these festi 

 vals, the Indians catch venomous snakes, and various rites are performed in 

 which they handle them with impunity. By far the most important is that of 

 the bathing of the snakes and the manufacture of the antidote for their 

 poison. The priests of the Antelope also dedicate an altar of sand to the gods 

 of the four cardinal points, and make them offerings. 



On the ninth day the celebrants carry live snakes in their mouths during 

 the dance, and set them free when it is ended. 



The blankets and the other parts of the dress of the Snake priests are the 

 same as those which are worn in the dance, and there is in the collection a 

 complete suit worn by a priest. 



28. Package of hawk s feathers, died red with oxide of iron, called cu-ta. The red 



is the symbol of war. At the ends of these feathers are fastened feathers of a 

 bluebird. A priest wore this bundle of feathers on his head in the serpent 

 dance in the month of August, 1891. 



The bluebird feathers commemorate an episode in the historical legend of the 

 Serpent hero, an ancient mythological personage who visited the interior of 

 the earth, guided by the sun. These bundles of feathers are placed around 

 the altars and figures of sand during the celebration of the secret ceremony 

 at the Snake dance. 



29. The Snake priests carefully preserve from year to year the feathers which serve 



to adorn them, arranging them in a package, and tying them with a strip of 

 buckskin, as shown in this specimen. 



30. Picture of the uprights of the altar of the ceremony Mam-zrau-ti. This altar is 



constructed of wooden sticks on which is stretched a deerskin ornamented 

 with symbolic paintings representing the cloud and other gods. The cloth 

 behind these uprights has the cloud gods and lightning serpents painted on 

 it. The two fetishes placed in front of the cloth are the Mam-zrau boy and 

 girl, the chief idols of the ceremony. 



On the ground, in front of the altar, is a row of fetishes set in a ridge of sand. 

 These have distinct powers, as described in the pamphlet accompanying the 

 picture. 



On the ground in front of the altar three clouds and two lightning snakes 

 are represented in a sand picture. The conical upright bodies 011 the ground 

 between the row of fetishes and the sand picture, are the palladia (tipouis) 

 of the priesthood of Mam-zrau-ti. 



This altar is removed after the termination of the ceremony, and an effort is 

 made to prevent anyone who is not initiated from seeing it. It is very ancient, 

 and regarded as very sacred. (For a description of the Mam-zrau-ti ceremony 

 see The American Anthropologist, Washington, April, 1892.) 



31. Skin of a small mammal which the priests wear on their girdles during the 



ceremony of the serpent dance. Every part of the dress is symbolic, and the 

 skins used are those of animals mentioned in the legend of the adventures of 

 the Serpent hero in his journey under the earth. 



