300 COLUMBIAN HISTORICAL EXPOSITION AT MADRID. 



2. The Snake priests leaving the town. Their mission is to catch the serpents 



which are to be used in the dance. 



3. Row of sacred dancers, or Ka-tci-nas, with two women Ka-tci-nas wrapped in 



the ceremonial blankets. 



4. A Snake priest emerging from the kib-va to take part in the sacred dance. 



5. The Snake altar. 



6. Ceremony of the purification, which takes place after that in which the serpents 



are carried in the mouth. 



7. The same ceremony. 



8. The same ceremony. 



9. The same ceremony. 



10. The principal street of the pueblo of Wal-pi and the Snake priests retiring from 



the plaza. 



11. The Snake priests preparing to undertake the hunt for the serpents which are 



to be used in the ceremony. 



12. Priest at the door of the estufa. 



13. Place in which the serpents are confined before the dance. 



14. The Snake chief. He has in his left hand a whip for charming snakes, and a 



small bag of sacred flour to anoint the head of those animals, which they claim 

 to be related to the fraternity which celebrates the dance mentioned. 



15. Black zigzag lines which the priests of the Serpent paint on their bodies, legs, 



and arms. The black lines are of clay and saliva. 



16. Snake priest dressed for the ceremony. 



17. Ceremony of the purification. On the last of the nine days of the festival the 



Snake priests eat nothing. At the conclusion of the dance they take a drink 

 which purifies them. On the following day a more complicated ceremony of 

 purification takes place. 



18. Snake priests going off to hunt snakes. 



19. Snake dance. This is the public ceremony which takes place in the presence 



of all the inhabitants of the pueblos. The two fraternities which take part 

 in it are the Antelope and the Snake. In this ceremony the priests of the 

 latter fraternity carry living venomous snakes in their mouths. Those who 

 take part in the dance and the spectators are seen in the photograph. 



20. Small ladder leading to the kib-va, or sacred rooms in which the secret mysteries 



of the Snake ceremony are held. From this ladder hang a bow and arrows 

 with red horsehair and the skin of a small mammal. Their object is to notify 

 the uninitiated that ceremonies at which they are not permitted to be present 

 are being performed in the subterranean room. 



21. The courier emerging from the kib-va of the Antelope with the sacred offerings 



which are to be made to the gods of the four cardinal points. On each of the 

 first seven days of the Snake ceremony this man goes around the pueblo 

 following a circle and placing the offerings on the four altars of the gods of the 

 cardinal points. Each day the diameter of the circle diminishes; on the first 

 it is about 7 miles, and the last is confined to going around the hatch of the 

 kib-va. He carries the offerings on his back. In his left hand he has the 

 sacred flour, with which he sprinkles the offerings after he has placed them 

 on the altars. 



22. The Snake priests in rank at the beginning of the dance. 



23. The chief of the Snake priests taking the flag from the ladder, to give notice 



that the mysteries of the ceremony of the Snake have ended. 



24. The Antelope priests inviting the Snake priests to eoine out of their kib-va and 



to go to the plaza to carry the serpents around the sacred rock. Each of the 

 Antelope priests deposits a handful of flour at the door of the house of the 

 Snake priests, calling in a low tone. 



25. Ceremony of the purification. 



26. Snake priest going to the hunt. 



