FEWKES] PUBLIC SNAKE DANCE AT MISHONGNOVI 973 
The idea which underlies the washing of the reptiles in the Snake 
dance is that of bodily purification or lustration, and probably sprang 
from a belief in a totemic relationship between reptiles and the Snake 
clan. It can be explained on the theory that the reptiles, as ‘* elder 
brothers” and members of the same Snake clan, need purification by 
water as an essential act in preparation for the ceremonials in which 
they later participate. 
On the morning of the ninth day of the Snake dance all priests of 
the Snake society and all members of the Snake clan bathe their heads 
in preparation for the ceremony. The reptiles, or elder members of 
the same clan, have been gathered from the fields and brought to the 
pueblo to participate in this the great festival of their family, and it is 
both fitting and necessary that their heads, like those of the priests, 
should be washed on this day. The ceremonial washing of the reptiles 
is therefore perfectly logical on the theory of totemic worship. 
A few days after the snake washing at Mishongnovi, the author 
attended for the fourth time the snake washing at Walpi, finding that 
the rites presented no marked variation from those of previous years. 
The exercises at the Middle mesa, and probably at Oraibi, lack the 
dash of those of the East mesa, and are simpler in character. 
The Snake priests of Walpi found it necessary to station one of 
their number at the hatchway, as a tyler, to prevent the intrusion of 
the uninitiated during the snake washing, and this will probably 
become a custom in future dances. 
Pupiic ANTELOPE AND SNAKE DANCES 
The public Snake dance at Mishongnoyi (plate xiv) has been well 
described by Mr Cosmos Mindeleff.' It closely resembles that at 
Walpi, which it generally precedes,’ and, next to that at Walpi, it is 
the most spirited performance of this ceremony ‘among the Hopi, 
On account of their similarity it is hardly necessary to describe both 
the Antelope and the Snake dance, and consequently this account is 
limited to the latter, or to details in which differences exist. 
A conical structure made of cottonwood boughs, and called a kisi 
(brush-house), was erected in the plaza near a central, permanent 
shrine of stone. The kisi served as a receptacle for the reptiles until 
they were needed, and was made in the following way: holes were 
dug in the ground at intervals in the form of a circle, and several 
good size, newly cut but untrimmed, green cottonwood boughs were 
planted therein. The upper ends of the boughs were bound together 
with ropes and straps, and a cloth was tied on one side covering an 
entrance into the inclosure. Smaller cottonwood branches were 
inserted between the larger ones, making a dense bower amply sufli- 

1 Science, vol. vil, number 174, 1886. 
2Tn 1891, 1893, and 1895 it was celebrated the day before the Walpi dance, and in 1885, according to 
Mindeleff, the same relative day was chosen. 
