FEWKES] PUBLIC SNAKE DANCE AT MISHONGNOYVI 975 
barefoot, but all the remainder wore moccasins. There was some 
variation in the colors of the feathers on their heads, which can be 
interpreted in the same way as similar variations at Walpi, later con- 
sidered; but it was noticed that certain of the priests failed to have the 
white zigzag markings on their bodies, so conspicuous in the Walpi 
celebration. 
The entrance of the Snake priests into the plaza was not so animated 
as at Walpi under the leadership of Kopeli, but their circuits were 
the same, and their dress and adornment was quite similar in the two 
pueblos. ‘The Snake priests filed about the plaza four times, stamped 
on the plank in the ground before the kisi as they passed it, and took 
their positions facing the Antelope priests. The ceremonies at the kisi 
began with a swaying movement of their bodies in unison with the 
song of the Antelopes, and, as it continued, the Snake priests locked 
arms, and, bending over, shook their whips at the ground with a 
quivering motion as if brushing a vicious snake from a coiled pos- 
ture. These preliminary songs, with attendant steps, lasted about a 
quarter of an hour, at the Glose of which time the startling feature of 
the ceremony—the carrying of the reptiles about the plaze oe 
This was one of the best presentations of the Sune dance ever seen 
in the Hopi pueblos. 
One of the most conspicuous men in the line of Snake priests per- 
sonified a warrior (kalektaka), who wore on his head a close-fitting, 
open-mesh, cotton skull-cap, which represents the ancient war-bonnet.! 
This warrior-personation entered the kisi, and there, concealed from 
view, held the neck of the bag in which the reptiles were confined 
to the entrance of the kisi, and as the imprisoned snakes were needed 
he drew or forced them from the bag to be taken by those outside. 
The Snake priests divided into groups of three, each group consisting 
of a ‘‘carrier” who held the reptile in his mouth, a “hugger” who 
placed his left hand on the right shoulder of the carrier, whom he 
accompanied in his circuit about the plaza, and the *‘ gatherer,” who col- 
lected and carried the snakes after they were dropped. ‘The reptiles 
were not handed to the Antelope priests to hold during the dance. As 
the priests circled about with the snakes in their mouths, two platoons 
of women sprinkled them with sacred meal from trays which they held 
as a prayer-offering. The Antelopes remained in line by the kisi, 
singing and shaking their rattles as the rite progressed. 
At the close of the dance the chief made a ring of meal on the ground, 
in which he drew six radial lines corresponding to the Gna points, 
and all the reptiles were placed within this circle. Ata signal after 
a prayer the Snake priests rushed at the struggling mass, and seizing 




1The wooden image, in the Oraibi Snake kiva, representing Puukon, has on its head the represen- 
tation of one of these war-bonnets. The head of the female idol with the War-god has the terraced 
rain-cloud so common on female idols. 
