BULL 30] 



SNAKE DANCE 



605 



til they arrive before the kisi where the 

 snakes and snake passer are concealed. 

 The carrier drops to his knees and re- 

 ceives a snake, grasps it by the middle 

 in his month, and, rising, dances four 

 times around tlie ])laza, wlien he drops 

 the snake, wliich is immediately picked 

 up by the collector. The carrier then 

 returns to the kisi, obtains another snake, 

 and goes through the same process. The 

 carrier is assisted by a companion, who 

 paspes one hand over liis shoulder and 



waves before the snake, with tlie other 

 hand, a snake whip, consisting of a short 

 staff to which are attached two eagle 

 feathers; this is for the purpose of caus- 

 ing the snakes to uncoil and run, when 

 they are picked up with great celerity. 

 While the dance is progressing a group 

 of women and maidens in picturesque 

 costume stand at one side of the plaza 

 and sprinkle the dancers with sacred meal 

 from basket travs. 



When the snakes have all been carried, 

 the participants pause while a "six-direc- 

 tions picture" in sacred corn-meal is drawn 

 on the ground. At a signal the collec- 

 tors throw the snakes on the meal; then 

 a wild scramble ensues, and one l)y one 

 the priests emerge with snakes in their 

 hands and rush down the rocky trail of 

 the mesa to release the reptiles at various 

 points below the pueblo. Keturning, the 

 priests are given an emetic drink, made 

 from herbs, and undergo a thorough puri- 

 fication. The ceremony closes with feast- 

 ing and games by the entire populace. 



The Snake dance is celebrated princi- 

 pally as a prayer for rain. The legend as 

 to its origin recounts that the children of 

 the union of the Snake Hero and the 

 Snake Maid were transformed into snakes, 

 lience snakes are regarded by the Hopi 

 as their elder brothers and are thought 

 to be powerful in 

 compelling the nature 

 gods to bring rain. 

 For this purpose they 

 are set free at the 

 close of theceremony. 

 The snake rite is 

 thought to have been 

 originally an obser- 

 vance of the ancient 

 Snakeclan, which fur- 

 nishes the chief of 

 the society. Thecere- 

 mony is believed to 

 represent an agree- 

 ment between the 

 Snake and Anteloi)e 

 clans to hold joint 

 celebration of their re- 

 spective rites, which 

 no doubt conflicted 

 when the clans orig- 

 inally came to live 

 together. Some ri- 

 valry is still obser- 

 vable in connection 

 with the assumed efficiency of the rain 

 charms of the two societies. Two species 

 of rattlesnake and the btdl and the whip 

 snake are carried in the dance. The 

 latter two are not venomous. The cele- 

 brants are rarely bitten by the dangerous 

 snakes, a fact due largely to careful hand- 

 ling and to the "herding" to which the 

 snakes have been subjected between the 

 time when they are gathered and the 

 dance. The Snake dance formerly must 

 have been widely distributed among the 

 Pueblo tribes, as remnants of it are found 

 at Zuili, Laguna, Acoma, Sia, and Cochiti, 

 and among other Rio Grande villages. 

 That it was practised in Mexico is evi- 

 denced by apictureinSahagun's Historia. 

 The Yokuts of California held a rattle- 

 snake ceremony, Tutnloiris, which from 

 Powers' description (Cont. N. A. Ethnol., 



AKE Priest (ssnta 

 FE Railway) 



