THE SNAKE DANCE 



125 



Woman's home she wove a deep basket, 

 into which she packed Tigo and the two 

 maidens, and then, letting down part of 

 the web from the clouds and attaching 

 it to the basket, the clouds drew them up 

 safely to the upper world. Tigo gave 

 the younger maiden to his brother and 

 announced that in 16 days they would 

 celebrate the marriage feast. On the 

 fifth day after the announcement the 

 Snake people from the underworld came 

 to the upperworld, went to the kivas, and 

 ate corn pollen for food. Then they left 

 the kivas and disappeared. 



"But Tigo and the maidens knew that 

 they had only changed their appearance 

 and were in the valley in the form of 

 snakes. So he commanded his people to 

 go into the valley and capture them, 

 bring them to the kivas and wash them, 

 and then dance with them. Four days 

 were spent catching them from the four 

 quarters ; then with solemn ceremony 

 they were washed, and while the prayers 

 were offered the snakes listened to them, 

 so that when at the close of the dance, 

 where they danced with their human 

 brothers, they were taken back to the 

 valley and released ; they were then able 

 to return to the underworld and carry to 

 the gods there the petitions that their 

 human brothers had uttered on the 

 earth." 



This' was the origin and meaning of 

 the unique ceremony we were to witness. 

 I was so interested in the legend that 

 before I knew it the sound of a whirring 

 noise made me look up, and then I saw 

 that the sun was setting and at last the 

 time for the dance was come. 



The whirring noise became louder and 

 around the corner of the plaza appeared 

 the priests of the Antelope clan, the 

 harvest priests. They were naked to the 

 waist, and were painted a warm red 

 brown ; from each shoulder and breast 

 ran a white zigzag line to represent the 

 lightning. They wore a kilt, which came 

 to just above the knee ; a gray fox skin 

 hung behind, the tail almost touching the 

 ground ; necklaces of silver and beads 

 were their ornaments. The chief Ante- 

 lope priest had in his hand a weird wind 



instrument, which as he swung sounded 

 like the angry, soughing wind of a storm. 

 Many of the other priests carried rattles 

 which made the sound of falling rain ; 

 others had ears of corn, or others harvest 

 emblems. 



Suddenly my companion caught my 

 arm ancl said, "Look!" Following his 

 pointing finger, I saw a priest ascending 

 the ladder leading from the Snake kiva. 

 He was covered with a long coat and car- 

 ried a great bag, the contents of which 

 writhed and wriggled. He came quickly 

 into the plaza, deposited his bag of 

 snakes under the tepee-like altar, and 

 returned to the kiva. 



I kept my eyes glued to the ladder, 

 for I knew that the Snake priests had to 

 come up that way, and I was rewarded, 

 for just as the rays of the setting sun 

 struck the top rung of the ladder a wild 

 figure emerged, dressed more or less like 

 the Antelope priests, but with long, flow- 

 ing hair, crowned with masses of feath- 

 ers. As he reached the top of the ladder 

 he took a handful of sacred meal from 

 his pouch, and with a splendid free 

 gesture he flung it, with up and out- 

 stretched arm, towards the sinking sun 

 and for a second stood like a bronze 

 statue with arm uplifted as the meal, a 

 tiny white cloud, floated downward over 

 the edge of the mesa. Then he turned 

 and stepped into the narrow street and 

 another took his place, and another, and 

 another, until all had left the kiva ; then 

 quietly and without any hurry they 

 marched into the plaza and took their 

 stand just opposite the altar, facing the 

 Antelope priests. Then the chief priest 

 of the village took some sacred meal and 

 made a line with it between the Snake 

 and Antelope priests. 



Now the ceremony began. Crossing 

 hands, they swayed from east to west 

 with eyes half closed. After about 20 

 of these motions they burst into a deep- 

 voiced chant, stamping with the left foot 

 upon the ground. Next they swayed 

 from west to east and again gave voice 

 to the queer, low chant. I got a little 

 nearer and heard that as they swayed 

 they were praying in low tones. 



