A PICTURE OF THE SNAKE DANCE.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume VIII, Issue 50, 12 December 1891, Page 673

A PICTURE OF THE SNAKE DANCE.

The snake dances of the Moqui Indians have been frequently wiitten about, but usually simply on hearsay evidence. It is seldom that any white man is allowed to be present at these ceremonies, but Captain Bourke, the notable exception, thus describes it.

The participants were composed of two bodies of men, thirty-six of whom danced with the snakes, and a smaller number who formed a chorus of singing men. These latter were the first to come upon the scene, and were dressed in bright coloured embroidered kilts, sashes, anklets and beautifully tanned yellow fox skins hanging down behind the body. They bore small rattles in one hand, while in the other was held a stick, to which was fastened a couple of turkey feathers. This stick, they claim, carries the necessary protection of one’s life and lets the snake’s tutelary god know that none of his progeny will be injured or carried to remote lands.

These men made four or five circuits of the small plaza and then took up a position to the west side of it. In the centre of the plaza was a cottonwood shed. After they had arranged themselves in a state of extraordinary exaltation, the snake men came marching in with tremendous energy, as though inspired to bound across the mesa with a single stride.

These dancing men, like their predecessors, made four circuits around a large rock which stands in the centre of the plaza. They then faced the chorus and a song was gone through with. After this ceremony the snake men were divided into groups of three, and one from each three went into the cottonwood shed and extracted a snake from one of the logs, and, after putting it into his mouth, and firmly fixing it there with his teeth, he started on his round. His companion, with his arm around his neck, kept the tail of the snake in position with his left hand, while with his right, in which he carried a stick with two long feathers attached, he kept the serpent from becoming entangled in the hair of the dancer. The snake, after being carried around the circle, was thrown from the mouth, when the thitd member of the group gathered it up and cariied it for the rest of the dance.

At times the serpents would try to make their escape, and would make a dash foi- liberty through the crowds which surrounded the dancers, and the spectators would scatter in all directions until the snakes were recaptured by the dancers and carried back into the circle and more securely held.

The visits to the shed were continued until at least 150 snakes had been brought from the enclosure, and all appeared to be in excellent condition judging from the manner in which they resisted capture after they had been dropped from the mouth. Two or three instances were noticed of large bull snakes being held by the neck and twining their bodies around the legs of the dancers. In one instance the snake had so entwined himself around the perfoi mer that he was unable to move for fear of falling. This predicament caused a great outburst of laughter, but it looked anything but funny to the dancer. Those who danced with the snakes not unfrequently bad three or four in the mouth at the same time, which, of all the performance, was the most repulsive. To see these naked human beings going around with the face completely hidden behind a mask of twisting and squirming snakes was enough to make the stoutest-hearted man shudder with disgust, yet the other members of the tribe greeted these manifestations with applause.

The applause of the spectators urged the dancers to greater feats, and as the dance proceeded the performance became most horrible to behold. Some of the dancers would take two large rattlers in the mouth at the same time, and as they slowly slung around the circle would chew on the living snakes until, in some instances, the serpents would fall to the ground completely bitten in two. One dancer, who appeared to be a leader, at one time had six serpents in his mouth, and the swinging ends of the reptiles made a gorgon appearance of his head as he whirled around the outer edge of the circle.

This ceremony lasted two hours, and when the dance was over the participants were thoroughly exhausted. While during the dance they had been upheld by the ecstatic condition, the reaction was terrible, and while there was no permanent injury to the dancers, it took several days for them to recuperate. This time was spent in sleeping and drinking a weak sort of broth made from the dead snakes which had perished in the ceremony. During this dance there is a peculiar lustre of the body and eyes which would indicate that the performers had been medicated and prepared for the ordeal through which they were about to pass. It was supposed bv some that the rattlesnakes had been rendered harmless by the extraction of their fangs, but to show that such was not the case a dog was brought into the circle and was bitten by a snake. Ina very short time the unfortunate animal was dead from the effects of the bite.