Hopi Snake Dance.

The best answer came from Jim. Kudos Jim!!

People were amazed that the Hopi actually would dance with snakes , some of them rattle snakes, in their mouth. The Snake dance is still important in Hopi culture, but it is no longer open to the public. One of the central reasons for the dance is that the Hopi believe that the snakes (especially rattle snakes), will bring messages to the mountains and hence the kachinas, to bring rain. In August, when the dance is held, rain is a rare and much needed event in the desert southwest.

I saw the basic answers in the email I received, some had more info than others. Here are the basics:

It is called the Chu' tiva. This ceremony alternates with the Flute Ceremony , each are held bi-annually. The primary focus is to bring rain and crop maturity.

Each morning the Snake chiefs go to the antelope kiva to smoke and pray. These two societies are ones who orchestrate the snake dance.

The antelope chiefs make an elaborate altar of a four foot sand painting, it honors the four directions in depiction and colors. There is a "cloud mountain " at each corner, a mound of sand with a hawk feather stuck in the middle.There is much more to the set up of the altars, and I recommend the book "The Hopi"  by Frank Waters (who was told the ways by Oswald White Bear Fredericks), if you are interested in learning more. The snake chiefs go to the antelope kiva to do their smoking and praying. The antelope clan is more involved with the set up and preceding actions, where the snake priests then perform the ceremony.

The snakes are kept in large jars covered with buckskin that has holes punched in it, until it is time to use them in ceremony. They are fed pollen.

Sand is spread on the altar floor, all members of the snake clan seat themselves in a circle touching knee to knee. A man releases the snakes from the jars and the whole clan begins to sing soft and low. No one moves, and snakes frequently coil up and sleep next to the singing men. Women sprinkle corn meal on the snakes. When the singing is done, the snakes are returned to the jars.The antelope kiva is also going through ceremony for purification, and they are then brought a young snake maiden. The antelope clan provide a male for the ceremony. Their hair is washed in yucca root water. A wedding ceremony is performed and their wet hair is twisted together. Songs are sung and then the children's same sex god parents take them home. This is a ritual union of the two societies that will carry out the ceremony.

The fifteenth day there is a race of the antelope clan and the snake clan has theirs on the sixteenth day. The running is said the imitate the sound of thunder , asking for the storms that will make the crops mature.

The dance is in August or September, the phases of the moon are what dictate the day and the scheduling of other ceremony. Sometimes an event will be held in one village on one day and in another on a different day

The snakes go through various ceremony including having the clans sing to them in a kiva to dancing with them in the plaza. The snakes are treated very well as they are messengers to the powers that be. There are four days spent searching for snakes, the Hopi search in each of the cardinal directions, one direction per day.

The antelope society holds a dance on the next to last day of the ceremony, then the last event is the snake dance itself. There are two rows of twelve men each that enter the plaza, both antelope and snake. The snake chief directs the ceremony. There is a very strict way to dress, paint oneself, and everyone carries a knife. The clan chief carries a staff that resembles a snake. They circle the plaza four times. There is a succession of lining up, some ceremonial tasks and finally the snake chief stands up with a snake clasped gently in his teeth. He also holds the snake with his hands to support it. Each dancer picks up a snakes, one at a time, to dance with.They will continue until all the snakes are danced with, as each snake has made his way around the plaza, it is placed on the ground. A gatherer will pick it up and hand it to a singing antelope clan member. The women make a circle of cornmeal and the snakes are placed in the circle by the antelope clan. The snake clan scoop them up and bring them out into the desert and release them. The men then drink an emetic called nanayo ya, and retch over the edge of the cliff. The women clean the paint off of their bodies, and they go to the kiva for purification. This takes hours to be completed.

The number of snakes is not exact, it depends on how many are caught over 4 days.

There are many little details to all of the ceremony, and way too many to write about here, but that is the basics of the snake dance.

May rain come when you need it


Peshaui Wequashimese


(C)2011 Dr. R M Wolf , may not be used, copied or reproduced without prior written permission.