Hopi Snake Dance

Hopi Snake Dance

Every other year in August

The Snake Dance is the grand finale of ceremonies to pray for rain, held by individual Hopi tribes in Arizona every two years. Hopis believe their ancestors originated in an underworld, and that their gods and the spirits of ancestors live there. They call snakes their brothers, and trust that the snakes will carry their prayers to the Rainmakers beneath the earth. Thus the Hopi dancers carry snakes in their mouths to impart prayers to them.
The ceremonies, conducted by the Snake and Antelope fraternities, last 16 days. On the 11th day preparations start for the Snake Dance. For four days, snake priests go out from their village to gather snakes. On the 15th day, a race is run, signifying rain gods bringing water to the village. Then the Antelopes build a kisi, a shallow pit covered with a board, to represent the entrance to the underworld. At sunset on the 15th day, the Snake and Antelope dancers dance around the plaza, stamping on the kisi board and shaking rattles to simulate the sounds of thunder and rain. The Antelope priest dances with green vines around his neck and in his mouth—just as the Snake priests will later do with snakes.
The last day starts with a footrace to honor the snakes. The snakes are washed and deposited in the kisi. The Snake priests dance around the kisi. Each is accompanied by two other priests: one holding a snake whip and one whose function will be to catch the snake when it's dropped. Then each priest takes a snake and carries it first in his hands and then in his mouth. The whipper dances behind him with his left arm around the dancer's neck and calms the snake by stroking it with a feathered wand. After four dances around the plaza, the priests throw the snakes to the catchers. A priest draws a circle on the ground, the catchers throw the snakes in the circle, the Snake priests grab handfuls of them and run with them to turn them loose in the desert.
The Hopi Flute Ceremony takes place in alternate years.

CONTACTS:
Hopi Cultural Center
P.O. Box 67
Second Mesa, AZ 86043
520-734-2401; fax: 520-734-6651
www.hopiculturalcenter.com
Video of Hopi Snake Dance in 1913, Library of Congress
101 Independence Ave. S.E.
Washington, DC 20540
202-707-5510; fax: 202-707-2076
www.loc.gov

SOURCES:
BkHolWrld-1986, Aug 22
DictFolkMyth-1984, p. 1030
EncyNatAmerRel-2001, p. 276
EncyRel-1987, vol. 10, p. 520
EndurHarv-1995, p. 302
HolSymbols-2009, p. 383
RelHolCal-2004, p. 258
(c)