The Noble Pagan Forums - Secrets of the Snake Dance-- Iron Thunderhorse

ANCIENT AMERICAN
Feb. 2000, pp. 26-27

Copyright (c) 2000, ANCIENT AMERICAN. All rights reserved.

SECRETS OF THE SNAKE DANCE
by Iron Thunderhorse

Inscribed on shell gorgets from Spiro Mounds in eastern Oklahoma, and painted on ceramic plates from the Mimbres culture, are ancient glimpses...snapshots of the prehistoric snake dance, an event still practiced annually by the Hopi and Pueblo Indians.

The Mimbres people were a regional band of the Mogollon whose domain was the western portion of New Mexico. They lived in pit-houses from 200 to 1,000 A.D. in hundreds of small villages that relied on hunting and agriculture. Their pottery is known for its unique representations of ceremonial life.

Three Mimbres ceramic plates depict the handling of live snakes (similar to the widespread practice in Pueblo ceremonies) recorded and held historically in Pueblos at Arizona and New Mexico. They include Acoma, Cipaulovi, Chimopovi, Cochiti, Cunopavi, Hotavila, Laguna, Miconinovi, Mishongnovi, Oraibi, Sia, Shipaulovi, Shongopavi, Walpi, and Zuni (see "Mimbres Snake Dance").

Several shell gorgets found at the Spiro Mounds (a trade center in Oklahoma, believed to have flourished from about 800 to 1,000 A.D.) are also inscribed with images of ceremonial dances displaying live snake handling--perhaps an indication of cultural diffusion. These images, in turn, may have a cultural connection to depictions of Mesoamerican storm-gods, who wield serpents in their hands...scepters of powers subject to their divine control.

There are actually two major Pueblo ceremonies which involved the use of live snakes: the Summer Snake Dance, and the Snake Society Initiation Ceremony. The former is usually conducted in August. It is a non-Kachina ceremony, wherein the human dancers do not assume the role of a deity. This ritual is performed by "Snake Priests" and their helpers, an act that will, hopefully, bring rain for the maturity of crops. Theseceremonial activities lasted up to twenty days, which concluded with eight days of secret practices, and one last day where the public snake dance was performed.

Snakes of all types were gathered from the four cardinal directions (e.g. rattlers, such as diamond backs, prairie, red, yellow, drab, and black rattlers, sidewinders, racers, whip snakes, rabbit snakes, sinew snakes, and garter snakes), then stored in ceramic jars known as "olla" down inside the kivas of the Snake and Antelope clans.

The totemic ancestor of the Snake Clan is a supernatural Snake-Maid. She gave birth to the corn-maidens, who in turn are responsible for the bringing of rain and fertility to the pueblos. Hence, the live snakes were a symbolic medium of prayer, and sympathetic magic used by humans to contact, honor, and tap the Snake-Maid's powers. The connection between the snake (symbolic of energy) and corn (life-giving sustenance) as co-nurtures is apparent.

The Snake Society Initiation Ceremony is similar, yet more secretive. Snakes, mostly poisonous, were gathered in the same way, but given to an initiate of the Snake Society and his chosen Snake father (sponsor). They both danced with the snakes. In Plate D,* a pair of dancers from the Spiro Mound emerge from the mythic horned-serpent. This may be indicative of Snake Society influence in the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex.

In Plate A,* the ceramic olla jar used to store the snakes is depicted. It shows a stripe painted on the dancers face identical to the face-paint stripe worn by Snake Clan members during their public dances.

The snake-dancers in Plates A* and B (see "Mimbres Snake Dance") have feather adornments, as do the deities in Plate D. The Hopi Snake Clan still use "feather whips" in order to confuse the snakes into incapacitation, who sense and believe their handlers to be natural predators, i.e. eagle and buzzard. Eagle and buzzard feathers were fastened to short staffs and used to uncoil and herd snakes into the olla jars.

During these snake-dances, the creatures were held or grasped by dancers in their hands, some were allowed to coil around their necks and arms, as these examples show.* In the public dances, Snake Priests held snakes in their mouths.

When the ceremonies were completed, all snakes were returned to their habitats unharmed, along with offerings of cornmeal and "pahos" (prayer-sticks).

Belief in a Snake-Maiden who gives birth to the corn-maidens combines a complex set of ideas which connect the feminine nurturing aspects of the mother earth goddess with fertility and rejuvenation. These same associations were held throughout Europe in pre-history. Images of the mother goddess with a serpent in each hand have been excavated on the Isle of Crete. In Mesoamerica, the Aztecs venerated a deity known as "Coatlicue" ("She of the Serpent Skirt"), their personification of the Snake-Maiden as fertility-giver.

The Aztecs conceived of time as a snake. A fire-serpent carried the sun on its back, while a stylized sacrificial knife was used to tear out the hearts of honored captives for the 52 year ceremonial new-fire ceremony. The birth of a new sun is depicted in Aztec codices as a stylized fire-serpent.

In the northeast, Algonkians perform a snake dance known as the "Yuneha." It represents a serpent-shaped constellation of stars. Algonkians also believe the road to the Afterlife is made only by crossing a bridge in the form of an enormous serpent. Only those who have remained strong and true will pass. All others fall into the river to become snakes.

The snake-dancers performed in a celebration of life. Their purpose was and is to maintain the cosmic balance of energy, as it undulates and rejuvenates itself through space and time, like the very serpents they handle.

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