Page 157 - TheHopiIndians

MESA FOLK OF HOPILAND 149

No form of language is capable of describing it. Those
who have seen it make it an unforgettable episode in
their lives. Those who have made it a study declare
that the mind of man has never conceived its equal.
When the Snake and Antelope fraternities descend
into their respective kivas about the middle of August,
the rites commence. The events that attract popular
interest begin at once on the first day, when a party of
Snake priests, painted and costumed and with snake
whips and digging sticks in their hands, descend from
the mesa to hunt snakes in the north quarter. These
men, keenly watching for snake trails, eagerly search,
beating the sage-brush and digging in holes that
may harbor their quarry, thrusting their hands into
such places with the utmost fearlessness. At sunset',
after an exhausting day's work, they return from the
hunt with snakes, if they have been successful, which
are transferred from their pouches into the snake jars.
For four days the hunt goes on, each day to a different
world quarter. If a snake is seen it is sprinkled with
meal, and as it tries to escape, one of the hunters
seizes it a few inches back of the head and places it in
his pouch.
When the snakes, big and little, venomous and harm
less, have been collected and stowed away in the jars
like those used by the women to carry water, there
comes the great event of snake washing. The priests
assemble in the kiva and seat themselves on stone seats
around the wall, holding in the hand a snake whip