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- 221107-298 Hopi Old Style Snake Priest Kachina / Katsina
221107-298 Hopi Old Style Snake Priest Kachina / Katsina
with Snake in the mouth with feathers, shell and turquoise tied with hide
ca 1970
10 1/2"H
The Hopi observe a ceremonial calendar in which the year is divided into two parts. According to tradition, during one half of the year the kachinas (nature, ancestral, and guardian spirits) live in the village and reveal themselves to the people through ceremonial dances. During the other half of the year, the kachinas separate themselves from the village and return to live in their homes in the mountains. The Kachina season begins around the time of WINTER SOLSTICE, as people begin to prepare the ground for planting, and it closes in late July with the bringing in of the first harvest.
The Snake Dance held every two years by the Native American Hopi tribe dates back to the earliest era of human life in what is now the southwestern United States. Scholars believe that the dance was originally a water ceremony, because snakes were the traditional guardians of springs. Today it is primarily a rain ceremony, since the Hopis regard snakes as their "brothers" and rely on them to carry their prayers for rain to the underworld, where the gods and the spirits of the ancestors live. The tourists who flock to the Hopi villages to observe the ceremony, however, are usually more interested in the spectacle than they are in its power to influence the weather.
Performed by members of the Snake and Antelope clans on the three mesas in Arizona where the Hopis live, the dance represents the grand finale of a sixteen-day ceremony that begins a few days after the NIMAN KACHINA FESTIVAL or Going Away of the Gods. Preparations for the dance take place during the last nine days, and they include making the PAHOS or prayer sticks, designing the SAND PAINTING , and building an altar around the painting that includes bowls of water from a sacred spring, green cornstalks, and trailing vines of melons and beans-all symbolic of the rain that is needed for the survival of the Hopis and their crops.
During the last four days, the Snake priests leave their villages to gather snakes, often taking young boys with them. According to Hopi legend, boys of the Snake clan can capture and handle snakes without fear from the time they are born. They stroke the snakes with a feather to make them straighten out of their dangerous coils, then grab them behind the head. The priests are usually armed with a digging stick to dig the snakes out of their holes and a snake whip, which is a rod with two eagle feathers attached.
Foot races are held on the last two mornings. The runners streak across the plain and up the steep slope of the mesa just before sunrise in a symbolic gesture representing the rain-gods bringing water to the village. Although the runners at one time were naked, with their hair worn loose in imitation of the falling rain, nowadays they usually wear underwear and cut their hair short. The winner of the first race is given a ring and a prayer-plume, which he plants in his field to ensure a good harvest. The trophy for the second race is a jar of sacred water, also poured over the fields to bring rain.
On the day of the dance itself, the snakes are washed in a large jar filled with water and herbs and then thrown on a bed of clean sand. Young boys guard the snakes to keep them from slithering away, and they use their snake whips to prevent them from coiling. Finally the snakes are gathered up in a huge bag, carried to the village plaza, and placed in the KISI or snake-shrine. The highlight of the ceremony occurs when the Snake priests reach into the kisi and grab a snake, carrying it first in their hands and then in their mouths. Each priest is accompanied by an attendant who uses the snake whip to prevent the reptile from coiling. As the pairs dance around the plaza, each is followed by a third man called the gatherer, whose job it is to make sure that when the time comes for the dancer to drop his snake, it doesn't wander into the crowd. At just the right moment, the gatherer touches the snake with his feathered wand, drops meal on it, and catches it behind the head. Then he lays it over his arm and goes after another one. As many as 50 or 60 small whip-snakes, long bullsnakes, and even rattlesnakes can often be seen curling around the gatherers' arms and necks.
When the bag of snakes is empty, one of the Snake priests makes a large circle of meal on the ground. The gatherers throw all of their snakes into the circle, while women and girls scatter meal on the wriggling pile. Then the Snake priests dash in, scooping up armfuls of snakes, and rush out of the plaza. They carry them off to special shrines, where they are released so they can carry the prayer for rain from the mouths of the priests to the underworld, where the rain-gods live. The dance concludes with the drinking of an emetic, which makes the dancers vomit and thus purges them of any dangerous snake-charms (see BLACK DRINK under GREEN CORN DANCE ). With a little luck, dark clouds will gather later in the afternoon and the rains will come.
Due to the fragile nature of kachina dolls, we do not guarantee they will not break during shipping. We do our best to pack them well, but due to their fragile nature and even with the best packing, small pieces can break. If you are purchasing kachina dolls, please keep this in mind.