Show l A u — fl $ N I VI fU II ! u JU Hou) the Main Street Moguls of One Enterprising Arizona City Have Solved Their Depression Woes by Fraternizing With Reptiles Bew A’ f-- ' ' xV- ' Aar1 $ 5T?r'fs I ' Indian Dance Rituals X - fmm’ and Enacting the Weird Hop i ' v V£ ‘ft - ' ' s 'S 4- f ' - f v ' iN JL ' 1 h' ’ V 1 v X V - " &' i Rich Man Poor Man 4 No Beggar No Thief— Doctor Lawyer— But Strangely Enough— No Indian Chief! ' Just tho Smoki Men White and Merchants of Prescott Arizona Photographed During Their Weird Dances Akop Sunset Mesa ' X A x't Above Two Prescott Merchant Caught Up In the Full Spirit of the Smoki Dance At Right One of Them at Work In His 5 THE ' A TTTr£ V boom The Smoki haen feathers In their hair naked bodies glistening1 in ''''' y the slitherers would make as Ideal pets as do house cats They even catch rats and mice j they are unobtrusive silent utterly harmless Invarithan ably a snake is more afraid of map ' ' ' f man of it In time the difficulty was overcome and now if a novice in the Smoki people carries a pad or paper in his teeth with which to grasp the “sacred” reptile he usually is laughed at by his brothers These tired business men of Prescott have learned that self-effac- -- Insurance Office toms-tom- a - "v J 31 f 40" ? y j v the receding sunlight writhe and glide on the high Arizona mesa In a circle they go — — hippety-ho- p ' “They are Indians’ This would be the obvious comment of a person who should chance to climb Sunset Mesa in the twilight while the contortions are being practiced But the conclusion would be wrong All guesses would probably be wrong concerning the nature of the group unless the guesser happened to be on the inside of a little secret of the picturesque and thriving city of Prescott The Smoki twilight dances indeed are quite without counterpart in any other part of the world Some time ago a group of Prescott business men put their heads together and lamented several things Business the wortd over could be better they noted Locally rain had not fallen in ample quantities for a long time ana crops were bad Another thing they were sorry to relate none of them was getting any younger Inactivity was making them fat and lazy Furthermore things were getting dull for the Hopi Indians who formerly added color to the landscape were either dying out or moving deep down into Mexico One of the business men said: “Ive got a hunch The old Arizona Indians were the original boosters When they craved more rain more buffaloes better maize or more scalps they didn’t sit down and tear out their own hair They went out and did a snake dance ana b’gosh it generally worked wonders with whatever they were after’ said another “what’s the “Well I answer?” “The answer is why don’t we do as the Hopi Indians did? Why don’t we try to bring back some of the old Hopi dances?” “Who’s going to do them?” another asked “Well” retorted the first (facetiously this time) “I guess that we could find time to do them ourselves I think ” that I could play the That may not have been the exact tom-tom- 1 they must truly regard the snake as sacred if they are to correctly the Indian interpret rituals Jo the red men the snake is a “Lltt the Rain God hippety-ho- p —as the toms-tom- s stils pound out the mystic rhythm of the red men The movement begins slowly moving gradually into a climactic crescendo Soon the din is increased by quivering shrieks of the dancers shrilling dramatically above the basic background of chanting mg willfully would rilege The general theme of the snake dance among the Indians as well as? with Hie Smoki was simply a plea for the rain that would insure crops j Some sort of spectacular plea seemed necessary to the dwellers ini a desert- ike country s where" rain wds a rare occurrence $0 in the course of the centuries the xed i f way in which it began but within a short while the secret - fraternal order of Smoki was founded And now at stated inter-- x vais a select sixty leaders in the community life of the mountain city close their doors for business for three hours and dance — wildly furiously seemingly oblivious to everything about them They dance to the accompaniment of tomtoms with the stirring ' throbs of religious chants While they writhe through weird routine they hold snakes between their teeth wrap them around their necks and give every indication of enjoying the whole thing immensely When queried members of the Smoki assert that their sole purpose is to keep alive the best traditions of the redmen Others say that the rituals are really a new form of recreation — a rest cure— for the tired business men of Prescott In any event it is difficult for people of other towns and small cities to conThe business ceive of the pageant men of Prescott are just like the moguls of any other Main Street— solid substantial family men in most cases churi members and in all probability Kiwanians or Rotarians '' their enYet they dance semi-nud- e tire bodies painted a reddish-brow- n their costumes utterly savage to all intents and purposes they are during their orgies “heathens disporting themselves in primitive fashion the lawyer the doctor the insurance man the grocer and the rest cast aside the veneer of civilization and put on such a display of savagery that many women spectators usually faint before the exhibition is over Participation in this extraordinary ceremony is the price of membership in the Smoki people In Prescott this 1 A Tired Arizona Business Man Doing the Hopi Indian Snake Dance Carrying Three Huge Desert Serpents in the Approved Fashion To the Left His Face Partially Obscured in I Accordance With the Smoki Is the Same Man at Ills Desk By-La- able But whenever the spectacular and normally dangerous rattler figures in the ceremony it is a pretty safe bet that he has been recently The hypodermic front teeth of the desert reptile have been- cut off this leaves him harmless for a few weeks even though his tail can whirr and he can wiggle in lively fashion de-fan- ged X - x men came to worship the reptiles in a fantastic manner It is quite in should chant to the heavens and hop and cavort in h imitation !of their ' Suncessors in the ownership of predeset Mesa The real Indians used real rattlesnakes deadly poisonous and many are the tales as to the safety devices used Some people say that the gods simply made the dancers immune “Authorities” on Indian lore declare" the dancers partake of a secret herb concoction which makes them immune to the poison Others says the are extracted” d own in the Jdark fangs kivas of the Snake Priests before'! the dances But as recently as last ydar Newcomer a white man who lived' with the red men and studied their dances declared he personally saw an Indian dancer bitten on the check by a fanged fattier he was carrying The victim apparently suffered only temporary nausea Whatever the secret the Indians have guarded it jealously No white chemist has been able to reveal it It is contrary to Indian religion' to harm the snake in any way which precludes likelihood of theiq removing the fangs f keep-Smo- ki A devil-dervis- ? r ' V’’ £ rfr A -- -s - - A1" '' - ' s i si ' ' k- X j v s s s' A' JlA f 4' Is? f- -’ J lit X 1 ' x?' t s the snake-danc- e are other! parts of Hie Smoki ritual whlcn are highly Besides s 1 Vfcere Above the Smoki Ritual GetUng Under Way With Priests Along the °LUle Antelope Sancuf ted Way The Movements Increase Gradually " pr°h UntU the Participants Execute Violent Contortions Arizona Business Man Doing the Eaglo-Danc- ' At Right A Staid e membership is looked upon as a high But carrying a honor The identity of thev dancers snake in your hand while not exactly secret is never adis one thing (few vertised On Sunset Mesa during the people will dances the paint and feathers form an that) and do even carrying it effective disguise There is no emin your mouth is barrassment in performing the ritual quite another! On however since only the “best people” that technical point re allowed to participate the Smoki dances alWhite man’s natural aversion to repmost went to pieces tiles presented an initial difficulty in It was necessary to Hie organization of the Smoki conduct some exten dances Most humans are afraid iv npani of snakes it is traditional theoret- prospects PnI?ato 8£JYeamlsl1 are hSntiff! wkeare s icaUy dating back to Eden But for not onlv the sake of something or other the 'clean reasonably PreSC0“ Swall0wed ‘ with-auste- ' ?e"0f A Vice President and a Business Manager of Competing Arizona Industrial Houses Disguised as Indians for the SmoVi Snake Dance NswBpspsr Feature Service gfc’ia’is'jrtei!if the Experts say that fear of average snakes were eradicated ed 1931 d ce 9 1 The snakes handled are as a rule able They frequently are six feet Jong or more-g- reat bull snakes chicken snakes— every kind obtain- - interesting— There is the which the red men used for healing The men dance about waving firebrands preserving at the same time the enchanting rhythm of Indian music If the snake dance is grotesque the antithesis is provided In the Moon Chant formerly celebrated once in 28 years by the Indians It is mystic rever-searching fraught fire-dan- - “smoCfprodui00!1! Th re °f T® “ Frescott Babbitts admit that ButTvoS JsnS move t mighT not to PeoS? nfbnt)?er udemSd! |