Description
A painted scene shows a Hopi Snake Dance ceremony with several Native American men arranged in an open courtyard. Some figures stand in the foreground while others sit and gather on stepped adobe structures in the background. The composition emphasizes the ceremonial gathering and the surrounding pueblo architecture. The card is undated.
Front Text (verbatim):
5898 HOPI SNAKE DANCE
COPP DETROIT PHOTOGRAPHIC CO.
Back Text (verbatim):
"PHOSTINT"
TRADE MARK REG. U.S. PAT. OFF.
MADE ONLY BY DETROIT PUBLISHING CO.
With the primitive people of the Southwest,
water is the most precious of all elements. In a
land of cloudless skies and waterless mesas, most
of the ceremonies of these people are directed to
the gods who have power over the much to be
desired down-pour of rains.
The weird ceremony of the Snake Dance is a
prayer for rain, the snakes being used as
messengers to the gods having power over the rain
clouds. It continues for nine days. The public
performance (in which live snakes are handled)
occurs on the ninth or last day. This ceremony
takes place about the middle of August.
