Hopi Snake Ceremony Part 2

Every ceremony performed by the is laced with so much symbolism that it is almost impossible to be able to trace the root of each of them. In Tom Cryers book, “Visual Testament” he attempts to do just that. He noted that during the last four days of the Snake Ceremony these days are dedicated to the hunt of snakes for the final dance ceremony. The First day of the hunt, the Hopi Snake Priests go northward. The second day they go westward, the third, southward, and the fourth and last day they go eastward. It is through the gathering of serpents from the four corners of the earth that the Hopis enact the formation of man, the gathering of Israel.

Part of the Snake Priests outfit is the zigzag motif on the kirtle (kilt) worn by the priests. This motif represents the plumed water serpent Paleuleukang. The bars, symbolic of the two records, divided by a tripod shaped symbol considered to be snipe tracks, which correspond to “the Word,” even as ibis footprints correspond to Thoth, the Egyptian god of writing.

Their headdress is made up of eagle breast feathers dyed red. To the ends of these are tied bluebird feathers. The joining of these two colors, red and blue, hearkens back to antiquity. It also is a visual forecast of a future joining of the blue and red nations. This particular headdress has been referred to as the nakwa, “wish\prayer.” The blue and red nations are considered Judah and Joseph…the Jews and the Native Americans.

This would make sense considering the design on the kilt has the two bars considered records and the ibis footprint representing Thoth, the Egyptian god of writing is more than likely a prophecy of the joining of the records of Judah and Joseph in the form of the Bible and the Book of Mormon.