A Hopi Ritual Ceremony

Kachinas, are benign messengers in Hopi religion. There are different ones for each seasons, and they are used in major rituals such as the August Rain Ceremony of the society of the Snake (snake symbolizes Mother Earth) and the Antelope (symbolizes fruitful reproduction).  Men on the side of the Snake collect serpents from the desert, sing to them, and feed them pollen.  Antelope men perform foot races to draw the clouds so the Snake can draw rain from them. (see photo of Snake Dance).

On the eighth day, priests conduct rites in the Antelope Kiva (the underground ritual chamber) altar, which is prepared beforehand with gourds of purifying water and a sand depiction of ruin's role in creation.

On the ninth day, the community convenes in the village plaza where the Snake and Antelope brothers stomp on the sipapu (hole) sounding board to waken the kachinas.   

A kisi pit contains fire pit, an altar and a platform.  Fire represents the 1st world, altar represents the 2nd world, and the platform represents the 3rd world.  A ladder out of the hole represents the 4th world above ground. The altar is painted with symbols of rain, lightning, and snakes.

A Snake priest holds a diamondback in his mouth while his guide strikes it with an eagle feather to keep it from coiling and striking.  The performers include an albino which is said to bring good fortune.

Then the Snake men lift dozens of venomous repents from a "kisi" pit, dance with them and finally carry them back to the plateau and await the needed rain.

Next time...on the Santa Fe Trail
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Today in Pioneer History: "On July 21,  1865, Wild Bill Hickok fight his first western showdown
and shoots Dave Tutt dead in the market square of Springfield, Missouri.

Rituals of the Great Plains Indians

The Plains Indians were a different world from that of the forest tribes back East.  Iowa, Omaha, Arikara, Mandan, Otto and Hidatsa tribes were semi-sedentary people who led a fairly settled life, growing corn, weaving and making pottery.  In the summer they took their horses for expeditions to track down buffalo.  They traded with nomadic tribes from further west.

These Plains Indians admired physical courage, reflected in their ceremonies.  For example, in the
sun dance of the Hidatsa, warriors reenacted their victorious battles.  In the Mandan tribe, the most sacred religious ritual was the Okipa, dramatization of the creation of the Earth and history of the tribe.  The ritual was performed to modify the spirits to ensure the welfare of the Mandan tribe, and it was a test of courage and endurance for young braves.

To begin the Okipa was fasting and ceremony dances. 
The initiates crawled to the medicine man who used a knife to pass through and under the skin on each arm above and below the knee.  Through these  wounds the medicine man passed splints, then a cord of raw hide was lowered down through the top of the wigwam and fastened to the splints on the breasts or shoulders.  The person then hung, raised and suspended, from the top of the lodge.  They quietly endured the pain until the pain rendered them unconscious.

All I can say is Ouch!....

Next time...More Ritual and Visions
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On this Day in Pioneer History: On April 18, 1906, the San Francisco earthquake and resulting fire started.  The first of two vicious tremors shook San Francisco at 5:13 a.m., and a second followed not long after. The quake was powerful enough to be recorded thousands of miles away in Cape Town, South Africa, and its effect on San Francisco was cataclysmic. Thousands of structures collapsed as a result of the quake itself. However, the greatest devastation resulted from the fires that followed the quake. The initial tremors destroyed the city’s water mains, leaving overwhelmed firefighters with no means of combating the growing inferno. The blaze burned for four days and engulfed the vast majority of the city.