The most important rite at Walpi in which idols of this being are used occurs at the winter solstice and the vernal equinox, and are always connected with a highly developed sun-worship. These appear as effigies, which in one ceremonial drama are carried by a being personating the sun; in other dramatic rites they are thrust through openings in a screen on which sun emblems are painted. An idol of the Horned Serpent, made of the giant cactus, a plant abundant in the Gila valley, is carried by the chief of the Sun priests’ ceremony celebrated in midwinter. Numerous other examples of the association of the sun and the Horned Serpent in the solar worship of the Hopi have been elsewhere described and might be mentioned to prove that the religious conception back of the Horned Serpent cult is the symbolical representation of a nature power of the sky or the sun. The conception typified by the Horned Snake cult of the Hopi and that of the Plumed Snake of Mexico is the same; that symbols of this being occur on prehistoric objects found in the region stretching from the Hopi country far into Central America cannot be questioned. Whether one was derived from the other or both were independently evolved is another question.

The ancient people of the pueblo type widespread throughout New Mexico and Colorado likewise used in their ceremonials a Plumed Serpent symbol, which has been identified as the Great Horned Snake. The cult of this being is also associated with sun-worship, but as the little we know of the symbolism of this being is derived from the winter solstice ceremony at the Tewa pueblo Hano and a few pictographs or paintings on Tewa pottery, it is not possible to hazard a conjecture regarding its teaching on culture derivation. The evidence, so far as it goes, supports the theory that a Sun Serpent cult like that of ancient Mexico exists in our Southwest today in a much more primitive form.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] In the Snake Dances of the pueblo region, we have more striking evidence of ancestor worship. The ceremonials in which the Horned Snake idols appear show a more elaborate sun-worship.

Transcriber’s Notes