A-bang, a-bang, a-bang, a-bang, a-bang, a-bang, a-bang, a-bang,
gum-be-ry jah! 'jin gum re-lah’ gum-be-ry jah! 'jin gum re-lah’ a
bang, a-bang, a-bang, a-bang, a-bang, a-bang, a-bang, a-bang.

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But it is, perhaps, among the American Indians, of all savage peoples, that the dance assumes its greatest importance. The very term ‘dance’ often means a ceremony covering several days; the whole consisting of many individual dances, recitations, and songs, and forming a ritual of a quasi-religious or pantheistic character. Their ceremonies are usually appeals to the gods for rain, abundant crops, luck in hunting, or good fortune in war. Thus there is the Great Rain Dance of the Junis; the Sun Dance of the Cheyennes; and the Snake Dance of the Hopis. The Snake Dance is an elaborate ceremony of several days’ duration, during which live rattlesnakes are on occasion carried in the hands and even held between the teeth while a dignified and ‘stamping’ sort of dance goes forward. It is primarily an invocation to the gods for rain.

Two melodies used in the Snake Dance are here given, as noted by Benjamin Ives Gilman:

N.º 1.

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N.º 2.