1940: "No Injuns Needed" says the Smoki, while the Hopi want a ban on the fake rites.
The "Smoki Indians" of Prescott continue to advertise their "ancient dances" to the tourists, and their show pulls in larger and larger crowds.
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| 1939, July 30 Arizona Republic |
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| 1940, July 28 The Los Angeles Times |
Hopis Ask Ban on Fake Indian Rites, Dances
1941, March 10 The Gallup Independent
Phoenix, Ariz, March 10 -- Deeply grieved over "profanation" of their sacred ceremonial dances by profit-minded white people and tribal renegades, responsible heads of the Hopi Indians are in Phoenix to protest.
They have called on the Governor, various Federal officials and prominent citizens for aid in a struggle which is a dozen years old, but which they now hope to win without further delay.
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| 1941, March 10 The Gallup Independent |
Snake Dance
First objections of the Hopis were raised against the "Smoki" dance put on at Prescott every summer before thousands of spectators. It is admittedly an excellent imitation of the world-famous snake dance, even if presented by mere palefaces in costume.Orthodox Hopis also object to the "Hopi dances" put on by the score every winter in Salt River Valley. Participants in these are usually real Hopis whom their brothers regard as "misled."
Religious Tenets
No real Hopi dance is ever given off reservation, nor is admittance ever charged, says Sam Shingoitwa. To do so would be utterly out of tune with their religious spirit.
Shingoitwa also charged that many white men have been deceived, for commercial reasons, into believing they have been adopted into the Hopi tribe. No such adoption, he says, is legal or valid unless the person adopted is at least one-fourth Indian blood and married to a person of the Hopi tribe. The only other exceptions are for persons of one-fourth Indian blood whose fathers are born members of the tribe.
Whites Perpetuating Smoki Snake Dances
[ I have to stop here and say wow... I mean... wow. How high they have placed themselves on a self-promoting pedestal. ]
This article also states:
"These unique and impressive ceremonials which focus attention of the world upon an almost sacred memorial staged in the heart of the virgin pine forest wherein lies Prescott, Arizona, had their beginnings in 1921 when a lively bit of entertainment was needed to round out a Traders' Day celebration. To furnish this, it was recalled how the culture and customs of the ancient Aztecs had been lost. The need of preventing a similar disaster to the culture of the American Indian was realized. Since then these ceremonies have been held annually."
[ So here they continue the lie that they, and they alone, are heroically saving an ancient tradition of indigenous people... but the Hopi people were world famous already for this ceremonial dance and didn't ask for anything to be rescued. It was, in 1921 and in 1941 - and clear till 1991, a for-profit exhibition gimmick and nothing more.]
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| 1941, July 18 The Escanaba Daily Press |
"Nowhere else has a group of people from one race devoted months and years of time, energy and thought to the preservation of the culture of another."
[ Again.. wow. ]
In 1941, the Hopis planned to rip-off many other tribes that apparently needed saving: Navajo, Apache, Fox, Sac, Pottawatomie, Laguna, Hopi - of course, and Jemez.
1941 newspaper page that says the Smoki and the Hopi are in competition with each other.
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| 1941, Aug 11 The Gallup Independent |
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| Smokis getting made up by Max Factor makeup. 1941 |
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| 1941 |
Make Effort to Imitate Rain Appeal
1941, Aug 11 The Gallup Independent
If you are in Prescott, Arizona, at Smoki time, don't be surprised when the grocer dangles live snakes from his mouth.... The banker dances with feathers in his hair.... And the druggist paints his body like a wild Indian.1941, Aug 11 The Gallup Independent
There aren't many people who would care about making boon companions of writhing snakes, but it is almost commonplace in Prescott.
For 20 years the Smoki clan has staged annual ceremonial dances early in August*.
[ *Note: in the beginning it was around June/July - and the Hopi dance was in August. Apparently, the Smoki had to move their dance up to match the Hopis. I wonder if this had to do with securing all of the tourist dollars from the Hopi. hmmm...]
To see the Smoki stomping thru intricate dances and carrying snakes while tom-toms beat, the uninitiated would swear they were witnessing an aboriginal rite.
But these half naked, gaudily painted dancers include that grocer, banker and druggist, along with scores of other white men who wouldn't take off their neckties in public during the rest of the year.
Long, grueling nightly rehearsals at the Smoki Ceremonial Grounds scarcely represent the arduous conditioning undergone by each and every dancer who will appear on the big night.
Between rehearsals, these sincere participants are spending tiresome hours away from office, shop or home -- privately schooling themselves in the rigorous cadences of this year's dances.
Harder Than Football
None but a Smoki Dancer can fully appreciate the strain on physical endurance imposed by these intricate steps. None but a Smoki Dancer realizes how ankles, thighs and back are wrecked...................
Months of Research
Behind this program of physical preparation lie weeks of ethnological research by those who write the story for the Smoki Ceremonials; months of study and miles of driving by members of the Smoki people who trek to various Indian reservation to sketch and photograph costumes, interview native tribesmen, and check data with authorities on Indian lore; days of designing, stitching, painting, and fitting the costumes and masks made in the Smoki workshops. .......  |
| 1941, Aug 11 The Gallup Independent |
Clan is Created
Then was created the Smoki Clan, an organization of white men and women pledged to preservation of the dances, ceremonials and legends of the southwestern Indians. ....[This is pretty much what is going on today. We have businesses who have branded themselves with American Indian imagery, effigies and names - and are making money from their cultural appropriation. They use Indian likeness in their logos, mascots, trademarked images, etc and claim that it's all in an effort to honor Native people, and to preserve not only their culture, but the actual Native people themselves (some people actually claim that eliminating the use of Indian-imagery by, for example, sports teams, would erase Native people from the American consciousness. This is absurd. If these stereotypical images are the only thing that's keeping American Indians in the American conversation, then something is truly wrong with our society.)]
THE REAL SNAKE DANCERS!
Hopi Snake Dance Remain the Same After 400 Years
1941, Aug 20 Muncie Evening Press
Walpi, Arizona, Aug 20 - Four hundred years ago a bright armored band of Spanish conquistadors stood in the rectangular enclosure of a Hopi village in Northern Arizona and watched brown skinned little men dance with live rattlesnakes in their mouths, imploring the gods to shower this windswept mesa with rain. .....
The Hopi snake dance has not changed in four centuries, nor has the everyday life of the Hopi Indian changed greatly since that first visit of the white men.
Corn always has been the main portion of the Hopi's diet. It takes rain to make the corn grow -- hence the annual supplication for rain.
Modern civilization has introduced iron bedsteads, canned groceries, velvet to make bright colored blouses and rattley pickup trucks. But the life of the Hopi still is bound up in his religious ceremonies that continue throuhout the year.
Most of the snake dance ritual is secret and takes place in the Kiva -- and underground chamber.
But on the final day the dancers appear publicly on the ceremonial grounds....
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| 1941, Aug 20 Muncie Evening Press |
