A Large Hopi Polychrome Wood Kachina Doll, depicting a Snake Priest

standing on slightly bent legs, his arms bent sharply at the elbows and hugging his body, wearing a traditional costume, hide fringe nailed to one side, a cotton sash, and a rectangular panel on the back, painted and carved to resemble a feather train.

Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, de Young Museum, "The Surreal World of Enrico Donati," June 9 - September 2, 2007.

Timothy Anglin Burgard, The Surreal World of Enrico Donati, Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, 2007, p. 53.

Both feet broken and re-glued with original pieces. Typical overall wear for its age but overall very good condition.
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Snake Priest kachinas first appeared in the late 1800s, probably to satisfy the desires of Euro-Americans who "discovered" the Hopi Snake Dance ceremony in the late 1870s. Colorful descriptions of the ceremonies were written and tourists, as well as eminent anthropologists and academics of the day, flocked to Hopi.

The ceremony which so attracted their attention was an ancient petition to the gods for rain, in which snakes, the supernatural messengers to the divine, are danced while carried in the mouth. The ceremony, which occurs in August of each year, also commemorates and gives thanks to Ti'yo, the ancestral snake youth and patron of the Snake Priesthood order. In addition, the ceremony bears both military and memorial aspects, as the dancers are marked with the symbols of Pookanghooya, the Little War God, and deceased members of the society are represented on the Snake altar. Ritual footraces and the snake dance occur on the last day of the elaborate ritual observance which originally spanned nine days.

On the day of the dance, lines of Antelope and Snake Dance Priests face one another and sing. At the conclusion of the song, the Antelope Priests remain in position singing and shaking their rattles while the Snake Dancers pair off. The rear man in the pair places his left hand on the left shoulder of the one in front, and together they dance forward to a covered bower. Here the forward man (the Carrier) kneels and receives a snake, which he holds between his lips as he rises and continues to dance. The rear man (the Hugger) follows behind the carrier with one or both hands draped over his shoulders, and calms the rattlesnake by fanning it with a feather wand. A third Snake Priest, a Gatherer, picks up the snake after the Carrier releases it, returning it to the ceremonial bower, or kisi.

Snake Priest kachinas (Chusona) are found depicted as either a Carrier, with a snake in his mouth, or a Hugger with a straight mouth and one arm outstretched. Up until the 1930s, kachina dolls retained the plank-like attributes of the indigenous Tihu (small dolls given to young girls, to teach them about the Hopi deities). Snake Priest and Clown kachinas were the earliest kachinas to be created in more active poses, with separately carved arms and legs. This kachina stylistically dates to the turn of the 19^th century, and its iconography, including the traditional hair styles and gestures, is authentic to ritual snake priests.