A Hopi myth tells about the origin of the snake dance. A young Hopi man travels to the land of the Snake People, where the sun sets. The Snake People can assume the form of snakes. There, the young man meets the Chief, who tests him by asking him to identify which snake is the chief's daughter. When he successfully selects her, he receives her in marriage, as well as the secrets of the snake ceremony. The couple travels back to the young man's village where the now pregnant Snake Wife tells her husband that she will wait outside the village until he returns for her.
She warns him, however, that no one must touch him while he is in the village. When a village woman embraces him, the Snake Wife is forced to leave her husband and return to her people. First, though, she gives birth to a baby who remains in the village, becoming the ancestor of the dancers. Like his mother, the child could take the shape of a snake. This myth establishes the divine lineage of the Snake clan. It also explains how the Hopi came to perform with snakes to call for rain. The Snake Wife is a form of the Serpent Goddess, with her connections to life-giving rain and royal ancestry.
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