Aby Warburg- A Lecture on Serpent Ritual.pdf

A Lecture on Serpent Ritual Author(s): A. Warburg and W. F. Mainland Source: Journal of the Warburg Institute, Vol. 2, No. 4 (Apr., 1939), pp. 277-292 Published by: The Warburg Institute Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/750040 Accessed: 28/03/2010 12:28 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=warburg. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

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A LECTUREON SERPENTRITUAL By A. Warburg Es ist ein altes Buch zu blattern Athen-Oraibi,alles Vettern.

on whichthislectureis basedwerecollectedin the course observations he 1 of a journeyto the Pueblo Indiansmade twenty-sevenyears ago.l I mustwarnyou that I have not been able to reviveand correctmy old memoriesin such a way as to give you an adequateintroductionto the psychologyof the AmericanIndians. Moreover,the impressionsI gained wereboundto be superficialeven at that time becauseI had no command of the languageof the tribes. Nor coulda journeylimitedto a few months produceany really profoundimpressions,and if these have becomeeven more vague in the interim I cannot promiseyou more than a seriesof reflectionson those distantmemories. I do so in the hope that the direct evidenceof the picturesmay carry you beyond my words,and give you someidea of a civilizationwhich is dying out, and of a questionwhich is of suchparamountimportancein our studyof civilizationin general:of primitive Whatelementsare we entitledto calltheessentialcharacteristics *

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In the firstplace I shall deal with the rational(that is, architectonic) elementin the cultureof the Pueblos: the structureof theirhouseswith of earthenware someexamplesof theirappliedart. In the ornamentation we shall come upon the fundamentalproblemof religioussymbolism. A drawingwhichI acquiredfroman Indian(P1.44b)provesthatwhatappears to be purelydecorativeornamentmustin fact be interpretedsymbolically. One of the basicelementsof cosmologicalimagery the universeconceived in the formof a house is unitedin this drawingwith an irrationalanimal conception,a serpent,which appearsas an enigmaticand awe-inspiring demon. In the secondplace I shall speakof the maskeddanceof the Indians, whichwe shallstudyfirstas a pureanimaldance,thenas a danceassociated with the cult of the tree, and finallyas a dancewith live serpents. A glanceat similarphenomenain paganEuropewill eventuallybringus to the question: to whatextentcan theseremnantsof pagancosmologystill obtainingamongthe PuebloIndianshelp us to understandthe evolution pagan cultureof from primitivepaganism,throughthe highly-developed classicalantiquity,downto moderncivilizedman? *

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Wemustexerciseextremecautionin ourattemptto interpretthereligious 1 The lecturewas deliveredin Germanto as the lecture was meant to convey the a non-professionalaudience on 2sth April, author's personal experience, no attempt Ig23, and was not intended for public- has been made by the editors to bring ation. Its originaltitle was: "Reminiscences the argument into line with more recent from a Journey to the Pueblo Indians." research. As the journey took place in I896, and 277

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psychologyof the PuebloIndian. The evidencehas been contaminated. Severallayersof culturehavebeensuperimposed.The basiccultureof the nativeAmericans wassubjectedto Catholic-Spanish education,whichsuffered a violentset-backat the end of the seventeenthcentury,revivedat a later date, but was neverofficiallyre-instatedin the villagesof the Mokis. And then therecame the last layer-the educationalsystemof NorthAmerica. Yet, whenwe come to studymorecloselythe religiouslife of the Pueblos, we shall recogniseat least one purelyobjectiveand relativelypermanent geographical factorwhichhada formativeinfluenceon religion the scarcity of water in the country. For until the railway-tracks penetratedto the settlements,lack of waterand the need for it gave rise to magicpractices such as are adoptedin primitivepagancivilizationsall over the worldin orderto coercethe hostileforcesof nature. Scarcityof watertaughtpeople the artsof prayerand necromancy. "Theinhabitantsof theseregionsin pre-historic and historictimeshave madetheirhomeon a tractof land to whichNaturehas not on the whole been bountiful. Apartfromthe narrowvalley in the north-eastthrough whichthe Rio Grandedel Norteflowson its way to the Gulfof Mexicothe countryis mainlytable-land extensive,horizontaldepositsof limestoneor tertiaryrock,forminghigh,levelplateauswithsteepescarpments (compared in the languageof the districtwith tables mesas). On the otherhandthe groundis deeplysearedby water-courses, withthe resultthatravinesorcanons occur,sometimesa thousandfeetdeepwithwallsalmostverticalat the top, as if they had been cut out with a saw... For the greaterpartof the year thereis no rainor moisturein the plateau-country and the majorityof the canonsare completelydriedup; only in the periodwhen the snow melts or duringthe briefrainyseasona considerable body of waterrushesdown the bareravines.''l In the north-western partof the plateau,in Colorado,are the so-called cliff-villages, i. e. dwellingsnow abandoned,whichare built in the cleftsof the rocks. The easterngroupconsistsof abouteighteenvillages,whichare fairlyeasilyaccessiblefromSantaFe and Albuquerque.The Zunivillages, whichareof especialimportance, lie fartherto the south-west,and can be reachedfromFortWingatein a day. The mostdifficultof access,andtherefore the ones whichshow the older featuresin their purestform, are the villagesof the Mokis six all told whichare erectedon threeparallelridges of rock. The rockvillagefurthestwest is Oraibi,of which I shall have somethingmore to say. Right in the midst,in the plain-country, lies the Mexicansettlement of SantaFe, the capitalof New Mexico,whichcameunderthe ruleof the United States only after a grim strugglethat continuedeven down to the last century. From Santa Fe and from the neighbouringtown of Albuquerquethe majorityof the easternPueblovillages can be reached withoutmuchdifficulty. Near Albuquerqueis the villageof Lagunawhich, thoughit does not lie so high as the others,is nevertheless a very good exampleof a pueblo 1 E. Schmidt, Vorgeschichte J%ordamerikas im Gebietder Vereinigten Staaten,I894.

A LECTURE ON SERPENT RITUAL

279

settlement. The village proper lies on the other side of the railway-track which connectsAtchisonwith Topica and Santa Fe; the Europeansettlement in the plain abuts on the railway-station. The native village consistsof twostoreyedhousesenteredfromabove by meansof a ladder,therebeing no door below. This type of housewas probablyintendedin the firstplace as a means of defence against attack; the Pueblo Indians have thus produced a cross between a dwelling-placeand a fortress;it is typical of their civilizationand probablygoes back to pre-historictimes in America. The houses are built in tiers, a second or even a third dwellingof rectangularshape restingupon the first. In the interiorof such houses (P1.4sf) dolls are suspended not ordinary children'sdolls; they hang there rather like the figuresof saints in Roman Catholicfarm-houses. They are called kachinadolls, faithfulimages of the maskeddancerswho act as demonicmediatorsbetweenman and the natural forcesin the ceremonieswhich accompanythe yearly round of activitiesand are among the most typical and remarkablefeatures of this religion of hunters and peasants. On the wall appears a symbol of the intruding American civilization,the broom. But essentiallya productof craftsmanship,servingat once a practicaland a religiousend, is the clay vesselused for carryingthe necessarybut scanty supply of water (P1.44f). It is typical of the drawingon such vesselsthat a kind of heraldic skeleton of natural forms is represented. A bird is dissectedinto its essentialcomponent parts so that it appearsas a heraldic abstraction. It becomesa hieroglyph,not meant simplyas a pictureto look at but rather as something to be read an intermediarystage between image and sign, between realistic representationand script. In the mythologyof the Indians the bird plays an importantpart which will be familiarto all who know the Leather-stockingTales. Apartfromthe fact that it is reveredlike any animal as an imaginaryancestor,as a totem, the bird is a special object of worship in connection with the burial-cult. It would even appearthat in prehistorictimes a rapacioussoul-birdwas one of the essentialmythicalfiguresconjuredup by the imaginationof the Sikyatki. The bird owesits place in idolatrousworshipto its feathers. The Indiansuse, as a special vehicle for transmittingtheir prayers,small sticks called bahos, which have feathersattachedto them and are placed beforefetishaltarsand planted on graves. Indianswho were asked about this practice offeredthe plausibleexplanationthat the feathersacted as wings to bear requestsand wishes to the demonic forcesof nature. Therecan be no doubt that the modernpotteryof the Pueblosbearstraces of the influence of mediaeval Spanish workmanship,which was introduced in the sixteenthcentury. On the otherhand the excavationsof Fewkeslhave shown conclusivelythat quite independentlyof Spanish influence an older technique existed, involving the heraldic bird-motivestogether with the serpent, which, in the Moki religion as in all heathen cults, is specially reveredas a potent symbol. 1 "Expedition to Arizona in I895" in AmericanEthnology, I895-96, Seventeenth AnnualReportof the Bureauof in I898.

Pt. II, published

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bottom and with featheredhead on the on four The serpentstill appearscoiled specimens; vessels,just as Fewkesfoundit onofprehistoric from know ofmodern we As animals. round the rim we see small figures ridges example the frog and the for animals, these into Indian mysteries research and the vesselswere placedbefore representthe pointsof the compass, spider, temple. Here the serpent, as the fetish in the kiva or underground the of lightning,is the centre of worship. symbol Cleo Jurino, and his son Anacleto for In my hotel in Santa Fe an Indian, to do some colouredcrayondrawings demur some after one consented was Jurino, the cosmos. The father,Cleo,(P1. 44b) representingtheir conceptionofkiva me, drawing The in Cochiti. the of painters and priests drawn the of feathers,but otherwise of the snake as a weather-god,without showed a sharp-pointedtonguein the shapethe with vase, the on figure the like Above exactly has a terracedgable. streams arrow. The roof of the world-house an rain, representedby short strokes, house stretchesthe rainbow, andIn cosmic wall the middle, as masterof the the massedcloudsbelow. from is the fetish,yayaoryerrik.lwith its the thunderstorm(Gewitterweltenhaus), of pious Indian evokes the storm Beforesuch paintingsas this themagic arts,of whichthe most astounding of rainby the practiceof his venomous blessing species. For, as we can see of a isthe juggling with live serpents formal resemblanceto the lightning fromJurino's drawing, the snake's magic affinity. between both the relation of under establishes the directinfluenceof official I had been anxiousto see the Indians gave me the opportunityI needed. and a fortunatecircumstanceI had met at New Year I895 while Catholicism, Juillard,the Catholicpriestwhomwas going on a round of inspection, Father a Mexican Matachines-dance, watching as far as the romanticvillage of Acoma. andI was able to accompanyhim a wildernessof gorse till we through hours six about for midst travelled We of rockslike a Heligolandin thebegun sea a from rose It village. the sighted the foot of the rocksthe bells had ofa sandywaste. Beforewe reached of brightly-cladredskinsran swiftly crowd A priest. the of honour which in totoll The carriageshad to wait below, baggage. our take to path which the down the Indians stole a cask of wine for unfortunate; very be to of all first proved nuns of Bernalillo. We were Spanish the by priest the to given been use had still by the Governador-they hand to his receivedwith the utmost respect priest's the put He the villages. in the namesfor the ruling chiefsof noise as though he were drawing the with mouthand made a kind of hissing of reverentialgreeting. In company the at and exhalationof his guestin tokenmain room of the chief's dwelling, driverswe were taken to the to assistat Mass on the followingmorning. priest'sinvitationI promisedoutside the door of the church (P1.4sb). It is The Indiansare standing as 6. Rain. 1 Explanationof figuresin the drawing, 7. Lightning givenby CleoJurino: IO. "The WaterSerpent" fetish that anybody apI. House ofthe I I. The four bolts mean does not tell the who rainbow The 2. proachingthe serpent before you can dead 3. The fetish down fall will truth 4. The whiteclouds count four. 5. The rain clouds.

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A LECTUTREON SERPENT RITUAL

netherworldof the departedsouls,where the livingsnakehas its abode. The earliesttributeof worshipis paid to him as a serpent. The snaketwinedround his staff and he himselfare one and the same a departedsoul that goes on living and reappearsin the form of a serpent. For the snakeis not only, as Cushing's Indians would say, the fatal bite threatening or inflicted and destroyingwithout mercy; the snake shows also, by sloughingits skin, how the body slips out of its husk, begins again and goes on. The snake can glide into the earthand reappear. The returnfromthe earthwherethe dead are lying, together with this faculty of renewingits skin, makes the snake the most natural symbol of immortality, of revival from sicknessand the agonies of death.l In the templeof Asclepiusat Kos in Asia Minorthe deity was represented in transfiguredhuman form, holding in his hand the staff with the serpent twined round it. But in this sanctuarythe more true and potent nature of the God was not to be seen in the lifeless mask of stone: it was there as a live serpent in the innermostpart of the temple, and in the observanceof the cult it was fed, cared for and attended as only the Mokiscare for their snakes. In astrologicalmanuscriptsof the Middle Ages, Asclepiusappearsin the sky as a fixed star over Scorpio (P1.47d). He is encircledby serpentsand is henceforthregardedas a constellationunder whose influenceprophetsand physiciansare born. By this elevationto the starsthe snake-godhas becomea transfiguredtotem. He is the cosmicfatherof all who are bornin the month of the year (October)when his visibilityis at its height. For in the astrology of antiquity mathematicsand magic came together. The snake-figurein the sky, which is found also in the constellationof the Serpent,is used as a mathematicaloutline. The points of light are linked togetherby means of an earthly image, in order to make what is boundlesscomprehensible,for without some outline it evades our sense. Asclepiusis both these thingsa mathematicalfigure and the bearer of a fetish. Human culture evolves towardsreasonin the same measureas the tangiblefullnessof life fades into a mathematicalsymbol. About twentyyearsago, in the northof Germanyby the Elbe I discovered a thing which showedme in a curiouslyvivid way how lasting the ceremony of the snakecult must be in spite of everyattemptat religiousenlightenment; 1 In the firstdraftof this passage,Warburg explained the symbolic power of the snake image as follows: "WelcheEigenschaftenbringtdie Schlange mit, um sich als verdrangenderVergleicher in Religion und Kunst einzustellen? I. Sie durchlauft mit dem Jahr den Lebenskreislaufvom tiefstenTodesschlafbis zum starkstenLeben. 2. Sie wechseltdie Hulle und bleibt dieselbe. 3. Sie ist nicht imstande, auf Fussen zu laufen und besitzt trotzdem ein Maximum von sichvorwartsbewegenderSchnellkraftin

Verbindungmit der absoluttodlichenWaffie des Giftzahns. 4. Fur das Auge bietet sie dabei ein MinimumderSichtbarkeit,besonders wennsiesich in der Farbenach den Gesetzendes Mimikri der Wuste anpasst, oder aus dem Erdloch, in dem sie verborgenliegt, herausschnellt. 5. Phallus. Das sind Qualitaten, die sie fur das, was in der Natur "ambivalent"ist, tot und lebendig, sichtbar unsichtbar, (ohne vorheriges Warnzeichenund rettungslosbeim Anblick verderblich)als verdrangendesSymbol unvergesslichmachen."

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for in this case the ChristianBible itself was the vehicle for perpetuatingthe I found on pagan tradition. In the course of a trip through the Vierlande which had illustrations biblical of number a church of a Protestant the rood obviouslybeen copied from an Italian Bible of the I8th century. Here I saw anotherLaocoonwith his two sons at the mercy of the serpents,but in the act of being saved by anotherAsclepius. For we read in Deuteronomy that Moses in the wildernesshad commandedthe Childrenof Israel to set up a brazen serpent as a remedy against snake-bites. In this passagewe are confrontedby a remnantof idolatry in the Old Testament. We know that this passagecan only be an insertion,made in an attempt to explain subsequentlythe presenceof such an idol in Jerusalem. For the main fact remainsthat the brazen idol of a serpentwas destroyedby King Hezekiahat the bidding of the prophetIsaiah. Againstthe cult of human sacrificeand the worship of beasts the prophets engaged in a grim struggle. And this struggle is the dominant theme in oriental and in Christianreformation right down to the most recent times. It is clear that the setting up of the serpentis directlyopposedto the Ten Commandments,that it runs counter to the iconoclasticzeal of the prophetswho aim at reform. But thereis anotherreasonwhy everystudentof the Bible must see in the serpentthe most vehement challenge from the powers of evil; the serpent in the garden of Eden dominatesthe Biblical account of the world order, as the causeof evil and of sin. In the Old and the New Testamentsthe snake is joined to the wood of paradiseas the satanic power causing the tragedy of man who in the midst of sin still cherisheshope of redemption. Early Christianity in its struggleagainst idolatry was, therefore,plainly hostile towardsthe cult of the serpent. Paul was looked upon by the heathensof Malta as a sacredand immune messengerwhen he cast the viper that had bitten him into the flamesand did not die of the bite. So stronglydid the impressionof Paul's immunityagainstvipers survivein Malta that down to the sixteenthcentury Italianjugglers,encircledby snakes,appearedat fairs and festivals,calling themselves"men of the house of St. Paul" and selling Maltese soil as an antidote to snake-bites(P1.47f). Here the belief in the immunityof those who are strongin faith returnsto the practiceof superstit*

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In mediaevaltheologywe find the miracleof the brazen serpentcuriously retainedas a legitimatepart of the religiouscult. On the basisof the isolated passage in Deuteronomy, directly opposed as it was to Old Testament tendencyand doctrine,but re-enforcedin the New Testamentby a passage in St. John (III, I4, I5), the image of snake-worshipwas typologically comparedto the Cruxifixionitself (P1.47e). Even though it is treated as a thing to be overcome,the settingup of the animal-figureand the worshipof the kneeling multitude before the staff of Asclepiusis retained as a stage in man's progress towards salvation. Moses himself who, as we read, destroyedthe Tables of the Law becauseof the worshipof the Golden Calf, is forcedto serve as shield-bearerof the brazenserpent. *

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What we have seen in this all too brief summaryof the snake cult

A LECTURE ON SERPENT RITUAL

is intended to show the change from real and substantial symbolism29I which appropriatesby actual gestures to that symbolism which exists in thought alone. I shall be content if the picturesof the daily life and festive activitiesof the Pueblo Indianshave provedto you that their maskeddances are not a mere game, but the heathen'sanswerto torturingquestionson the why and whereforeof things. The Indian who confrontsthe incomprehensible happeningsin nature with a will to comprehend,identifieshimself by transmutationwith the causes of things. Instinctively,for the unexplained effiect,he substitutesthe cause in its mostreal and most tangibleshape. The masked dance is the danced law of causality. If religionmeans 'bindingtogether'("religioa religando,a vinculo pietatis," Lactantius,IV, 28), then the sign of developmentout of the primitive state will be that this linkingtogetherof man with what lies beyondbecomes more and more spiritualised:no longer cleaving to the symbolof the mask, man realisescausalityin thought alone, and moves onwardsto a system of mythologyexpressedin words. The will to surrenderin devotionis a nobler form of assuminga mask. In the movementwhich we call culturalprogressthe being which claims our submissionand was so prodigiouslynear,withdrawsfrom our grasp and becomesin the end an unseenand spiritualpower. Mtehave observedhow Christianthought uses the heathen picture language of the snake to express the idea of both suffiering and salvation. We mightperhapssay that wherever suffiering and helplesshumanityis foundin blind questforsalvation,the snake will be close by, as an explanatoryimage of the cause. How is mankindfreeingitself from this coercivebond with a venomous reptilein which it sees the cause of things? Our technicalage doesnot need the serpent to explain and control the lightning. The lightning no longer frightensthe dwellersin our cities, nor do they long for a stormas the only hope of relief from drought. We have our water supply,and the lightningsnake is led down into the ground by the lightning-conductor. Scientific argumentputs an end to mythologicalexplanation. We know that the snake is a reptile which must succumb if we set our minds to it. Where the technicalexplanationof cause and eXectreplacesthe mythicalimagination, man loseshis primitivefears. But we should be loth to decide whetherthis emancipationfrom the mythologicalview really helps mankind to find a fitting answerto the problemsof existence. The Americangovernment,like the Roman Catholic church in earlier times, has been admirablyactive in establishingschoolsamong the Indians. And its intellectualoptimismhas had this apparentresult, that the Indian children now go to school in pretty suits and little aprons (P1.48c) and no longer believe in the pagan demons. This is at any rate true in the case of most. And it may denote progress. But I doubt whetherit really satisfies the soul of the Indian, who thinksin imagesand for whom poetic mythology is the true haven. I once tried to get the childrenof an Indian school to illustratea German fairy-tale,which they did not previouslyknow. I chose a story in which a storm happens to occur, for I wanted to see whetherthey would draw the lightningrealisticallyor in the formof snakes. Out of fourteendrawings,

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all of which were very graphicbut were obviouslyinfluencedby American instruction,twelvewererealisticallydrawn;but two of themusedthe irrepressible symbol of the snake, sharp as an arrow (P1. 44d), just as it occurs in the kiva (P1.44e). In San FranciscoI caught a fleeting glimpse of the type of man who overthrewthe cult of the serpentand overcamethe fear of lightning the descendantof the indigenousrace and of the gold-diggerswho expelledthe Indians: Uncle Sam (P1.48b) in his tall hat walking proudly along the street past a pseudo-classicalrotunda. And away above his top hat runsthe electricwire. In this copper-snake,inventedby Edison,he has wrestedthe lightningfrom nature. The Americanof to-dayno longerworshipsthe rattle-snake. Extermination (and whisky) is his answer to it. Electricityenslaved, the lightning held captive in the wire, has produceda civilizationwhich has no use for heathen poetry. But what does it put in its place? The forces of nature are no longer seen in anthropomorphicshapes; they are conceived as an endlesssuccessionof waves, obedient to the touch of a man's hand. With these waves the civilizationof the mechanicalage is destroyingwhat natural science, itself emerging out of myth, had won with such vast effort the sanctuaryof devotion, the remotenessneeded for contemplation. The modern Prometheusand the modern Icarus, Franklin and the Wright Brotherswho invented the aeroplane, are those fateful destroyers of our sense of distance who threaten to lead the world back into chaos. Telegraphand telephonearedestroyingthe cosmos. But mythsand symbols, in attemptingto establishspiritualbondsbetweenman and the outsideworld, create space for devotion and scope for reasonwhich are destroyedby the instantaneouselectricalcontact unless a disciplinedhumanityre-introduce the impedimentof conscience. Translatedby W. F. Mainland

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d Pueblo Woman and Girl with Columbine EIair Dress (p. 285)