Drought and the Great Serpent

 

     I’ve been watching those old stone snakes transform and disappear for years now, some rebuilt to make them “pretty” or, even worse, far too many just bulldozed out of existence - neither of which can ever be undone. When I drive by and see some brush clearing going on along a row of stones, I will often cross my fingers and hope that they just leave that “stone wall” untouched, thinking I’ll be back sometime soon to catch a good photo of some Indigenous diagnostic feature but more often than not, the next time I drive by, I’ll find that the machines got there first and that artwork I saw is forever gone.

    The Great Serpent is an Indigenous spirit being who, among other things, can bring rainfall. The thought passed through my mind that perhaps this destruction of the “snake rows of stones” and the drought just might be related…

 "To the Tanoan language speakers along the Rio Grande, this mythical horned and plumed serpent Awanyu appears as a flash flood, winding its way down an arroyo after a heavy rain. It is a water serpent both feared and respected. He lives in springs, ponds and rivers and when angered can cause heavy rains destroying crop fields..."  

https://wakinguponturtleisland.blogspot.com/2018/08/avanyu-water-serpent.html

https://wakinguponturtleisland.blogspot.com/2016/08/look-little-closer-at-stone-wall.html

https://wakinguponturtleisland.blogspot.com/2007/06/im-listening-to-sound-of-thunder-in.html