Snake charming: from Ancient Egypt to today

by E-NewsCast Team
December 26th, 2009

We’ve all been capitaved at one time or another by the sight ofa snake charmersitting cross-legged, blowing on a flute, while his poisonouscobra, its puffed-up hood spread wide, rises up out of a basketand sways to and fro in time with the music.Snake charmers have charmed and mezmorized spectators as well assnakes for centuries. The earliest documented use of snakecharming was in Ancient Egypt. There, a rearing cobra with itshood spread wide was a symbol of royalty. At a time when lessthan ten percent of the population could read and write, snakecharmers were high-status, literate men, who served as bothhealers and magicians. They learned about the various types ofsnake, what snakes were sacred to which gods, and how to treatpeople who were bitten by snakes. They were also entertainers,who knew how to charm the reptiles for their customers.Another early reference to Egyptian snake charming is thebiblical account in the Old Testament (Exodus 7:8-12), in whichPharaoh summons the country’s best magicians to compete withMoses and Aaron. The Egyptian magicians change their walkingstaffs into living snakes, but Aaron does them one better,turning his staff into a snake that eats all their snakes.Today, snake charmers are still active in Egypt and other NorthAfrican countries, as well as India and other Asian countries.Many of them can be found on street corners, performingprimarily for tourists. Others wander from town to town,performing in smaller villages during market days and festivals.Most of them use the hooded cobra, and in Egypt the most popularspecies is the aggressive Egyptian cobra, which can grow to alength of almost eight feet and looks most impressive when itpuffs up its hood.So how do they do it? How do they make a snake freeze like astiff rod? By some accounts, the charmer grabs the snake andapplies pressure to a certain spot on its neck, pinching a nerveand causing the snake to stiffen up like a walking cane untilthe charmer throws it on the ground.But how does the snake charmer keep from being bitten?Unfortunately, many present-day charmers are apparantly fraudswho use non-venomous species, or remove the snake’s fangs orvenom glands, or even sew the snake’s mouth shut. So did the snake charmers of Ancient Egypt employ the sametactics, or did they really make the snake do all those thingswith no gimmicks? Only they would know.Interested in this subject? Try this link for more of the same.

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