A Native American Question,,,,

[Pappy]

I really think it is something we are taught, don't believe in Karma/joojoo or luck but was taught at an early age to stay away from snakes/spiders and such and they still give me the hebejeeb's when I skin a snake, still do it but when they wiggle I react.  Once the head is gone I am pretty good with it.
 Pappy

[Marc St Louis]

I'm okay with them but I never kill a Snake.  I also have a few skins, by trade, but rarely use them and never on one of my bows that I will be using. 

[stuckinthemud]

Goes right back to the dawn of time. There are those of us who blame the curse on Adam, Eve and the serpent in the Garden of Eden story: Genesis 3:15 "And I will put enmity between you [the serpent] and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel."…

[Parnell]

The Seminole guy I know down here is the same, Eddie.  Saw some of my snakeskin stuff and he wouldn't touch it.  He did say to me that there was a conflict with his belief system.  Didn't ask for details, just nodded and shrugged.

[DC]

My wife ran a small day care center out of our house. There are only garter snakes on the Island so there is no reason to avoid them. My wife is deathly afraid of any snake but she fought it when the kids were around and would even call the kids over to look at them. None of the kids that came to the house are afraid of snakes. I think it's entirely a learned reaction.

[BowEd]

I have no paticular likeness to snakes myself.Handling them etc.I have friends who do.I do not despise them.They are one of Gods' creatures,and do serve a very good purpose in vermine control IMO.They have their place on this earth and every right to it.Noone spooked me when I was young to fear snakes or despise them.They just don't respond to a name like a dog[or maybe they do] so a relationship with them by me is not made to live in my world.Inner acting with my way of life.They are no different in regard to usage by man any more than any other animal on this earth IMHO.
So to just fear one because it is on a bow has to be learned through experiences with them like said earlier or for other reasons other than that is a personal thing and that's their own business.

[Tree_Ninja]

To each their own.

  If someone gave me a nice snakeskin I wouldn't turn it down.

  No hate for snakes, but if I woke up with one on my face I would be startled. 

[BowEd]

Yes or live in a 3rd world country where deadly ones come into your house.I know my opinion would change.

[Bryce]

Sounds like superstion and maybe just a hint of natural fear. Whether logical or not. We all have our reasons:)

[mullet]

It does seem that children have no fear of honey and bumble bees at first, doesn't it? My daughter grabbed a wood bee during her first summer. Now she runs and hides over flies sometimes.  I wonder if a toddler would grab a snake just the same.  You'd think that a natural fear of snakes would be one of those traits natural selection has favored over the centuries. Then again it may take that first encounter to reinforce or reveal that fear.

Once established, it does seem to have no dependency on species. Once the basic characteristics of the creature are learned, that primal fear doesn't care if it's a familiar spider/snake, a newly discovered one, or a stick/root that looks like one, or so it would seem. 

The Seminole guy I know down here is the same, Eddie.  Saw some of my snakeskin stuff and he wouldn't touch it.  He did say to me that there was a conflict with his belief system.  Didn't ask for details, just nodded and shrugged.

DK, My Granddaughter is almost six and it doesen't bother her to grab one and move it so it will not get hurt. She will also ask me if it is a dangerous one.

Steve, you're Buddies are the reason I posted this. The last Dade City Knap-in we were at is when they wouldn't handle my skin bows.

[DC]

I'm glad I'm not alone in disliking snakes. But in my case it's not a cultural or religious thing unless being a wuss is a religion

[paco664]

Eddie, i was raised believing that snakes were evil, bad medicine, and not to be messing with them. I don't know why that's just what I was taught. So this bow I just posted was my very first attempt at messing with snakes, I know my grandfather would be rolling over in his grave and getting mad at me.  I can just hear him yelling from the heavens "leave that snake alone, those things are not good, it will make you sick"  When my mom found out I had picked up this snake , skinned it, and staked it out to dry, she got upset with me.  She said you know how your grandfather felt about snakes. She to me to get rid of it.  So I made this bow secretly.  My up bringing told me not to do it, but I just had to make a bow with snakes skins.  So please don't tell my mom.  LOL

this is the sign of having a great mom... fear of said mom... lol...

my mom is 77 yrs old all of 4'11 and 100 lbs... i am 47 yrs old 6'3 and 230lbs with very little fat *(i run the company gym at work) and the father of two full grown american soldiers... and still scared she's gonna send me to get a branch off the switch bush in the front yard...

[SLIMBOB]

The "Switch" still brings a chill.  Probably go to prison today for using one on your kids, but they were sure effective in my upbringing.

[wizardgoat]

Even within the Cherokee nation, the wolf clan were the only ones who would hunt wolves, but taboo to the other 6 clans.
I know of 2 original snake skin bows, a flathead bow that Chuck replicated a while back, and there's the Blackfoot bow in the encyclopedias.