Indian Time - A Voice from the Eastern Door

Thompson Island Cultural Camp invited Sam Shenandoah to share his knowledge of the snow snake – kahwenhtah. The word kahwenhtah is used for snow snake in this area, but depending where you're from, snow snake has different names.

Shenandoah and his family have participated in snow snake since he was a child growing up in Onondaga.

The game of snow snake is a Haudenosaunee winter game and is often played between native communities traveling to the different communities of the Haudenosaunee to "throw."

Participants gather at the end of the snow snake track. It was raining then it turned into a blizzard but the youth that attended listened to the history and reason of the winter activity of kahwenhtah.

The snow snake is actually a piece of wood. There are two kinds of snake. A long snake which is 6 feet in length and a short snake which is only 3 feet in length. Each snake is hand carved out of hickory or ash. The snakes are only 3/4 of an inch in diameter so shooters are very careful with their best snakes.

Snow Snake is played on a track. Snow is piled up at a beginning of the track to a height of about 4 feet. Then the track gradually slopes downward to follow the contour of the earth. A log is then placed on top of the snow pile to make a track that the shooters must throw their snakes in. The community, or player who has the best throws, wins.

If you have a chance in the future to attend a demonstration, please do so, it's a fun and educational experience. Since snow snake has a number of names, if you have the correct spelling or know of another name for snow snake, please share.

Photos courtesy Thompson Island Cultural Camp