Snake charmer title. Secrets of snake charmers. The secret of the magic pipe

Snakes are known to have very poor hearing. But they react to high-pitched flute music. Certain vibrations in the air strike the scales of the snake's skin or the tips of the ribs.

Snake charmer is an unusual and dangerous profession. The art of snake charming originated in Egypt, so it is there that you can meet the most experienced hunters and spellcasters in the world. The art of snake charming appeared as a result of the worship of creeping reptiles. The most skilled snake charmers in Egypt are deeply religious people. Cobras, like tiaras, served in Ancient Egypt as a symbol of royal dignity. Cleopatra's snake was a cobra. And the wizards of the pharaohs could turn snakes into wands. This could be done by squeezing the snake’s head so much that its brain was affected, and the snake went into a stupor.

The most unrivaled snake charmer was Sheikh Moussa of Luxor. Sheikh Moussa's skill was unique. At his shows, he cast spells and sang, thereby luring snakes out of their holes. Without stopping these actions, he slowly approached the snake, put his hand on the ground, and the cobra lowered its head and laid it on the palm of the caster. Moussa also showed a trick by placing a wild, freshly caught cobra in a circle, which he outlined with a stick in the sand. The cobra remained in the circle until Moussa allowed it to leave it. Having caught 4-5 cobras, Moussa gathered them in a circle and began to conjure them all together. The spectacle for those around was unforgettable. How did he manage to do this?

Snakes are known to have very poor hearing. But they react to high-pitched flute music. Certain vibrations in the air strike the scales of the snake's skin or the tips of the ribs. Therefore, playing the flute excites the cobra rather than charms it. After all, the open hood of the snake is evidence of this. If you look closely at the movements of a snake charmer, their secret may become clear.

The trick is not in the flute. Snakes crawl out of the basket after a light, imperceptible blow to it by the caster. Swinging to the beat of the music, the cobra follows the movements of the human hand, but does not dance at all. Thoughtful movements of the caster's hand control the behavior of the snake. He approaches her slowly, trying not to alarm the reptile. The snake charmer always looks into the eyes of the animal in order to catch the moment when the reptile wants to grab his hand. If the snake becomes restless, the charmer places it back in the basket and selects another cobra.

Sometimes snake charmers, for the entertainment of the public, show on their hand two bites of a snake that supposedly bit them during the show. He applies a “snake stone” to them - a remedy for their poison. But these two holes were already there before the performance began. And healing with a stone is just a fairy tale. These are not all the tricks and tricks that you may not notice during the show.

Some cunning people manage to repaint completely harmless snakes in the natural colors of the most dangerous of their kind, like vipers. From a distance, such a fake is almost invisible, especially to the eye of a non-specialist. No snake charmer trains his pets from birth. For performances, already mature individuals are caught, since young animals are more aggressive, and adult snakes bite less often. There is no use in training snakes.

It happens that a snake charmer removes the poisonous teeth of the unfortunate reptile or sews up his mouth with ordinary thread and a needle. If the operation is performed skillfully, the thread remains covered with labial shields. In this case, the snake becomes harmless and helpless. She can hiss, stick out her tongue, rush at people, but, alas, she will not be able to bite in this state. Snakes do not live long after such manipulations. By the way, not all snakes participate in the performances. The snake charmer selects only those individuals that are able to hold a stance for a long time and rarely show the desire to rush and bite.

Certificates and publications hang on the wall:

Cobra. In total, there are 4 species of cobras living in Sri Lanka.

Cobras are most active from mid-April to June and from September to mid-November. In July, the female lays 9-19 eggs, from which juveniles emerge in late August - early September. Cobras feed on rodents, amphibians, and birds, but, like other adders, they readily eat snakes, including poisonous ones. The cobra poses an undoubted danger to humans and animals, but unlike viper snakes, it always warns of its presence. Only in case of an immediate threat does the cobra make several lightning-fast attacks towards the enemy, one of which, as a rule, ends with a targeted bite. At the same time, unlike vipers, cobras do not bite instantly, but rather “chew”, moving their jaws several times before releasing the victim.

If you do not take an antidote, death will occur 2-3 hours after the bite.

In total, Sri Lanka is home to 98 species of snakes.

Chain viper. Very strong poison. After 30 minutes the kidneys begin to fail.

Even if you take the antidote, bite marks will remain on your body. This is what a finger looks like after being bitten.

Indian krait, as Shami said, she is the most poisonous on the island. Death occurs within 40 minutes.

Chain viper tries to bite its owner:

This is the fastest snake. It moves at a speed of 2 km per hour and loves to live on coconut plantations. Not poisonous.

Herbaceous green whipweed. They grow up to 2m in length. and only 1.5-2cm thick. Has excellent vision. In the depths of the mouth there is a pair of poisonous teeth, which do not pose any particular danger to humans. Leads an arboreal lifestyle.

Shami's father is also a healer, but is now retired. He was bitten by poisonous snakes 32 times.

There are a lot of snake tinctures in the closet.

Medicines for all diseases are made from snakes and their poison. These balls help with headaches.

Snakes – amazing creatures, which do not leave any of the people indifferent. Snakes have long been associated with physical and spiritual healing. In ancient Greek mythology, the god of healing, Asclepius, was depicted as a bearded man dressed in a long cloak, leaning on a staff with a snake coiled around it. The image of a snake has become a symbol of medicine throughout the world.

Snakes shedding their skin are associated with renewal and resurrection. The Bible (Psalm 57) says that vipers cannot hear. Based on the principle that like cures like, viper venom was used to cure deafness and various diseases ear. It is known that in case of danger, a female viper swallows her young, and when the threat has passed, she pushes them out of herself.

In the Talmud, snakes are associated with prosperity and wealth. If you kill a snake in a dream, this serves as a warning about the possible loss of your entire fortune.

The snake tempted Eve to eat an apple plucked from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, which led to the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise. They lost their innocence and felt shame and guilt for the first time. The snake indicates that disobedience leads to serious consequences.

Sometimes we see images of an eagle holding a snake in its talons, which reflects the dominance of the spiritual over the natural evil force of the snake and the archetypal idea of ​​​​the conflict between good and evil.

Snakes are also associated with sexual energy.

Poisonous snakes have been the subject of special worship since ancient times. Ophiolatry is the name given to the deification of snakes. Snake worship has survived: today you can see a picturesque full of risk chilling a dance performed by the priests of the famous snake cults of Myanmar (Burma). The object of worship is the king cobra - the world's largest poisonous snake: its length reaches five meters. Cobra is considered one of the most aggressive snakes. Intending to attack, it stands on its tail, and the front part of its body, raised almost vertically, is at least a meter long. When meeting with this majestic representative of the fauna, a person tries to increase the distance separating him from the cobra. The snake priestess from Myanmar has a completely different task - to dance with her poisonous deity.

As soon as the location of the king cobra is determined, the priestess begins her performance right in front of the cobra, at a distance of one or two meters. With his hem long dress she manipulates like a matador and is very skillful at dodging deadly throws. Soon the priestess's robe becomes damp, and golden droplets of poison flow down it. The greatest danger is yet to come. At the end of her performance, the priestess suddenly leans forward and kisses the cobra. Sometimes to the head, sometimes directly to the lips. The girl repeats this twice. Then he slowly backs away, joining the rest of the snake worshipers and giving the snake the opportunity to retreat. The snake does this, and quite hastily. The dance is completed, the deity has left.

How do you learn to dance with a cobra? Girls with early age are being trained for non-poisonous species snakes or “cold” (lacking a poisonous tooth) cobras. Their task is to thoroughly study the behavior and movement of the snake in order to be able to anticipate their attack in a split second. The dance of the priestess has a special musical accompaniment. It distracts attention or even hypnotizes the snake, reduces the speed and accuracy of strikes.

Snake charmers learned from the snake-worshipping priests.

English writer Lawrence Greene in his book Last secrets Africa" ​​writes:

“Snake charming is an amazing and dangerous profession. Almost all the spellcasters I have known have died from their snake bites. These fearless people could not master one secret - how to stay alive.

It seems to me that the art of snake charming originated in Egypt, which was the cradle of many arts. Snakes are the scourge of the Egyptian village. Perhaps that is why the most skilled snake hunters and charmers appeared there. On the banks of the Nile I saw performances much more complex than in India.

Prepared by A. Mitrofanova. http://ezo.sestrenka.ru

Snake charming is an unusual and dangerous profession. Almost all the spellcasters I have known have been killed by their own snakes. The only secret that is unknown to these fearless people is the secret of survival.

I think the art of snake charming originated in Egypt, a country that has given the world many inventions. Snakes are a real curse Egyptian villages, and perhaps that's why you can find some of the world's most skilled snake hunters and charmers there. On the banks of the Nile I have seen performances much more interesting and sophisticated than those seen in India.

Cobras served as a symbol of royalty, like tiaras on Egyptian statues. Cleopatra's snake was a cobra. The Pharaohs' wizards could turn snakes into wands, imitating the miracle that Moses demonstrated. This, I think, was done by squeezing the snake’s head so much that its brain was affected, and the snake seemed to become stiff.

Sorcerers throughout Africa know a lot about the habits of snakes. White people living in tropical Africa often call a sorcerer for help when they think there are snakes in their homes. And the Mganga medicine man rarely fails to detect a snake. For this he will receive a well-deserved reward. What is five or ten shillings when the house is free of poisonous mambas for a long time?

So the medicine man comes with his reed pipes. He recites a traditional spell and plays the pipe in different corners of the house until the mamba crawls out into the open. This wriggling creature is very beautiful, but there is so much poison in its teeth that it could kill an elephant. At the right moment, the healer rushes towards her with his forked stick, grabs the snake and throws it into his bag. Now such an operation almost always turns out to be the result of fraud. This is usually a trained snake without teeth, which was placed in a bungalow and then “lured” out of its hiding place.

Probably the best snake charmer of his time was Sheikh Moussa (the Arabic equivalent of the name Moses) from Luxor, familiar to many thousands of tourists. Both Moussa's father and grandfather were snake charmers, and both of them died from snake bites. One day, Moussa's youngest son went into the desert to collect snakes and was fatally stung. Moussa was always ready to share the same fate. This is what happened in 1939, when he somehow climbed into a cobra’s hole.

Sheikh Moussa's skill was unsurpassed. Before the start of the performance, he allowed himself to be undressed and searched. The snakes he pulled out of their holes under the mud huts were untrained. He could smell a scorpion sitting under a rock or a snake hiding in a hole.

The smell of the snake, he said, is reminiscent of ammonia.

By pronouncing spells and chanting, Moussa lured snakes out of their holes and called them to him. Sometimes the cobra tried to attack. Moussa carefully threw the snake away with his stick. Then the cobra rose and carefully watched the caster. This probably gave Moussa the opportunity to do what he wanted. He, without stopping his singing for a moment, slowly approached the snake. Finally, he would put his hand on the ground, and the cobra would lower its head and place it on Moussa's palm.

Other snake charmers, including Senior Keeper Balda of London Zoo, were also able to perform the same performance, where the snake rested its head on the palm of his hand. This was the most exciting moment of the performance that the wise spellcaster Husain Mia gave for many years in Cape Town. But old Moussa had other sensational tricks that only a few spellcasters of the present and past could show.

Moussa placed a wild, freshly caught cobra in a circle, which he drew with a stick in the sand. In this circle, the cobra remained as if locked until Moussa allowed it to leave it. Of course, I understand that almost anyone can hypnotize a chicken in this way, but try doing it with a cobra! Having completed the operation of capturing the snakes, Moussa placed four or five of them in a circle and began to conjure them all together. Their attempts to escape were clearly visible to anyone watching the performance, but not a single snake could crawl far when Moussa was looking at it.

Without a doubt, Moussa simply created a special atmosphere for performances with his spells, because snakes have very weak hearing. However, they do respond to high-pitched flute music. There is a theory that a certain vibration in the air strikes the scales of the skin or the tips of the ribs of the snake - much the same way as the feet hit the ground when walking. So playing the flute excites the cobra rather than bewitches it.

Watch a snake charmer with his cobra baskets and you will see that he does not rely on his pipe when he needs to lure snakes out of there to start the show. He hits each basket lightly and then a snake appears. Snake charmers do have real skill, but the audience rarely realizes that what actually happens is not what they think. The cobra's swaying in time with the music of the caster is nothing more than the snake's attempts to follow the movements of the human hand. It is worth carefully studying the behavior of a snake charmer, and you will see: thoughtful movements of his hand and body seem to control the behavior of the snake. He approaches her slowly, always trying not to alarm the animal. And as soon as she shows signs of irritation, he puts her back in the basket and, to continue the show, chooses another one.

Hagg Ahmad, another famous Egyptian snake charmer and friend of Russell Pasha, claimed to be able to hypnotize snakes by whistling. He caught rare snakes for zoos and serum manufacturers. Hagg Ahmad was a member of Rifai, a secret society of snake charmers whose activities are religious in nature and regulated by their own rules. He got himself vaccinated, like other members of the Rifai, but nevertheless, complete immunity to snake bites cannot be achieved. His career was very successful - until the very day when he died from a cobra bite.

Russell Pasha had a snake expert on his staff in the Cairo city police, an Englishman named Bain. Russell and Bain studied snake charmers independently but came to very similar conclusions. They decided that the secret to luring snakes out of their holes often lay in the ability of the charmers to imitate. Nothing, of course, can force a hibernating snake to move, but during the mating period, the caster imitates a specific whistle emitted by the female and lures the male into an open place.

Another explanation that I heard in Egypt was that experienced spellcasters used some substance secreted by snakes, which has the property of attracting other individuals. I think this theory has some scientific support. The remedy is said to be particularly effective when collecting snakes.

Russell Pasha emphasized that the caster needs sharp vision and fast hands. To these qualities I would add the ability to concentrate on my work at any time and at any age. Many snake charmers have died simply because they were thinking about something else instead of keeping a close eye on the snakes.

When I first became acquainted with the exoticism of Egypt, five years after the First World War, one could meet a peculiar type of youthful snake charmers whose performances were so disgusting that the government had to restrict this line of work. These daredevils might come up to your table in a cafe on Port Said Boulevard or even on the terrace of the luxurious Shepard Hotel and offer to show them how they swallow a cobra alive. Although there were always people willing to pay for such a spectacle, its appearance strong men people began to feel sick, and women fainted. Such artists no longer appear in luxury hotels.

I remember one young guy, who wore scorpions in his long black hair and held a cobra pressed against his skin. Some of these people smeared snake oil on their bodies, believing that thanks to this they would gain the trust of the snake tribe. Perhaps this is true. One trick they did remained a mystery to me for a very long time. The caster grabbed the cobra by the throat, forced it to open its disgusting mouth and spat into it. Let's be honest, it was not the most sophisticated entertainment, but the effect on the snake was simply amazing. After a second, she became as if petrified, and she could be held like a cane. Only a few years later I was told that the caster had some kind of drug in his mouth, which worked as soon as it entered the snake’s mouth. This is another one of those tricks that looks like magic on the surface.

Some spellcasters may pretend that they have been bitten by a cobra and show two small cuts on their finger. Rest assured, that "bite" was there before the show even started. These people usually apply a porous "snake stone" to their finger, a remedy they would never use if the bite were real.

The snakes favored by charmers everywhere are cobras. Undoubtedly, their sinister-looking “hood” adds an extra edge to the show. It should be noted that the cobra spreads its “hood” only when it is excited. This means that the snake is not under the influence of hypnosis when it sways to the caster’s tune, and of course it does not “dance.” Most likely, it is simply curious about what the caster is going to do, and you can be sure that the caster is closely watching the snake's eyes to see if it is aiming for his hand.

There are seven species of cobra in Africa, and they are so widespread that snake charmers have no trouble collecting their “inventory.” The so-called Egyptian cobra, which is found from Mediterranean Sea to South Africa, is not a spitting snake, nor is the Cape cobra. But the ringhals and the black-necked cobra aim for the eye of their prey and can hit their target from a distance of seven feet. So you will have to rummage through the caster's bag for a long time before you discover a spitting snake. Using it for performance would be pure suicide.

Egyptian snake charmers often show the highly poisonous horned viper. They also catch the dangerous carpet viper, but this species is extremely rare.

Husain Mia, the snake charmer whose performances in Cape Town I mentioned above, sometimes asked for a king cobra to be sent from Burma. This snake has a very impressive appearance: it is the largest venomous snake in the world, and it appears huge among its smaller (less deadly) cousins. The largest king cobras reach a length of 18 feet. They devour their fellows, and a spellcaster who keeps even one in his possession can lose all the other snakes if he is not careful.

Unfortunately, the king cobra in South Africa doesn't live long. Husain Mia lost 14 expensive reptiles one by one, but they greatly enlivened his performances. Some of them are good-natured and calm, some are restive. But nevertheless, every snake charmer craves the applause that only a huge and obedient king cobra can bring him. This is a snake that is subjected to a trick known as the “kiss of death.” Only a few female spellcasters can perform it. It seems like some kind of hypnosis is actually needed to kiss the face of a king cobra.

Husain Mia loved Cape Town so much that he called himself "Cape Town Charlie". He was a graduate of the University of Magic, Fire Swallowing, and Snake Charming at Pune, as befitted one from a family of hereditary Indian wizards. Husain Mia arrived in South Africa at the end of the last century, and can hardly be found in Rhodesia and the Union of South Africa locality, wherever they would see this bearded, smiling artist in a turban with a small tom-tom and snakes. He stated that he even performed at Buckingham Palace. (“I made snakes dance for King Edward and King George,” he boasted.) He did perform at Parliament House in Cape Town, but his usual venue was the entrance to the Adderley Street pier. When this pier was dismantled, he usually performed on Parade (one of the main streets of Cape Town).

Among my memories of Husain Mia there is a complete children's humor an episode that I must have watched dozens of times and never got bored with. Husain showed the crowd a small basket with a lid. He would then select a suitable victim from the crowd - preferably some brute who would mock his performance. He asked the “victim” to carefully examine the basket and show everyone that it was empty. Husain covered the basket with a cloth, played several mysterious bars on the flute, put the basket forward and asked the victim to cup his palms under it and catch what would appear from there. This number had complete success, if he managed to convince the “victim” that the basket was magically filled with money. The next moment, the frightened victim had a live snake in his hands. This snake was not at all dangerous, but it did not look harmless. Perhaps I have a primitive sense of humor, but rarely in my life have I laughed more sincerely. Husain Mia could put on performances that lasted for hours without repeating a single trick or joke twice. He also demonstrated another trick with a basket: his son Ibrahim wrapped himself around it like a snake, and Husain thrust a dagger into the weaving. But still, Husain was primarily a snake charmer. He sent his son to Pune to improve his skills and then be able to continue the family business.

Husain Mia entertained me until I became an adult. He lived to be 75 years old, which is probably a record for people so dangerous profession. The Cape Cobra he was training bit him on the thumb on right hand during a speech at the entrance to the Mount Nelson Hotel during the Second World War. They called their son, who was giving an independent show with snakes a mile from this place. But when he arrived, Husain was already unconscious, and he was taken to the hospital too late.

Dr. Hamilton Fairley, who was interested in this deadly activity, traced life path 25 snake charmers over a 15 year period. During this time, 19 of them died from snake venom. There have been many snake charmers in South Africa who have let their guard down when working with snakes. Bertie Pierce, known to scientists and naturalists around the world, was the most famous among them. His main occupation was selling snakes for museums and milking snake venom to make anti-bite serum.

Pierce should never have been involved in this case. He had a weak heart, and after each bite he doubted whether he could bear the treatment. One day, a viper bit him on the hand when there was no serum nearby. So he decided to burn off the poison, and from then on the sleeve of his shirt hid the terrible scars. One day he went to his usual place in Cape Town, where he performed snake shows to entertain the usual crowd when his African assistant was absent due to illness. A small cobra bit him on the ankle - and bites to this place are always especially dangerous, since there are many small blood vessels there. Pierce received medical assistance, but this time it did not help. Before this, snakes had bitten him nine times.

You may wonder why snake charmers don't milk the snakes before performing. The fact is that snakes accumulate poison in a special bag quite quickly. And getting a snake to bite a piece of fabric over and over again until its venom sac is empty is quite a painstaking task. Of course, a charmer can completely pull out a snake's teeth, but people who are truly proud of their work rarely do this. Such snakes become lethargic, sick and do not live long.

Desmond Fitzsimons, a South African snake expert and son of the famous F. W. Fitzsimons of the Serpentarium in Port Elizabeth, during one of his snake charming performances, it seemed that one of the snakes looked very much like a viper. This was so unusual that he began to examine her carefully. It turned out to be a harmless carpet snake, so naturally colored that from a distance it looked exactly like a South African viper.

There was another medicine man in Sinai, in Southern Rhodesia, who achieved great fame by performing various tricks on green mambas without fear. During one of the performances, this man was bitten and died. A local surgeon sent one of the animals to Fitzsimons to determine its breed. It turned out to be a type of tree snake, or boomslang as it is called in South Africa, very bright green in color. Boomslang is a snake whose back teeth are poisonous. That healer was very unlucky: boomslang rarely manages to grab someone with his teeth and kill. But when scientists found out the type of snake, the mystery immediately disappeared. No snake charmer, no matter how skilled, could survive after so many performances involving a real mamba.

The art of snake charming probably arose as a result of snake worship in ancient world. Doctors were also snake charmers, and to this day the symbol of the medical profession is the snake. It is therefore not surprising that the members of the Rifai, the most skilled snake charmers in Egypt, are deeply religious people. They will clear your house of snakes, but at the same time they will stipulate that the snakes will be taken into the desert and released into the wild. Without a doubt, snake charmers still possess secrets that are still unknown to anyone outside their caste.

While we strive to teach our children to count by age three and read by age five, Veda parents living in Sri Lanka teach their children how to handle... poisonous snakes!

The bespectacled queen of the jungle could not tolerate such mockery and, dodging, made a throw. In the blink of an eye, the girl released the snake and quickly jumped away. She hissed and went into the basket.

And finally, to the sound of a pipe, the most terrible snakes rise from the baskets - “king” cobras; in India, thousands of people die from their bites every year. The cobra is called the "plague of India." But now this “plague” obediently listens to the melody that the tamers extract from their pipes.

A dead snake, the victim of an interesting performance, will still be useful to the owner. Her skin is worth more than paying for a show with eight to ten people in attendance.”

Cobras are most active from mid-April to June and from September to mid-November. In July, the female lays 9-19 eggs, from which juveniles emerge in late August - early September. Cobras feed on rodents, amphibians, and birds, but, like other adders, they readily eat snakes, including poisonous ones. Cobra poses an undoubted danger to humans and animals, but, unlike vipers, it always warns of its presence. Only in case of an immediate threat does the cobra make several lightning-fast attacks towards the enemy, one of which, as a rule, ends with a targeted bite. At the same time, unlike vipers, cobras do not bite instantly, but rather “chew”, moving their jaws several times before releasing the victim.