Snake handling
Handling snake or serpent handling ( German about "Schlangenanfassen", "snake picked up", "handle with snakes") is one of the rituals of a few Christian churches of the Pentecostal movement , which is often the Holiness movement belong in rural areas of the United States. The practice began in the Appalachian Mountains in the early 20th centuryand spread mainly to small coal mining towns.
ritual
In the ritual, the participants touch poisonous snakes without protective gear in order to prove their faith by running the risk of a fatal bite. For this they refer to two passages from the Bible:
“And through those who have come to believe the following signs will take place: In my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; if they touch snakes or drink deadly poison it will not harm them; and the sick, on whom they lay hands, will get well. "
“See, I have given you authority to step on snakes and scorpions and conquer all the power of the enemy. Nothing will harm you. "
Contrary to popular belief, the participants do not trust that their faith will protect them from the poison: They run the risk of a bite because they consider it sacred and beneficial to salvation to die obediently to God. Most of those bitten do without medical assistance and trust God's help; they accept an extremely long and painful possible death.
The snakes used for the ritual are mostly copper heads , water moccasin otters or rattlesnakes caught wild in the Appalachians . Wildlife is preferred to captive reared snakes because of their unpredictable and aggressive behavior.
History and dissemination
Snake handling was introduced to the Church of God (Cleveland) by George Went Hensley (1880–1955) ; he taught that the safe handling of poisonous snakes is the proof of successful redemption. After the Church of God distanced itself from this practice, he founded the Church of God with Signs Following . Other charismatic traveling preachers of the late 19th century, including a James Miller, gained followers by demonstrating alleged miracles such as the handling of venomous snakes.
In 2001 snake handling was still practiced by around 40 smaller Pentecostal churches in the USA, mainly in the Appalachian Mountains, and four churches in Canada. The congregations limit participation in the ritual to adults, but basically allow anyone who feels inspired by the Spirit of God.
Deaths and Legality
Several of the preachers who taught snake handling were seriously injured or killed by bites. Hensley, the main founder of the practice, died of a snake bite in 1955. Other deaths that caught media attention included preachers John Wayne "Punkin" Brown (1998), Mack Wolford (2012), Jamie Coots (2014), and John David Brock (2015). A total of around one hundred deaths of bitten participants are documented.
The states of Alabama , Kentucky and Tennessee have criminally banned the use of poisonous snakes, as is practiced in snake handling . In practice, however, the ritual is tolerated as long as it takes place in private rooms and without death. In Georgia , snake handling was banned on the death penalty in 1941 after a seven-year-old girl died of a rattlesnake bite in the ritual, but the sentence never passed and the law was repealed in 1968. In West Virginia is snake handling legal.
In popular American culture
Snake handling is the main theme of the play The Handler by Robert Schenkkan , the song Smoky Mountain Rattlesnake Retreat by Ray Stevens and the episode "Serpentine" (Signs and Wonders) of the television series " The X-Files ". In the fourth season of the crime series Justified , a charismatic preacher practices snake handling .
literature
- Ralph W. Hood, Jr., W. Paul Williamson: Them That Believe. The Power and the Meaning of the Christian Serpent-Handling Tradition. University of California Press, Berkeley CA et al. 2008, ISBN 978-0-520-25587-6 .
- David L. Kimbrough: Taking up serpents. Snake handlers of eastern Kentucky. Mercer University Press, Macon GA 2002, ISBN 0-8655-4798-X .
- Jeremy Seal: Among snakes. Report of a possessed person. Eichborn, Frankfurt am Main 2000, ISBN 3-8218-0842-X .
Web links
- Documentary film "The Holy Ghost People" from 1967 as a complete film in the Internet Archive
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e That Bites: Why do the snakes used in Pentecostal serpent handling have to be poisonous? , Slate , June 1, 2012
- ↑ a b Nicola Menzle: . Snake-handling W. Va Pastor This After Poisonous Bite During Sunday Service , In: Christian Post, accessed June 1, 2012
- ↑ USA: Believer dies in church after snake bite. In: religion.orf.at. July 29, 2015, accessed July 31, 2015 .
- ↑ Associated Press in Louisville, Kentucky: Kentucky man dies from snake bite suffered during church service. In: The Guardian. July 28, 2015, accessed July 31, 2015 .