Snake Borders

While sleeping on railroad tracks in south Texas, six illegal immigrants were run over by a 105-car Union Pacific freight train. Authorities speculate that the men slept on the tracks believing that the outer rails would act as barriers and protect them from snakes.

Maria Elena recalls her father’s method of safekeeping from snakes while traveling by car from San Antonio to Los Angeles during the 1930s. After pulling his car to the side of the road to sleep, he encircled the vehicle with a black rope believing that snakes would not cross over its boundaries. Similarly, Appalachian residents as well as Southwestern cowboys believe that snakes will not attack them while sleeping inside a horsehair rope circle because the coarse hairs scratch their bellies. In reality, this would not deter most snakes. Their abdominal coverings are so tough they easily crawl through or over cactus.

A teeming body of snake lore reveals the powerful widespread dread of snakes. Many beliefs found throughout time and in various cultures involve the protective power of a circle. Some people circle themselves with a ring of Irish earth from that snake-free island, while in olden times people used plants or leaves as a ringed repellent. Some cowboys tell of a chalkline substituted for the hair rope. One tall tale celebrates cowboys who put a hair rope around their camp one night and woke the next morning to discover 129 rattlers that tickled themselves to death trying to cross the magic border.

Syndicated columnist Norine Dresser is the author of “Multicultural Manners” (Wiley, 1996). E-mail: norined@earthlink.net.