Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Remembering The Snake Dance

Thanksgiving time was a special time for Pompton Lakes High School in the 60's.  Along with being a holiday for family gathering, Thanksgiving Day was the day of a time-honored football tradition: Pompton Lakes High vs Butler High.  Pompton Lakes and Butler used to have a long standing rivalry.  It was like the Yankees and the Red Sox.  But the night before was the night of The Snake Dance!

First, there was the Pep Rally.  Wednesday, before Thanksgiving Day, students of the High School would retire from classes early and pour into the gymnasium bleachers to stir up the school spirit, that we thought was crucial, to advance our team on to victory. 
The football team would be there and sometimes the team members were even announced, player-by-player.  The cheerleading squad would face the bleachers and lead the student body in screaming chants and cadences toward victory.

Pep rallies were not uncommon back then.  But there were rallies for pivotal games that few students missed.  Occasionally, even the marching band would be in the bleachers, playing the school songs, which everyone sang to, with the cheerleaders waving their pom-poms around.

The "Burn Butler" pep rally was such an event.  Even the dress-code rebels and junior hippies came out for the Thanksgiving game rally.  There was enough excitement to attract even the most disaffected.  The rally would end in a frenzy of school spirit, and everyone went home for homework and dinner.  That night would be the time of THE SNAKE DANCE.

Around 7pm, that evening, students would gather in the rear field of the high school for The Snake Dance.  There was a lot of excitement in the air.  While gathering and waiting for the start, boys and girls would be bantering, flirting and generally sharing the excitement. The Snake Dance was a kind of a tribal ceremony of town pride and team spirit.  Not only was it fun.  It was important.

The Snake Dance would begin at the school fence on Ramapo Ave.  The cheerleading squad would all hold hands and begin a human chain of hand holding that somehow organized its own self throughout the assembly of several hundred students.  The cheerleaders would then "pull" the chain of hand holders down Ramapo Ave.

Led by a crawling police cruiser, the "snake" of noisy teenagers would crawl down Ramapo Ave., while zigzagging back and forth across the street.  The "curves" in this snake would provide for some quick foot work, as the momentum of the zigzagging would make it an effort to keep up; let alone hold onto the hands of your neighbors.  It was sometimes difficult to even stay on your feet.

The night was resonant with the sounds of celebration and occasional screams and shouts in the labor of just hanging on to wherever the snake went.  The cheerleaders chanted school-spirited cadences from the front of the chain.  If you were in the middle of the snake, there would just be a lot of talking, shouting and screeching.  It was difficult to hang on, and you sometimes had to concentrate.

This was back when citizens could merely rake their leaves out into the street (and even burn them there).  Piles of leaves at the curbside were an added novelty for the snake dancers.  Fun to kick the leaves around.  Good place to fall, which happened. For the next hour, or so, the snake wound its way down to Hershfield Park, where the football field was, and still is.

At Hershfield Park, near the location of what is now the parking lot, there waited a thirty or forty foot high stack of lumber and tree cuttings.  This was Butler's funeral pyre.  On top of the wood pile was a Halloween-style dummy of a football player in a Butler High School Football team uniform and helmet.  The Pompton Lakes Volunteer Fire Department was on hand to set and control the fire.

The bond fires were huge.  The cheerleaders would get as close to the pile, as safety allowed.  They would face the crowd and lead everyone in more chants and cadences.  I seem to remember Apple cider being served.

With Butler being properly dispatched to ashes, everyone went home to get ready for the holiday, the parade and the big game. A day when all seemed right in the world to a young teenager, in a beautiful town, in a beautiful time.
Thanksgiving Day Game 1966

3 comments:

  1. This is a test of the comments section

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  2. That sounds really fun, especially with the fire. Do they do that with the fire these days?

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  3. Great story, good memories! Thanks!

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