Name/Title
CapEntry/Object ID
1990.023.002Description
Red and black felt cap printed in gold as follows: "Military Order Serpents, 1898, SNAIX, Cleveland, 1938."
Cap is a 40th reunion hat for this secret society of veterans of The Spanish-American War.
SNAIX
By Lynn Vandevort
"When the lair is ready to convene, the entire degree team retires to hall. At a signal from the Depraved Pangula, the team enters the room in a trot, travelling in a serpentine course, following the Fangula. Two or three of the team carry newly-severed human heads and all carry spears or bolos. After making a complete circuit of the room, the Pangula gives a signal (usually a whistle) and all the team fall on their faces, spears or bolos held perpendicularly in front of them. Then the Gu Gu Grandississimo enters on a dignified walk, followed by the Dog Robber, who holds a sun shade over him. On the entrance of the Gu Gu, the members of the lair heretofore seated, fall on their knees and bow their heads.
……..
Gu Gu Grandississimo: Thrice Dulcet Yawler of the Jungle, see that our passes are duly guarded and the Companions notified that we are about to commune with the Great Serpent.
Thrice Dulcet Yawler of the Jungle proceeds to the center of the room by a serpentine course, salaams, and sounds a blast on his fish horn to each of the four cardinal points of the compass, with one long blast toward the ceiling, and retires.
Gu Gu Grandississimo: Ungodly Villain, see that all present are Companions of the Military Order of the Serpent.
Ungodly Villain collects the password from everybody in the room and anteroom except the candidates, returns, salaams before Gu Gu Grandississimo and reports: Most Excellent, all are Companions of the Serpent."
Thus begins the ritual of the Degree of Khatapunan in the Military Order of the Serpents, a division in the United Spanish War Veterans organization known as the SNAIX. The USWV was a fraternal organization for veterans of the Spanish American War just as the Grand Army of the Republic was begun as a fraternal organization for veterans of the Civil War. The USWV sponsored encampments all over the country and regularly marched in local parades just as the members of the VFW do today. USWV "camps" around the country often had divisions of SNAIX whose local members formed "lairs."
"The Military Order of the Serpent is the outgrowth of the fertile minds of Walter Scott MacAaron, Col. Fred S. Fanning, Col. John S. Parker and others, and takes its basis from the ancient rites observed by the several tribes of the Filipinos and the ordeals passed thru by the Gilmore party when captured by the natives." Page 11 of the History of the Organization of the United Spanish War Veterans by W.D. Tucker, National Historian of the United Spanish War Veterans, Canton, Ohio in 1921Use
Worn by SNAIX member at 40th runion of Cleveland Chpater. All the foundingCollection
MilitaryMade/Created
Date made
1938Notes
Early Date: 1938Lexicon
Nomenclature 4.0
Nomenclature Primary Object Term
CapNomenclature Sub-Class
HeadwearNomenclature Class
ClothingNomenclature Category
Category 03: Personal ObjectsCondition
Overall Condition
ExcellentGeneral Notes
Note
Status: Record updated
Status By: JM
Status Date: 2022-05-28