TeenAngster

I just finished Salvation on Sand Mountain: Snake-Handling and Redemption in Southern Appalachia, a fascinating look into the world of taking up serpents, getting “caught up in the spirit” and the remote, intense Holiness and Charismatic Pentecostal churches of the American South. I think it’s pretty hard to turn away from snake handling, knowing that, under a brush arbor in the middle of nowhere, folks are going into trances, drinking strychnine and putting their lives in the maws of timber and rattlesnakes.

Known as “testifying,” taking up serpents and drinking poison represents the congregants’ trust in Jesus, and if you “lose the spirit” while doing so, you will most likely die. (Going to a traditional doctor post-snake bite implies a lack of trust in the Lord.) Needless to say, the mortality rate for these precious few mountain folk is decidedly high, and after 100 snake bites, one might eventually take.

The interesting part of the book (man, this is starting to feel like a book report, but a fun one!) is the author’s personal connection to his own religious beliefs, and that he eventually begins snake handling himself. The way that he writes about the energy in the room, the almost orgasmic experience of handling, and the resulting “cheating death” feeling that comes with a successful night at church — well, it sounds pretty good, actually! I’ve never been a snake lover (you know I prefer kittens and pups), but their symbolism throughout history and artwork is what really gets me. I’m actually seriously considering a snake tattoo, believe it or not.

I’m not sure where my Appalachian obsession came from, but I’m not letting up just yet! Salvation and the Foxfire series have whet my appetite for further revelations about slaughtering pigs, building cabins and drinking out of Mason jars (but not strychnine).