Snake Charming - Lifestyle

Lifestyle

Snake charming is typically an inherited profession. Most would-be charmers thus begin learning the practice at a young age from their fathers. In 2007 a viral video made headlines about an infant who was playing with a defanged cobra. Members of the Sapera or Sapuakela castes, snake charmers have little other choice of profession. In fact, entire settlements of snake charmers and their families exist in some parts of India and neighbouring countries. In Bangladesh, snake charmers are typically members of the Bedey ethnic group. They tend to live by rivers and use them to boat to different towns on market days and during festivals.

North African charmers usually set up in open-air markets and souks for their performances. In coastal resort towns and near major tourist destinations one can see snake charmers catering to the tourist market, but in most of the region they perform for the local audiences; an important part of their income comes from selling pamphlets containing various magic spells (in particular, of course, against snake bites).

In previous eras, snake charming was often the charmer's only source of income. This is less true today, as many charmers also scavenge, scrounge, sell items such as amulets and jewelry, or perform at private parties to make ends meet. Snake charmers are often regarded as traditional healers and magicians, as well, especially in rural areas. These charmers concoct and sell all manner of potions and unguents that purportedly do anything from curing the common cold to raising the dead. They also act as a sort of pest control, as villagers and city-dwellers alike call on them to rid homes of snakes (though some accuse snake charmers of releasing their own animals in order to receive the fee for simply catching them again).