{"id":10126,"date":"2024-03-17T07:30:16","date_gmt":"2024-03-17T07:30:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/justpaste.in\/blogs\/heres-a-really-important-thing-you-need-to-know-about-snake-charming\/"},"modified":"2026-08-04T10:19:36","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T10:19:36","slug":"heres-a-really-important-thing-you-need-to-know-about-snake-charming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/justpaste.in\/blogs\/heres-a-really-important-thing-you-need-to-know-about-snake-charming\/","title":{"rendered":"Here’s A Really Important Thing You Need To Know About Snake Charming"},"content":{"rendered":"

Snake charming is an ancient art form that most of us will have seen (or want to see) when travelling to Morocco<\/a>, Egypt and Tunisia… to mention but a few. Snake charming\u00a0itself has been around for thousands of years, with one\u00a0of the earliest records going as far back as\u00a0the Bible.<\/p>\n

Like I said earlier,\u00a0we’re probably all aware of what\u00a0snake charming is especially with it often being considered a major photo opportunity\u00a0when\u00a0visiting a new destination where its heritage prevails but before you take that selfie, it’s probably worth taking the time to think a little bit more about the practises that go into snake charming as it exists today.<\/p>\n

\"Snake<\/a><\/p>\n

The history of snake charming.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The art of snake charming is considered to be an ancient technique that is now believed to have risen\u00a0in India, particularly through healers that would showcase their ability to hypnotise a cobra. The act in itself would involve a healer housing a cobra within a basket and playing a\u00a0pungi or bansuri with the snake almost transfixed upon the playing instrument. It was historically believed to be a magical or blessed act that many healers would display\u00a0around their local communities.<\/p>\n

How is the snake hypnotised?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The reality of a snake being hypnotised is a little different from what you’d think or expect.\u00a0Snakes can’t actually hear the noise of the instrument and instead focus on the\u00a0pungi (or bansuri) and the player, assuming the player to be a threat to the itself (i.e. the snake). The snake thus keeps full eye contact upon the instrument and the moving parts of the player – particularly the hands around the instrument.<\/p>\n

\"Snake<\/a><\/p>\n

How a snake is starved to death through sewing and ripping.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Snake charmers are benefiting from a\u00a0rise in tourism which in itself would not be bad if there was no cruelty, harm or even captivity involved. The truth is\u00a0some (not all) snake charmers\u00a0capture\u00a0wild cobras, ripping out\u00a0their fangs and sewing the mouths shut so they can never strike the charmer. These snakes then die a horrible death from starvation, taking many excruciating months. Once the snake dies, the charmer goes out to capture more snakes to use for ‘those\u00a0photographs’ taken by many-a-tourist.<\/p>\n

Understandably, many people (in fact, I’d argue that most people) who take these photos, have no idea what goes on in the back scenes –\u00a0I certainly didn’t, although I have to admit, I’m not the biggest fan of snakes (I’m kinda terrified of them) so I was never going to be one to queue up for those photos in the first place.<\/p>\n

\"Snake<\/a><\/p>\n

What you\u00a0can do to help…<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now, while I can’t say that snakes are my favourite animal, I detest\u00a0the thought of cruelty, in any way\u00a0to any animal or person. The thing is, if we\u00a0all knew about the awful cycle set in place by some (again, I repeat – not all) snake charmers,\u00a0it may make us all think twice before rushing to snap that shot and contribute to an ever growing problem in many countries.<\/p>\n

I’m not advocating that local people don’t benefit from tourism – that would be utterly ridiculous to even suggest! What I am saying however is that as tourists and travellers, try our best to travel armed with the facts and make sensible decisions that benefit, not just ourselves or the locals wherever you’re visiting in the short term but that ensures that we strive to leave a long-term positive impact wherever we visit.<\/p>\n

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Curious about what to do when you visit Morocco? You should definitely try these experiences!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Image via 1<\/a> | 2<\/a> | 3<\/a><\/span><\/em><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Snake charming is an ancient art form that most of us will have seen (or want to see) when travelling to Morocco, Egypt and Tunisia… to mention but a few. Snake charming\u00a0itself has been around for thousands of years, with one\u00a0of the earliest records going as far back as\u00a0the Bible. Like I said earlier,\u00a0we’re probably … Continue Reading<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10127,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,354],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel","category-travel-advice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/justpaste.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/justpaste.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/justpaste.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justpaste.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justpaste.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/justpaste.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10126\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justpaste.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/justpaste.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justpaste.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justpaste.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}