Aziyade

Depending upon the culture, snakes have a certain history in pagan religions, so it's not a big leap to say they MIGHT have been used in religious ritual.

Herodotus's "flying snakes" aside (LOL) the ancient Baltic peoples revered a snake, and it can be easily imagined that they might have used snakes as part of a religious rite, or as a method of divining the future. For areas with lots of dangerous seismic activity, snakes would often be the first animals to respond to pre-quake earthquakes, and an observant priest(ess) might be able to observe the animal's agitation and forwarn the people of earthquake or volcanic activity.

There's a famous Minoan ivory statue of a supposed Priestess holding snakes in each hand. This has been the inspiration for some dancers to do snake dances. There's an idea of bellydance being associated with ancient pagan rituals -- and an idea of snakes being associated with ancient pagan rituals .... so it's not a big leap to throw them together.

I have a friend who dances with snakes quite a bit. She won't take the snakes anywhere where there's cigarette smoke, or in an extremely noisy environment. She says she can kind of tell if the snake isn't interested in being worn that night (which is pretty much all you can do with them) and she won't dance with a snake who isn't cooperative.

I saw Tiffany Bisconer do this at the Bal Anat show and it was really cool, but basically you can't do a whole lot except some slow movements, and dramatic poses, because you have to be very concerned about supporting the weight of the snake on different points. One dance is cool. Any more than that and it's kind of boring ...