A Further Contribution to the Study of the Mortuary Customs of the North American IndiansYarrow, H. C. (Harry Crécy)
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A Further Contribution to the Study of the Mortuary Customs of the North American Indians
Yarrow, H. C. (Harry Crécy)
Indians of North America -- Funeral customs and rites
There is probably no people that exhibit more sorrow and grief for
their dead than they. The young widow mourns the loss of her
husband; by day as by night she is heard silently sobbing; she is a
constant visitor to the place of rest; with the greatest reluctance
will she follow the raised camp. The friends and relatives of the
young mourner will incessantly devise methods to distract her mind
from the thought of her lost husband. She refuses nourishment, but
as nature is exhausted she is prevailed upon to partake of food; the
supply is scant, but on every occasion the best and largest
proportion is deposited upon the grave of her husband. In the mean
time the female relatives of the deceased have, according to custom,
submitted to her charge a parcel made up of different cloths
ornamented with bead-work and eagle’s feathers, which she is charged
to keep by her side--the place made vacant by the demise of her
husband--a reminder of her widowhood. She is therefore for a term of
twelve moons not permitted to wear any finery, neither is she
permitted to slicken up and comb her head; this to avoid attracting
attention. Once in a while a female relative of deceased,
commiserating with her grief and sorrow, will visit her and
voluntarily proceed to comb out the long-neglected and matted hair.
With a jealous eye a vigilant watch is kept over her conduct during
the term of her widowhood, yet she is allowed the privilege to
marry, any time during her widowhood, an unmarried brother or
cousin, or a person of the same _Dodem_ [_sic_] (family mark) of her
husband.
At the expiration of her term, the vows having been faithfully
performed and kept, the female relatives of deceased assemble and,
with greetings commensurate to the occasion, proceed to wash her
face, comb her hair, and attire her person with new apparel, and
otherwise demonstrating the release from her vow and restraint.
Still she has not her entire freedom. If she will still refuse to
marry a relative of the deceased and will marry another, she then
has to purchase her freedom by giving a certain amount of goods and
whatever else she might have manufactured during her widowhood in
anticipation of the future now at hand. Frequently, though, during
widowhood the vows are disregarded and an inclination to flirt and
play courtship or form an alliance of marriage outside of the
relatives of the deceased is being indulged, and when discovered the
widow is set upon by the female relatives, her slick braided hair is
shorn close up to the back of her neck, all her apparel and trinkets
are torn from her person, and a quarrel frequently results fatally
to some member of one or the other side.
Thomas L. McKenney[87] gives a description of the Chippewa widow which
differs slightly from the one above:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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