A Further Contribution to the Study of the Mortuary Customs of the North American IndiansYarrow, H. C. (Harry Crécy)
History
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
After the process of burning the corpse has terminated, the widow
collects the larger bones, which she rolls up in an envelope of
birch bark and which she is obliged for some years afterwards to
carry on her back. She is now considered and treated as a slave, all
the laborious duties of cooking, collecting food, &c. devolve on
her. She must obey the orders of all the women, and even of the
children belonging to the village, and the slightest mistake or
disobedience subjects her to the infliction of a heavy punishment.
The ashes of her husband are carefully collected and deposited in a
grave which it is her duty to keep free from weeds, and should any
such appear, she is obliged to root them out with her fingers.
During this operation her husband’s relatives stand by and beat her
in a cruel manner until the task is completed or she falls a victim
to their brutality. The wretched widows, to avoid this complicated
cruelty, frequently commit suicide. Should she, however, linger on
for three or four years, the friends of her husband agree to relieve
her from the her painful mourning. This is a ceremony of much
consequence and the preparations for it occupy a considerable time
generally from six to eight months. The hunters proceed to the
various districts in which deer and beaver abound and after
collecting large quantities of meat and fur return to the village.
The skins are immediately bartered for guns, ammunition, clothing,
trinkets, &c. Invitations are then sent to the inhabitants of the
various friendly villages, and when they have all assembled the
feast commences, and presents are distributed to each visitor. The
object of their meeting is then explained, and the woman is brought
forward, still carrying on her back the bones of her late husband,
which are now removed and placed in a covered box, which is nailed
or otherwise fastened to a post twelve feet high. Her conduct as a
faithful widow is next highly eulogized, and the ceremony of her
manumission is completed by one man powdering on her head the down
of birds and another pouring on it the contents of a bladder of oil.
She is then at liberty to marry again or lead a life of single
blessedness, but few of them, I believe, wish to encounter the risk
attending a second widowhood.
The men are condemned to a similar ordeal, but they do not bear it
with equal fortitude, and numbers fly to distant quarters to avoid
the brutal treatment which custom has established as a kind of
religious rite.
Figure 10 is an ideal sketch of the cremation according to the
description given.
Perhaps a short review of some of the peculiar and salient points of
this narrative may be permitted.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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