An Introduction to the mortuary customs of the North American IndiansYarrow, H. C. (Harry Crécy)
History
An Introduction to the mortuary customs of the North American Indians
Yarrow, H. C. (Harry Crécy)
Indians of North America -- Funeral customs and rites
In this land of souls all are treated according to their merits. Those
who have been good men are free from pain, they have no duties to
perform, their time is spent in dancing and singing and they feed upon
mushrooms which are very abundant The souls of bad men are haunted by
the phantom of the persons or things that they have injured, thus if a
man has destroyed much property the phantoms of the wrecks of this
property obstruct his passage wherever he goes, if he has been cruel
to his dogs or horses they also torment him after death. The ghosts of
those whom during his lifetime he wronged are there permitted to
avenge their injuries. They think that when a soul has crossed the
stream it cannot return to its body, yet they believe in apparitions
and entertain the opinion that the spirits of the departed will
frequently revisit the abodes of their friends in order to invite them
to the other world and to forewarn them of their approaching
dissolution.
Stephen Powers in his valuable work so often quoted, gives a number of
examples of superstitions regarding the dead of which the following
relates to the Karok of California.
"How well and truly the Karok reverence the memory of the dead is
shown by the fact that the highest crime one can commit is the _pet-
chi-e-ri_, the mere mention of the dead relative's name. It is a
deadly insult to the survivors and can be atoned for only by the same
amount of blood money paid for willful murder. In default of that they
will have the villain's blood.... At the mention of his name the
moldering skeleton turns in his grave and groans. They do not like
stragglers even to inspect the burial place.... They believe that the
soul of a good Karok goes to the 'happy western land' beyond the great
ocean. That they have a well grounded assurance of an immortality
beyond the grave is proven, if not otherwise, by their beautiful and
poetical custom of whispering a message in the ear of the dead....
Believe that dancing will liberate some relative's soul from bonds of
death and restore him to earth"
According to the same author, when a Kelta dies a little bird flies
away with his soul to the spirit land. If he was a bad Indian a hawk
will catch the little bird and eat him up soul and feathers, but if he
was good he will reach the spirit land. Mr. Powers also states that
"The Tolowa share in the superstitious observance for the memory of
the dead which is common to the Northern Californian tribes When I
asked the chief Tahhokolli to tell me the Indian words for 'father'
and 'mother' and certain others similar, he shook his head mournfully
and said 'all dead,' 'all dead,' 'no good.' They are forbidden to
mention the name of the dead, as it is a deadly insult to the
relatives,"... and that the "Mat-toal hold that the good depart to a
happy region somewhere southward in the great ocean, but the soul of a
bad Indian transmigrates into a grizzly bear, which they consider of
all animals the cousin-german of sin."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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