The way death and
burial is treated by other cultures can be very different from how we are
accustomed. The following description of
the ancient Cherokee’s traditional funeral has been taken from Thomas E. Mails’
summation of an interview with John Howard Payne by G. Hicks.
“When a father, especially an aged one, was
convinced he was about to die, he called his children to gather about him. He told them about his situation, gave them
advice and instruction concerning their future life, repeated the ancient
traditions and reminded them about the Cherokee customs they should never
forget.
Peachtree Mound |
“When death was
at hand, all of the children were sent away, and only the priest and the adult
relatives spent time with the dying person. Females wept exceedingly,
commencing at the moment of death a most doleful lamentation in which they sang
over and over, with only brief pauses, the name of the deceased for as long as
they could hold their breath. Male relatives seldom wept, but put ashes on
their heads and wrapped themselves in
worn clothing. During the seven days of
mourning, no one was to be angry, speak in a light or trifling manner, or drink
anything but the lightest kind of food and liquid. Circumstances surrounding
the death determined whether the expressions of grief were greater or
lesser. Sometimes mourners seemed
entirely inconsolable and gave the impression they would weep all the way to
their own graves.
“A near relative
closed the deceased's eyelids and washed the entire body with water or a
purifying washing mix made by boiling willow root. In each town there was a priest whose task
was to bury the dead. He came soon after death to the house where the corpse was and usually buried it either in the floor directly under the place where the person had died, under
the hearth, outside near the house, or in the case of a distinguished chief,
under the seat he had occupied in the town council house. In instances when burial was outside, the
priest, followed by an adult relative of the deceised, carried the body to its
place of internment. Sometimes the
corpse was laid alongside a large rock, and a wall about eighteen inches high
was built on the other side of the corpse to enclose it. Then, a covering of
wood or an arch of stone was laid over it as a roof and stones were heaped over
the whole to create what was in essence a small tomb. Other times, a corpse was
covered by two overlapping wooden boxes then piled over with stones. Some
people were buried in graves that were dug in the earth, and rocks were laid
over the graves to keep animals from getting into them.
“When death
occurred, everything in the house, including the surviving family became
unclean. The personal belongings of the deceased were either buried with him or
burned at the grave site. Food and furniture were smashed and thrown away. As soon as the corpse was buried, a priest
was sent for to ritually cleanse the house.
He entered the house alone to destroy everything that had been contaminated,
and to thoroughtly clean the hearth. He
then kindled a new fire and put on it his water-filled medicine pot that he
used for purifications. He put in the
pot a certain weed and later gave the tea he brewed to the family members, who
drank it and washed themselves all over with it. He also sprinkled the inside of the house
with the tea. Then he smoked and further
purified the house interior by building a fire with cedar boughs and a certain
weed. When this was done, the priest
took what remained of his purifying items away and hid them in a hollow tree or
rock cleft where they would not be found.
“Finally, the priest took the defiled family
members to a river or creek, where on the bank he prayed for them and then
ordered them to immerse. They did this by entering the water and alternately
facing east and west as they immersed seven times. They either put away their
polluted garments before going into the water, or while in the water let them
loose to drif away and take their uncleanness with them. When the people left the water, new clothing
was put on, so that when they returned to their house the mourners were
entirely clean. Shortly thereafter, the priest's principal assistant sent a
messenger to them with two gifts -- a piece of tobacco that would
"enlighten their eyes", so they could bravely face the future and a
strand of sanctified beads to comfort their hearts. He also asked them to take
their seats in the town council house that night. The bereaved always accepted
this kind invitation, and when they went to the council house they were met by
all the townspeople, who in turn took them gently and understandingly by the
hand. Once everyone had done this, the mourners either returned home or stayed
to watch while the other people danced a solemn dance.
“On the morning
of the fifth day after death, while family members gathered around him, the
priest took a bird that had been killed with an arrow, plucked off some of its
feathers and cut from the right side of the breast a small piece of meat. After
praying, he put the meat on the fire. If it popped one or more times, throwing
small pieces towards the family, sons in the family would soon die. If it did
not pop at all, the sons were considered safe.
“Mourning continued for another two days. On
those two mornings, the entire company of mourners arose at daybreak and after
going to water to immerse, went to the grave site. There the local women set up
a most bitter wailing of the kind already described, and neighboring women
often joined in. During this time the Chief Priest of the town sent out hunters
to bring in meat for the mourning family. With this assistance, the family,
with the help of relatives, prepared food and on the seventh night took it to
the council house, where a community feast of consolation was held.”
“When the
deceased was a husband, the widow was expected to remain single for a long
time, and for as much of ten months to let her hair hang loose and uncared for.
She neither washed her body nor paid any attention to herself and her clothed
were thrown carelessly on. When her friends believed she had mourned enough,
they went to her, combed and dressed her hair and changed her garments.
“A far as the
afterlife concerns, views differed according to what individual Cherokees
believed about the powers who created and ruled the earth. Worshippers of the
sun believed that at death the soul assumed different appearances and at first
lingered about the place where the person had died for as long as the time as
the person had lived there. The soul went there to its prior place of residence
and remained there for a similar time. This continued until the deceased ha
moved to its birthplace when, after remaining for as long a time as it had
lived there, it took its final leave - either into nonexistence o to a place
far away in the west where the deceased was always miserable because it was
away from its natural home.
“Others believed
that at death the soul entered a mystical but living body that was larger or
smaller than its own. Whatever the case, the body the soul entered grew smaller
each year, until at last it vanished and ceased to be. This group also believed
that adulterers and women who destroyed their infants would in some way after
death be punished more than other persons.
Those Cherokees
who prayed only to the three Divine Beings above believed that all who were
free from certain sins and vices would at death go to be with those beings and
would dwell with them forever in a place that would always be pleasant and
light. But people with big sins would go to the Place of Bad Spirits, where
they would always scream in torment.”
Burial in the
earth was, for the Cherokee, pay back to the plants and animals that had
provided vital nourishment in life. Animals
and man eat plants for nourishment. Therefore,
when a man dies, he should be buried to provide nourishment for plants!
Hi Mr. Miller! I am so glad that I was able to find this blog post. It was able to find a lot of information for a paper I am writing. Could you share some of your sources so I might be able to learn more? Thank you!
ReplyDeleteTwo great sources are James Mooney and Thomas Mails.
ReplyDelete