A large proportion of these Indians being members of the
Presbyterian church (the missionaries of which church have labored
among them for more than forty years past), the dead of their
families are buried after the customs of that church, and this
influence is felt to a great extent among those Indians who are not
strict church members, so that they are dropping one by one the
traditional customs of their tribe, and but few can now be found who
bury their dead in accordance with their customs of twenty or more
years ago. The dead of those Indians who still adhere to their
modern burial customs are buried in the ways indicated below.
_Warrior._--After death they paint a warrior red across the mouth,
or they paint a hand in black color, with the thumb on one side of
the mouth and the fingers separated on the other cheek, the rest of
the face being painted red. (This latter is only done as a mark of
respect to a specially brave man.) Spears, clubs, and the
medicine-bag of the deceased when alive are buried with the body,
the medicine-bag being placed on the bare skin over the region of
the heart. There is not now, nor has there been, among these Indians
any special preparation of the grave. The body of a warrior is
generally wrapped in a blanket or piece of cloth (and frequently in
addition is placed in a box) and buried in the grave prepared for
the purpose, always, as the majority of these Indians inform me,
with the head towards the _south_. (I have, however, seen many
graves in which the head of the occupant had been placed to the
_east_. It may be that these graves were those of Indians who
belonged to the church; and a few Indians inform me that the head is
sometimes placed towards the _west_, according to the occupant’s
belief when alive as to the direction from which his guiding
medicine came, and I am personally inclined to give credence to this
latter as sometimes occurring.) In all burials, when the person has
died a natural death, or had not been murdered, and whether man,
woman, or child, the body is placed in the grave with the face _up_.
In cases, however, when a man or woman has been murdered by one of
their own tribe, the body was, and is always, placed in the grave
with the face _down_, head to the _south_, and a piece of fat (bacon
or pork) placed in the mouth. This piece of fat is placed in the
mouth, as these Indians say, to prevent the spirit of the murdered
person driving or scaring the game from that section of country.
Those Indians who state that their dead are always buried with the
head towards the south say they do so in order that the spirit of
the deceased may go to the south, the land from which these Indians
believe they originally came.
_Women and children._--Before death the face of the person expected
to die is often painted in a red color. When this is not done before
death it is done afterwards; the body being then buried in a grave
prepared for its reception, and in the manner described for a
warrior, cooking-utensils taking the place of the warrior’s weapons.
In cases of boys and girls a kettle of cooked food is sometimes
placed at the head of the grave after the body is covered. Now, if
the dead body be that of a boy, all the boys of about his age go up
and eat of the food, and in cases of girls all the girls do
likewise. This, however, has never obtained as a custom, but is
sometimes done in cases of warriors and women also.
Cremation has never been practiced by these Indians. It is now, and
always has been, a custom among them to remove a lock of hair from
the top or scalp lock of a warrior, or from the left side of the
head of a woman, which is carefully preserved by some near relative
of the deceased, wrapped in pieces of calico and muslin, and hung in
the lodge of the deceased and is considered the ghost of the dead
person. To the bundle is attached a tin cup or other vessel, and in
this is placed some food for the spirit of the dead person. Whenever
a stranger happens in at meal time, this food, however, is not
allowed to go to waste; if not consumed by the stranger to whom it
is offered, some of the occupants of the lodge eat it. They seem to
take some pains to please the ghost of the deceased, thinking
thereby they will have good luck in their family so long as they
continue to do so. It is a custom with the men when they smoke to
offer the pipe to the ghost, at the same time asking it to confer
some favor on them, or aid them in their work or in hunting, &c.
There is a feast held over this bundle containing the ghost of the
deceased, given by the friends of the dead man. This feast may be at
any time, and is not at any particular time, occurring, however,
generally as often as once a year, unless, at the time of the first
feast, the friends designate a particular time, such, for instance,
as when the leaves fall, or when the grass comes again. This bundle
is never permitted to leave the lodge of the friends of the dead
person, except to be buried in the grave of one of them. Much of the
property of the deceased person is buried with the body, a portion
being placed under the body and a portion over it. Horses are
sometimes killed on the grave of a warrior, but this custom is
gradually ceasing, in consequence of the value of their ponies.
These animals are therefore now generally given away by the person
before death, or after death disposed of by the near relatives. Many
years ago it was customary to kill one or more ponies at the grave.
In cases of more than ordinary wealth for an Indian, much of his
personal property is now, and has ever been, reserved from burial
with the body, and forms the basis for a gambling party, which will
be described hereafter. No food is ever buried in the grave, but
some is occasionally placed at the head of it; in which case it is
consumed by the friends of the dead person. Such is the method that
was in vogue with these Indians twenty years ago, and which is still
adhered to, with more or less exactness, by the majority of them,
the exceptions being those who are strict church members and those
very few families who adhere to their ancient customs.
Before the year 1860 it was a custom, for as long back as the oldest
members of these tribes can remember, and with the usual tribal
traditions handed down from generation to generation, in regard to
this as well as to other things, for these Indians to bury in a tree
or on a platform, and in those days an Indian was only buried in the
ground as a mark of disrespect in consequence of the person having
been murdered, in which case the body would be buried in the ground,
_face down_, head toward the south and with a piece of fat in the
mouth. * * * The platform upon which the body was deposited was
constructed of four crotched posts firmly set in the ground, and
connected near the top by cross-pieces, upon which was placed
boards, when obtainable, and small sticks of wood, sometimes hewn so
as to give a firm resting-place for the body. This platform had an
elevation of from six to eight or more feet, and never contained but
one body, although frequently having sufficient surface to
accommodate two or three. In burying in the crotch of a tree and on
platforms, the head of the dead person was always placed towards the
south; the body was wrapped in blankets or pieces of cloth securely
tied, and many of the personal effects of the deceased were buried
with it; as in the case of a warrior, his bows and arrows,
war-clubs, &c., would be placed alongside of the body, the Indians
saying he would need such things in the next world.
I am informed by many of them that it was a habit, before their
outbreak, for some to carry the body of a near relative whom they
held in great respect with them on their moves, for a greater or
lesser time, often as long as two or three years before burial.
This, however, never obtained generally among them, and some of them
seem to know nothing about it. It has of late years been entirely
dropped, except when a person dies away from home, it being then
customary for the friends to bring the body home for burial.
_Mourning ceremonies._--The mourning ceremonies before the year 1860
were as follows: After the death of a warrior the whole camp or
tribe would be assembled in a circle, and after the widow had cut
herself on the arms, legs, and body with a piece of flint, and
removed the hair from her head, she would go around the ring any
number of times she chose, but each time was considered as an oath
that she would not marry for a year, so that she could not marry for
as many years as times she went around the circle. The widow would
all this time keep up a crying and wailing. Upon the completion of
this the friends of the deceased would take the body to the platform
or tree where it was to remain, keeping up all this time their
wailing and crying. After depositing the body, they would stand
under it and continue exhibiting their grief, the squaws by hacking
their arms and legs with flint and cutting off the hair from their
head. The men would sharpen sticks and run them through the skin of
their arms and legs, both men and women keeping up their crying
generally for the remainder of the day, and the near relatives of
the deceased for several days thereafter. As soon as able, the
warrior friends of the deceased would go to a near tribe of their
enemies and kill one or more of them if possible, return with their
scalps, and exhibit them to the deceased person’s relatives, after
which their mourning ceased, their friends considering his death as
properly avenged; this, however, was many years ago, when their
enemies were within reasonable striking distance, such, for
instance, as the Chippewas and the Arickarees, Gros Ventres and
Mandan Indians. In cases of women and children, the squaws would cut
off their hair, hack their persons with flint, and sharpen sticks
and run them through the skin of the arms and legs, crying as for a
warrior.
It was an occasional occurrence twenty or more years ago for a squaw
when she lost a favorite child to commit suicide by hanging herself
with a lariat over the limb of a tree. This could not have prevailed
to any great extent, however, although the old men recite several
instances of its occurrence, and a very few examples within recent
years. Such was their custom before the Minnesota outbreak, since
which time it has gradually died out, and at the present time these
ancient customs are adhered to by but a single family, known as the
seven brothers, who appear to retain all the ancient customs of
their tribe. At the present time, as a mourning observance, the
squaws hack themselves on their legs with knives, cut off their
hair, and cry and wail around the grave of the dead person, and the
men in addition paint their faces, but no longer torture themselves
by means of sticks passed through the skin of the arms and legs.
This cutting and painting is sometimes done before and sometimes
after the burial of the body. I also observe that many of the women
of these tribes are adopting so much of the customs of the whites as
prescribes the wearing of black for certain periods. During the
period of mourning these Indians never wash their face, or comb
their hair, or laugh. These customs are observed with varying degree
of strictness, but not in many instances with that exactness which
characterized these Indians before the advent of the white man among
them. There is not now any permanent mutilation of the person
practiced as a mourning ceremony by them. That mutilation of a
finger by removing one or more joints, so generally observed among
the Minnetarree Indians at the Fort Berthold, Dak., Agency, is not
here seen, although the old men of these tribes inform me that it
was an ancient custom among their women, on the occasion of the
burial of a husband, to cut off a portion of a finger and have it
suspended in the tree above his body. I have, however, yet to see an
example of this having been done by any of the Indians now living,
and the custom must have fallen into disuse more than seventy years
ago.
In regard to the period of mourning, I would say that there does not
now appear to be, and, so far as I can learn, never was, any fixed
period of mourning, but it would seem that, like some of the whites,
they mourn when the subject is brought to their minds by some remark
or other occurrence. It is not unusual at the present time to hear a
man or woman cry and exclaim, “O, my poor husband!” “O, my poor
wife!” or “O, my poor child!” as the case may be, and, upon
inquiring, learn that the event happened several years before.
I have elsewhere mentioned that in some cases much of the personal
property of the deceased was and is reserved from burial with the
body, and forms the basis of a gambling party. I shall conclude my
remarks upon the burial customs, &c., of these Indians by an account
of this, which they designate as the “ghost’s gamble.”
The account of the game will be found in another part of this paper.
As illustrative of the preparation of the dead Indian warrior for the
tomb, a translation of Schiller’s beautiful burial song is here given.
It is believed to be by Bulwer, and for it the writer is indebted to the
kindness of Mr. Benjamin Drew, of Washington, D.C.: