The following account is by Dr. S G. Wright, acting physician to the
Leech Lake Agency, Minnesota:
"Pagan Indians, or those who have not become Christians, still adhere
to the ancient practice of feasting at the grave of departed friends;
the object is to feast with the departed; that is, they believe that
while they partake of the visible material the departed spirit
partakes at the same time of the spirit that dwells in the food. From
ancient time it was customary to bury with the dead various articles,
such especially as were most valued in lifetime. The idea was that
there was a spirit dwelling in the article represented by the material
article; thus the war-club contained a spiritual war-club, the pipe a
spiritual pipe, which could be used by the departed in another world.
These several spiritual implements were supposed, of course, to
accompany the soul, to be used also on the way to its final abode.
This habit has now ceased...."