Burial Rituals

For several days after watching The Business of Fancydancing thoughts about burial rituals and customs plagued my brain. I have attended very few funerals in my lifetime, three to be exact. Two of those three funerals were military funerals for war veterans so it is fair to say that my experience with burial customs is limited. However, even in my limited experience, it is clear to me that any culture's burial customs can often reveal a great deal about their values and their beliefs concerning the after-life.

In the photos above, tree burial or scaffold burial is depicted. If you are anything like me, you are wondering why the hell anyone would be buried so high above the ground. Well, this practice was adopted to protect the bodies from wild animals. The scaffolds average about 7 to 8 feet high and about 10 feet long. Before placing it on the scaffolding, the body is wrapped so tightly that it is nearly waterproof. Apparently, in many tribes, it is customary to wrap the body in some way (as we saw in the film). Oftentimes (as you can see above) worldly goods such as food, water, and religious symbols are hung from the poles for the benefit of the dead. 

For more information concerning tree/scaffold burial and many more photos see the following sites:

http://www.nanations.com/burialcustoms/scaffold_burial.htm

http://www.firstpeople.us/american-indian/photographs/apsaroke-scaffold-burial.html

http://digitalcollections.uwyo.edu:8180/luna/servlet/view/all/what/Scaffold+burial?os=0&pgs=100&sort=Title%252CDate_Original%252CSubject%252CDescription

I couldn't resist posting this. The music is amazing. 

He has a lot of interesting information about the Indians in this valley and their tree burial customs.

A very interesting blended ceremony.