American Indian Culture and Research Journal

The ultimate inevitability for most Americans is death, but for the Native peoples of both these continents, death is not a single event but a prolonged process with stages between the living now and the deading after. On December 12,1997, I was standing in the chill of the Northwest, freezing from the toes up while waiting to help as needed with an annual “burning for the dead” in preparation for an evening candlelight service in the local smokehouse (Native church) at which everyone in attendance could light a candle in the name of a deceased relative, friend, or loved one. Regardless of religion-Catholic, Pentecostal, Indian Shaker, or traditional-participation was community-wide. This sacrificial burning required a rectangle about five-by-fifteen feet composed of crushed papers, kindling, and logs. Upon this table, or pyre, plates of varied food were to be placed individually as the name of the person for whom it was intended was loudly called out. In addition to familiar groceries purchased from any store, plates also held Native foods and personal favorites. Inevitably, after an early afternoon of preparations spaced among long waits, the arrival of the officiating ritualists from Canada called for a renewed flurry of activity. All cedar logs had to be replaced with split alder brought from their home across the border. From the moment of their arrival, these ritualists took charge of the situation by organizing us into an effective work force to do their bidding. Using special words (dicta, enchantments) inherited only in certain families, both ritualists prepared the blank table before it received thirty plates set in rows. Then more enchantments were recited to fix all the settings before flames were lit.