Cremation Among the Sitka Indians

An old woman with many living children was buried in the traditional way on the day after her death. Several persons climbed half a dozen steps to a hole in the "roof" of her house that was about six feet above the ground and then dropped into her home to locate her body. She was wrapped in blankets, a woven sea-grass mat, and tied in a position that brought her knees up to her chin. Other individuals were present also as a young man performed traditional mourning rituals, e.g., cutting the hair of near relatives. All present had their faces painted with seal oil and black paint. At the conclusion of a death song, men raised the corpse with ropes through the opening. One of the ropes broke, the body fell below into a fire. Hastily retrieved, the body was removed and carried to the pyre, about 40 yards from the house.