Funeral Customs Among the Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians
Description:
Writing from personal observations gained during a ten year stay as a missionary among the Cheyenne and Arapaho, the author focuses on a dying patient. Neighbors gather around, wailing begins immediately after death, and signs of mourning (hair cutting, limb laceration etc.) occur. Funeral customs, including wrapping the corpse in shawls and blankets, precede burial in the ground, as does a procession to the gravesite and the bloodletting practices that occur there. Ponies are occasionally killed. The deceased's possessions may cover his gravesite.