MORTUARY BELIEFS AND CUSTOMS.
It was stated in a previous chapter that the Sia do not believe in a return of the spirits of their dead when they have once entered Shipapo. There was once, however, an exception to this. The story is here given in the theurgist’s own words:
“When the years were new and this village had been built perhaps three years, all the spirits of our dead came here for a great feast. They had bodies such as they had before death; wives recognized husbands, husbands wives, children parents, and parents children. Just after sundown the spirits began arriving, only a few passing over the road by daylight, but after dark they came in great crowds and remained until near dawn. They tarried but one night; husbands and wives did not sleep together; had they done so the living would have surely died. When the hour of separation came there was much weeping, not only among the living but the dead. The living insisted upon going with the dead, but the dead declared they must wait; that they could not pass through the entrance to the other world; they must first die or grow old and again become little children to be able to pass through the door of the world for the departed. It was then that the Sia first learned all about their future home. They learned that the fields were vast, the pastures beautiful, the mountains high, the lakes and rivers clear like crystals, and the wheat and cornfields flourishing. During the day the spirits sleep, and at night they work industriously in the fields. The moon is father to the dead as the sun is father to the living; the dead resting when the sun travels, for at this time they see nothing; it is when the sun returns to his home at night that the departed spirits work and pass about in their world below. The home of the departed spirits is in the world first inhabited by the Sia.”
“When the years were new and this village had been built perhaps three years, all the spirits of our dead came here for a great feast. They had bodies such as they had before death; wives recognized husbands, husbands wives, children parents, and parents children. Just after sundown the spirits began arriving, only a few passing over the road by daylight, but after dark they came in great crowds and remained until near dawn. They tarried but one night; husbands and wives did not sleep together; had they done so the living would have surely died. When the hour of separation came there was much weeping, not only among the living but the dead. The living insisted upon going with the dead, but the dead declared they must wait; that they could not pass through the entrance to the other world; they must first die or grow old and again become little children to be able to pass through the door of the world for the departed. It was then that the Sia first learned all about their future home. They learned that the fields were vast, the pastures beautiful, the mountains high, the lakes and rivers clear like crystals, and the wheat and cornfields flourishing. During the day the spirits sleep, and at night they work industriously in the fields. The moon is father to the dead as the sun is father to the living; the dead resting when the sun travels, for at this time they see nothing; it is when the sun returns to his home at night that the departed spirits work and pass about in their world below. The home of the departed spirits is in the world first inhabited by the Sia.”
It is the aim of the Sia to first reach the intermediate state at the time the body ceases to develop and then return gradually back to the first condition of infancy; at such period one does not die, but sleepsto awake in the spirit world as a little child. Many stories have come to the Sia by those who have died only for a time; the heart becomes still and the lips cold and the spirit passes to the entrance of the other world and looks in, but it does not enter, and yet it sees all, and in a short time returns to inhabit its earthly body. Great alarm is felt when one returns in this way to life, but much faith is put in the stories afterwards told by the one who has passed over the road of death.
A ho´naaite holds a corresponding position in the spirit world.
When a death occurs any time before sundown, the body is buried as soon as it can be prepared for the grave; but if one dies after dark the body must not be touched until after sunrise, when it is bathed and buried as soon as possible. It is usual for an elderly woman of the clan to bathe the body, cold water being used; the head is washed first in yucca suds. Sometimes, however, this method is deviated from, if the remaining wife or husband has a special friend in some other clan. In the case of a man the breechcloth he has worn during his last illness is not removed. The immediate relatives in consanguinity and clan are present during the bathing and make the air hideous with their lamentations. The body is bathed on the bed upon which the party dies and here it remains until burial. The mourners are seated around the room, no one being near the bed but the woman who prepares the body for burial. If the corpse be a female, after the body is bathed a blanket is laid across the abdomen and limbs and tucked in on either side, the upper portion of the body being exposed.
The official members of the cult societies are painted after death, just as they were at their initiation into the society, the body having been previously bathed. The one exception to this rule—being the ho´naaite of warriors (Pl.xxxiv)—will show the change. The painting is done by the ho´naaite or vicar of the society to which the deceased belonged. Corn pollen is sprinkled on the head. Female officials have only their faces painted. When a man is not an official, neither his face nor body is painted, but as each man or woman of his clan looks upon the body a bit of corn pollen is sprinkled in a line under each eye and on the top of the head. While the body is being prepared for burial, the relatives who are present, amid lamentations, cut the apparel of the corpse, including his blankets, into strips and all is laid upon the body. After the body has been placed upon the blanket which is to wrap it for burial, if it be a man the wife places a quantity of food under the left arm, the arms hanging straight by the sides. If the wife does not perform this office then some member of his clan acts in her place. In the case of the death of a woman a member of her clan places the food. Again a small quantity of food is placed under the left arm by the man who principally officiates in the wrapping of the body. This is sometimes done by the son of the deceased. The blanket is first folded over one side of the body and then the other; then the end next to the head is caught together just above thehead and tied some little distance from the end, tassel fashion, with a rope. The rope is fastened around the throat of the corpse and then continued around the body to the feet, and the blanket is tied below the feet to correspond with the head. Two men perform this service and alone carry the body to the grave and bury it without further ceremony, though the wailing and weeping is kept up in the house for a considerable time.
If a husband dies the wife is bathed after the burial by a female member of her clan. This is done that the one remaining may be cleansed of much of her sorrow and be only a little sad. When a wife dies the husband is bathed by a female member of his clan. The bathing of the remaining husband or wife in Zuñi is done for a very different reason. When a child dies both the paternal and maternal parents are bathed; but children are not bathed when a parent dies.
The fourth day after death, when the spirit starts on its journey to the lower world, after hovering around the pueblo in the meantime, a ceremonial is held by the society to which deceased belonged. If the person was not a member of one of the cult societies the family select the ho´naaite they wish to have perform the ceremony. A hä´chamoni which was made on the third day by the theurgist is deposited on the north road for the spirit to carry to its future home. A vase of food is deposited at this time to feed the spirit on its journey, and if any other pieces of clothing have been found they are cut and thrown over the north road. The clothing must never be deposited whole as the spirit of the clothing could not leave the body if it was in perfect condition.
The road to the lower world, which is to the north (the dead returning to the world whence they came), is so crowded that the spirits are often in each other’s way, for not only the spirits of the Sia pass over this road but the spirits of all Indians. The spirits of the dead are traveling to their first home and the unborn spirits are passing to the villages in which, after a time, they are to be born.
Upon reaching the entrance to the lower world a spirit is met by two guards to the entrance, who say to them, “So you have come here,” and the spirit replies, “Yes.” “Where is your credential?” inquires the chief guard, and the spirit shows his hä´chamoni, and the guard says, upon examining it, “Yes, here is your hä´chamoni to your mother, Sûs´sĭstinnako, that she may know you came promptly over the straight road; she will be pleased.” If the spirit be not provided with hä´chamoni it can not enter the lower world, but must roam about somewhere in the north. After examining the hä´chamoni, the guard says, “You may enter Shipapo and go to your mother in the lower world.” The first one met by the spirit in the lower world is Ût´sĕt, who says, “You have come from the other world?” and the spirit replies, “Yes.” Then Ût´sĕt says, “You bring a hä´chamoni?” and the spirit replies, “Yes.” “Let me see your hä´chamoni,” and, after carefully looking over it, she hands it to Sûs´sĭstinnako, who says, “Good! good!” and, pointing tothe dead relatives of the newly arrived spirit, she adds, “There, my child, are your relatives; go join them and be happy.” When one has been very wicked in this world he is not permitted to enter the lower world even though he has a hä´chamoni. The guards at the entrance can read all hearts and minds, and they put such spirits into a great fire which burns in the earth below somewhere not far distant from Shipapo. The spirit is burned to death in this fire and can never know anything, as it is entirely destroyed. When ti´ämonis and ho´naaites have performed their duties in this world with unwilling hearts, it is known to the mother in the lower world, and when such men enter after death they are made to live apart, and alone, and without nourishment for a certain period of time, depending upon the amount of purification required. Some sit alone for two years; others for five, and some for ten before the mother considers them worthy to enter into peace.
The spirits of all animals go to the lower world; domestic animals serving the masters there as they did here. The masters would not always recognize them, but Sûs´sĭstinnako knows the property of all. The spirits of the prey animals return, and know their friends, in the lower world. A hä´chamoni is made for the prey animal when he is killed, and a dance and ceremonial are held. The animal carries the hä´chamoni as his credential just as the spirit of the man does.
The cloud people never die; that is, no one, not even the oldest men’s grandfathers ever knew of or saw a cloud person die.