Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-07-28
Indian Burial Customs.

The belief of these Indian tribes is
universally, it should be understood,
that the dead man is, in a sense, still
living. He has, indeed, gained access
to another world, but he is constantly
revisiting the world of his former life,
in which he lets himself be seen by his
tribesmen and his family during their
dreams and visions. His powers have
been increased by his death. to some
extent for good, but to a far greater ex-
tent for evil. He is peculiarly apt to
exercise these maleficient powers in
Furnishing neglect, stinginess or disre-
spect on the part of his surviving kins-
folk, for in the other world he is lust
as much in need as he was of what
during his life made up his wealth, and
his place in the spirit society to which
he has gone depends apparently IN
great measure on the honor paid him
at his funeral. Out of this belief arise
two customs-one of destroying the
dead mans property so that he may
enjoy it in the ghost world, the other
paying him respect by funeral ceremo-
MES and funeral feasts of inordinate
splendor and cost. The primitive usage
appears to have been that the whole
OF the property OF the dead was de-
stroyed by burning it or by rendering it
unfit for use. Among the Comanches:
Cali the effects OF the deceased, the
tents, blankets, clothes, treasures, and
whatever of value he possessed, besides
the articles which have been buried with
the body, are burnt, so hat the family
is left in poverty. The practice has
extended even to the burning of wag-
ons and harness since some Of the civil
lied habits have been adopted. 1t is
believed that these ascend to the heaven
in the smoke, and will thus be of SER
vice to the owner in the other world
l These Comanches have a dreadful
story that some rationalizing members
OF their tribe once persuaded it to act on
the assumption that any horse would
do to convey a dead man to the other
world, and thus to kill no horse at the
funeral of an old Comanche except a
broken-down pony. The result was
that the old man r%eappeared on his
aged pony announcing that hehad been
refused admission to the land of spirits
while he was SO mounted: and he began
riding up and down the villages of his
kinsmen till they were compelled to de-
sert them. The same practice of total
destruction survives among the Indians
of Colorado, with a qualification which
deserves to be noticed:
"In conformity with a long-estab-
lished custom all the personal property
of the deceased is Immediately de-
stroyed, his horses and his cattle are
shot, and his wigwam, furniture, etc.,
burnt. Occasionally the de-
struction of horses and other property
is of considerable magnitude, but usual
ly this is not the case, owing to a prac-
tice existing with them OF distributing
their property among their children
while Of a very tender age, retaining
for themselves only what is necessary to
meet everyday requirements"
But of all the valuable possessions of
the dead man there is one which he
would perhaps most desire to have with
him in the world Of spirits. This is his
wife. We need scarcely say that, even
at so late a date as the first thirty years
OF the present century, the widow Of a