Contact us at: whispernthunder1@gmail.comINDIGENOUS FAMILIES AND FUNERALS
~ Ron Leith
Indigenous communities across the country
are revitalizing many facets of their traditions,
culture, language and moral values as they
beginreclaiming vital components of fading
lifestyles. There is an urgencyin the air as
many communities search for the best practices
as laid out by generations of family and
social traditions.
One of these is the traditional funeral rites which have been
respected, honored and kept alive from time immemorial. With elders,
historians, a new generation of culturally conscience youth all
seeking to maintain a system that has been disparaged, hidden and
ridiculed it has become a challenge in more ways than one.
Of course the method of each community varies, the spiritual essence
and wholistic purpose have all remained the same. In some cases
language plays a vital role, it others it is the medicine, while in
some there is the veil of secrecy. While the funeral service itself
is a very personal event it can also be very public. It many cases it
may involve non-Indigenous parties in whom the family must lay trust
and abide by rules and paradigms which may not be familiar.
And here is where the most challenging relationships begin.
Due to the hardship and difficulty of familial loss many families
search for the strongest, most knowledgeable members to take a lead,
making decisions that coupled with grief are sensitive under any
circumstances. These decisions will form and guide the emotionally
stressed relatives for many years to come. So it must be done with
the greatest respect and compassion.
But in today’s society funeral services are also required to follow
regulations that are set by states and counties who are unfamiliar or
unaccustomed to working with Indigenous lifestyles. This has become a
necessary hurdle many families have had to navigate in the most trying
time of their lives.
The majority if not all funeral service facilities are run by
non-natives. In small towns and big cities all across the country
they are available at a moments notice to assist families in their
time of loss. But they are also corporate businesses. Gearing to
make profits and keep the funeral wagons moving from one family
disaster to another.
It is in this “drive-up” mode of service that some families wishes and
aspirations are lost to the financial and regulatory needs of a
service in which they know little to nothing of why it has to be this
way.
So the historically valued process of honoring their loved ones at
times gets lost in the process of placing a relative in hollowed
ground. There are guidelines to be met, necessary timelines and
proper order must be kept in order to abide by municipal rules.
The passing of a family member is one of life major hallmarks which
only the passing of time can assuage and heal. But this requires a
families complete involvement, as there is only one opportunity to
participate and contribute a last effort of love and compassion.
And this is where the dichotomy of time and belief systems comes into
play. At one time no one paid much attention to the time it took to
prepare the body for funeral rites. It had always been done in the
same manner for centuries. But when colonization began to whither
away at Indigenous customs and traditions that consideration of time
needed began to change.
Now many services have become short, stiff and have been driven to the
inevitable point. The aesthetic nature of many communities have been
systematically eroded by statutes and ordinances.
European views of death and dying have always been a mystery to many
Indigenous families. But many families have acculturated and adopted
the western view of funerals and by doing so waylaid and postponed any
search for a tribally authentic method of treating the deceased.
But the 1960’s and 70’s offered an opportunity to revisit and reclaim
many traditions which had been hidden from view for many years.
But how do you reconcile what was needed and what was lost in a time
where many communities have been logistically disenfranchised from
their lawful rights to bury their own dead.
And where do you find a funeral service that is built on tribal
tradition and moreys which fulfill the necessary spiritual and
customary requirements for a content afterlife. This is the issue
many families are facing each and every day in communities they had
thought were safe and secure. They have had to abide by foreign norms
and values in a country that has been built on the graves of their
ancestors.
Many families exist on the bare minimum of resources, yet funeral cost
are exorbitant. Many Indigenous traditionalists are too few and far
between to be of constant service. Families are having to resort to
quick and fast methods of burial not because they want to but because
they have to, and this diminishes the meaning of respect, honor and
the gift of legacy.
So either the statutes and ordinances change or Indigenous families
continue to endure indignities during the most difficult time of their
lives.