Variations on a Rite of Passage: Some Recent Navajo Funerals

Author(s): Joyce Griffen

Source: American Indian Quarterly, Vol. 4, No. 4, A Special Symposium Issue on Navajo
Mortuary Practices and Beliefs (Nov., 1978), pp. 367-381
Published by: University of Nebraska Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1184563
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 Variationson a Rite of Passage:
Some RecentNavajo Funerals
JOYCE GRIFFEN
Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff

In the past two or three decades, Navajos in increasing numbers have

leaned toward an Anglo, rather than a traditional Navajo, style for their
funerals. While at one level this tendency can be seen merely as a willing-
ness to take advantage of different and more numerous facilities offered by
the dominant Anglo culture, at a more meaningful level it has had two
results. First, a qualitatively larger amount of social interaction now centers
around an event characterized in the past by anthropologists as of utmost
danger and potential pollution from a Navajo point of view (e.g., Adams
1963:90; Franciscan Fathers 1910:508; Haile 1917:39-43, 1943:59-94;
Kluckhohn and Leighton 1946:126; and Shepardson and Hammond 1970:
201-203). Second, the change has resulted in more emphasis on incorpora-
tion of the survivors and less on separation of the deceased, in Van
Gennep's terms (1960:11).
The traditional Navajo burial has been most fully described by Reichard
(1928:141-143). After a terminally ill person is removed from the hogan,
several close members of his family and the medicine men stay with him
until they see that their efforts are in vain. Then all but one or two
leave. ... all [mourners] are dispensed with except those most necessary
to perform the simple rites, usually about four. These are the closest rela-
tives of the deceased who are willing to take a chance at exposing them-
selves to the evil effect of death (Ibid.: 141).
Of the four persons, apparently two prepare a grave while two prepare the
body for burial. Interment takes place on the next day and again involves
only four people. "One of the mourners leads the horse [loaded with posses-
sions of the deceased] deliberately toward the grave. He is followed by the
two bearing the corpse on their shoulders. A fourth mourner warns travelers
that they may change their route" (Ibid.:142). The burial itself involves
only arranging the body in the grave and covering the grave with brush or
368 AIQ
stones to protect it from animals. Grave goods and "any tools which have
been used are mutilated or burned; the horse is shot and the mourners
return home" (Ibid.:143). During their return the four observe various
proscriptions "to avoid delaying the spirit on its way to the other world":
they are silent,1 they do not spit, and they avoid overturning stones or
stepping on brush or cactus. Furthermore, "they should skip and hop,"
and "they should return by a different way than they went" (Ibid.).2
Not until the four have returned and bathed carefully may the members
of the family "who have seen the corpse or in any way been in contact with
the dying" break their rigid fast. The family "may then eat and drink
sparingly" (Ibid.). During the following four days the mourners
remain quiet and leave the hogan only when absolutely necessary and
then accompanied by the head mourner. A guard keeps the trail between
the hogan and the grave open by signaling to passers-by. Early on the
morning of the day following the fourth night the mourners bathe again.
After the entire family has also bathed there is a short period of cere-
monial wailing and the mourning time is past (Ibid.)3
Not only are passers-by warned away from the trail to the grave, but
avoidance of the area is practiced by all from that time on (cf. Adams
1963:90; Haile 1917:32; 1943:88; Leighton and Leighton 1944:76; and
Shufeldt 1891:304).
Funerals did not apparently become much more sociable during the
transition period between entirely Navajo burials and present-day Anglicized
services.4 Only Father Berard reported a funeral meal following a burial.
Having interred Maryann (whose coffin was an Arbuckle Brothers coffee-
stain wooden box, for she was only a few months old) and
having destroyed
the shovel with which the grave was dug, along with other articles, Father
Berard was urged to wash his hands "thoroughly in the
irrigating ditch" and
then "was invited to watermelon, coffee and meat for breakfast in which
the mourners, father and mother, joined me" (Haile 1917:31).
In summary, then, a traditional Navajo burial involved
carrying out the
necessary actions by as few people as possible. Those in closest association
with the corpse in turn acted to avoid bringing
danger on the other mourners
before joining them for a four-day period of seclusion, and the
family
ensured (in addition to having minimal communcation with each other
during this time) that outsiders were warned, then and later, away from
the area.
In striking contrast, the Navajo funerals as reported by Anglo funeral
directors involve not only a much greater amount of interaction among
numerous family members but also among increasingly large numbers of
people. This interaction begins with communication of the news of death
 GRIFFEN 369
and of the meeting to be held in order to plan the funeral. Although the
news of the time and place of the meeting spreads by word of mouth most
frequently, in one area the information is broadcast, in Navajo, on the
radio. The meeting is usually held in the home of an immediate member of
the deceased's family, but the chapter house, a school building or dining
hall, or the funeral home also may be used. The meeting is attended, as
variously reported, by the family, the family and all relatives, as well as by
"friends, whoever wants to contribute," and one funeral director reported
that "as many as 100 or 200 people" may come. If speeches are made at
the meeting they are of a comforting, consoling nature. The major purpose
is to plan the funeral itself and to apportion tasks to be done before the
funeral service. Occasionally donations of money are made at this time.
A spokesperson who will represent the family at the funeral home may be
chosen. Called the "speaker" by many of the funeral directors, the person
may be male or female of any age, although clearly one qualification is the
ability to speak English since, as one funeral director said, this person
"does 990? of the talking in making the arrangements."
These arrangements vary from the minimum of merely purchasing a
casket (and paying for it in cash or by signing a sales contract) to the
maximum, a "full-service funeral." For the latter, the personnel and
facilities of the funeral home are utilized to the utmost; embalming, washing
and dressing the body, and use of the funeral home's chapel and vehicles
are among the major services which may be contracted for. And of course
the place and time of the funeral service and the place of interment must be
agreed upon if the funeral home is to be involved.
Once the arrangements are made, it is apparently up to the family to
notify radio and television stations if they wish to.5 The funeral home
personnel gather information to be published and write a few short para-
graphs for the local newspaper. The time and place of the funeral are not
always given in these notices but the name of the funeral home invariably is,
so persons who wish further information are drawn into contact with the
funeral home.6 There is one exception to the increase in communication:
about a third of the Navajos in one area are said to be believers in yee
naaldlooshii, or skin-walkers.7 These Navajos, reported one funeral director,
do not want news of the death put in the paper or broadcast on the radio
or television, and they instruct the funeral director to withhold information
about the funeral from callers.8 Another funeral director reported about
one-fourth of the Navajos in the area as not wanting publicity.
Further interaction with the funeral director usually occurs during the
days preceding the burial. Clothing, frequently decided on at the meeting,
is brought to the funeral home. Jewelry is brought at the same time, and
370 AIQ
often blankets and extra clothing. Still further contact may occur during
preparation of the body for burial, for 11 men reported Navajos as being
present, in some cases, during the washing and dressing.9 Of these, 7
reported that Navajos help in the preparation, especially in dressing the
body, although this assertion was qualified by 5 of the 11 men with
phrases such as "in some instances" and "sometimes."
The increased interaction hypothesized above would seem to correlate
with a reported increase in conflict over different elements involved in the
funeral. Such conflict may surface at any time until the actual beginning
of the funeral service, and has been reported over whether or not to kill the
deceased's horse,10 the choice of casket, clothes to be worn by the de-
ceased, the amount of jewelry and which jewelry is to be buried with the
person, the funeral service, and the amount of money to be spent on the
funeral. Conflicts most easily arise between members of the clan on one
side and affines on the other; less conflict is reported between an earlier
(but legitimate in Anglo eyes) wife and a subsequent (and thus disinherited)
wife. I plan to investigate such conflicts for clearly Anglo law, which the
funeral director must uphold, favors affines rather than clan relatives.
Widely varying numbers of people are reported to attend the funeral
service. Even in the area of the reservation where Navajos are most reported
to be skin-walker believers, one funeral director reported that "most Nava-
jos will now come to a funeral, although a few still won't." Another man
in the same area said that Navajo funerals in his town are so well attended
that "the town is almost closed up; no one's in offices or in stores-every-
one's at the funeral," and "whereas an average Anglo funeral might have
75 people in attendance, 500 at a Navajo funeral is not uncommon."
Another funeral director reported the smallest number of Navajos in atten-
dance at 20 to 30, compared to the smallest Anglo funeral of 10, and he
said that for Navajos a job is second in importance to a funeral any time.
Given the practice of embalming, and the funeral directors who routinely
embalm are in the majority, it is of course possible to set the date for the
funeral far enough in advance so that all who are interested will hear of it
in time to make plans to attend.
A wide variation occurs not only in the number of people at the funeral
but also in the type of funeral service itself. In general, funeral directors
agree that the service is more Anglo in style than are the meeting and the
graveside ceremony and post-funeral meal which bracket it, and that more
often than not the service involves a minister who, if not actually an Anglo,
is a member of some Christian sect. While some
Navajos "hang back," 16
funeral directors reported that those attending the funeral have
eye contact
with, while 7 of the 16 report actual touching of, the body. It is striking
 GRIFFEN 371

that 8 of the men said, with great emphasis, that Navajos really want to see
the body: "it's as if they want to make sure that's who it really is." Two
funeral directors stated that if a closed-casket service were held, then a
picture of the person would be brought in for display. Only three funeral
directors reported any difficulty in obtaining pallbearers. One characterized
such reluctance as having occurred in the past, another knew of only one
case in which pallbearers had been unwilling to serve, and the third stated
that avoidance of direct contact with the casket (by wearing gloves or
clasping the handles through a handerchief) apparently was sufficient dis-
tance, but had occurred only a very few times. That Anglo-style funerals
are a sharing rather than a withdrawing experience is underlined by the
cash contributions made either before or after the funeral service, a practice
reported by 14 of the funeral directors.11
Although funeral directors feel that the burial itself has a more Navajo
flavor than does the service, the quiet of a traditional burial has in at least
some instances changed, for five funeral directors stated that Navajos speak
aloud to, or about, the deceased.12 The speeches are made usually at the
side of the grave and before the casket is lowered. Unlike Anglo mourners,
most of whom turn away and begin to leave the cemetery once the final
prayer is said, 13 of the funeral directors reported that Navajos stay to help
fill the grave, and that they remain until it is completely filled with earth.
After this, flowers are arranged, usually by members of the family, so as to
cover the mound completely. Furthermore, 9 of the funeral directors
reported on the length of time necessary to complete a Navajo funeral; one
man reported Navajos as being reluctant to leave the cemetery even after
interment.
Even after burial the deceased is not avoided, for printed programs (names
of the pallbearers are usually included) may be ordered, as well as a Memor-
ial Book which includes the program and in which those who attend the
funeral sign their names. At least one funeral home offers as well a
photo-
graph of the deceased in the casket, and some Navajos have requested such
a picture in the Memorial Book.
Eight funeral directors report that Navajos return to the cemetery to
visit the grave. In one area this is reported to be mostly on Memorial
Day,
while in another it is said to occur almost weekly in order that fresh flowers
or plants growing on or around the grave can be watered.
A Navajo funeral director, one of three currently in business, said that
traditionally a meeting was held the third night after death, and then the
next morning, the morning of the fourth day,
everyone would bathe, dress,
and again take up their normal living. No other funeral director knew of
any
post-funeral events taking place beyond the meal (which they called a
372 AIQ

feast, feed, or lunch) which follows the burial.13 Fourteen of the men
stated that a funeral is always followed by such a meal, to which 13 of them
have been invited. Certainly the meal is the most social of all events sur-
rounding a death, for not only are all those who have attended the meeting
included but those in attendance at the funeral as well. Speeches may be
made, and a blessing asked by the minister who officiated at the funeral or
by a medicine man or a family member. At the very least, mutton stew and
fry bread are served; other foods which may be served are potatoes, pork-
and-beans, green beans, piki bread, watermelon, cake, and punch and
coffee. The mood at the feast is anything but restrained and glum; it is
"definitely not grieving," as one man said. The feast is characterized as
reverent but enjoyable, serene, relaxed, happy, and uplifting. One funeral
director said the feast is "like a family reunion," while another compared
it to a picnic-and he had, indeed, once seen a game of touch-football
played at a feast.
The foregoing portrayal of Anglo-style funerals should be read with two
provisos in mind. First, as noted, this account reflects an unknown propor-
tion of the total number of Navajo burials. Second, I have emphasized the
increase in social interaction, as compared with that of the traditional
Navajo funeral.14 There are, however, actions which may be read as in-
tended, whether implicitly or explicitly, to separate the dead person from
the survivors. One funeral director went so far as to categorize the choice
of an Anglo-style funeral itself as a separation mechanism. He felt that in
the past Navajos "got relief from the spirits of the dead by confusing them,
by hiding and fooling them," while in the 1970s the adoption of Anglo
funeral customs is itself a protection, as is attendance at and participation
in such a funeral. Grave goods also serve this end, he said, for the idea
behind grave goods is both to "get rid of it" (an item intimately associated
with the deceased) and "to give the person 'a good send-off."'15 Follow-
ing his reasoning, any expenditure could be seen as a propitiatory gesture:
the choice of an expensive funeral (funeral directors agree two-to-one that
Navajos do over-spend on funerals), the killing of a horse, and the deposit
of other grave goods.16 More overt behavior symbolizing
separation of the
dead from the realm of the living, aside from the extreme fear-of-skin-
walkers behavior previously reported, occurs in connection with
washing of
jewelry (reported by 11 funeral directors), mutilation of jewelry (5 funeral
directors) and/or clothing (reported by 10 men), above-average "protection"
of the body, as shown by purchase of a sealer casket with retention of the
"key," or cranking handle, by the family (11 men), by the taking of a
circuitous route (reported by only 1 person, as noted earlier) and,
by far
the most common, the obliteration of footsteps in and around the
grave
 GRIFFEN 373

(reported by 11 funeral directors).

It is perhaps too easy to assert that Navajo choices with regard to funerals
have been in line with the bent of the dominant Anglo culture toward con-
spicuous consumption, although doubtless this factor enters into the choice
("Navajos want the best, regardless of cost," as one funeral director said).
But conspicuous consumption precludes neither the element of propitiation,
as noted above, nor the traditional Navajo disinclination to be near a
corpse. A third consideration would be that Navajos have accepted increased
facilities for events surrounding funerals as these have become available
through culture contact. I shall compare briefly the use of three major
facilities-communication, transportation, and buildings-in a traditional
Navajo and an Anglo-style funeral.
The traditional burial in fact calls for non-communication. "Several
close members of his family and the medicine men stay with him [the
dying person] until they see that their efforts are in vain. Then all but one
or two leave" (Reichard 1928:141). "All who have anything to do with
the mourning keep strict silence" (Ibid:142). Those who carry the corpse
to the grave "must keep silence," and during the burial procession one of
the four men "turns his back toward chance wayfarers and faces the funeral
procession, meanwhile signaling over his shoulder that there is danger on
the trail" (Ibid.). During the four-day seclusion period mourners "remain
quiet and leave the hogan only when absolutely necessary and then
accompanied by the head mourner. A guard keeps the trail between the
hogan and the grave open by signaling to passersby" (Ibid.:143). Both
during the procession and the mourning period, passersby are of course
being warned away rather than invited to join in the procession or in the
mourning. In Anglo-style funerals, the meeting calls together a good many
people (variously reported as "family, friends, whoever wants to contribute,"
"family and all relatives," and "as many as 100 or 200 people").17 Occa-
sionally a second meeting may be held and, very seldom, a third. The trip
to the funeral home to make the arrangements involves communication with
the receptionist and funeral director as well as, indirectly, newspaper pub-
licity. As already noted, the family also may contact broadcast media in
order to spread the news more widely. Even before the funeral, friends of
the deceased and her or his family may come by the house to express their
condolences and, in some instances, to make a contribution toward the
funeral expenses. The funeral service, the burial itself, and the meal follow-
ing burial further call for communication.
The second change is in transportation. The deceased's favorite horse is
led at the head of a traditional funeral procession, and it is followed
by the
two men on foot who carry the corpse and a fourth man who also walks.
374 AIQ
In an Anglo-style funeral the corpse is transported to the funeral home,
most frequently by tribal or hospital ambulance or funeral home vehicle. 18
Mourners travel to the funeral home to make the arrangements and to bring
clothing and jewelry. Additional trips may be made to bring more items or
necessary information, to ask questions, and to make payment on the
funeral if this was not done during the initial visit. Trips to stores may be
made to purchase clothing or material to sew new clothing, jewelry (or to
redeem the person's pawn), and plastic flowers.19 Those who attend the
funeral arrive in their own vehicles, although members of the immediate
family may be driven between the funeral-home and the cemetery in the
funeral home's "family car" if burial is to be nearby. If burial is to be on
the reservation, transportation involves funeral home personnel driving a
hearse or other vehicle containing the casket to the place of burial. After
interment, those who attended the funeral make their ways to the place of
the feast, and then finally return to their homes. Given the distances on the
reservation, the travel involved in just one funeral may total several
thousand miles.20
The third change occurs in structures used. Traditionally a hogan in
which death occurred was burned or abandoned, and mourners spent the
four days of seclusion in another dwelling. An Anglo-style funeral involves
at least two sets of buildings. The meeting may take place in the
family
home, if it is large enough, but meetings are also held in a chapter house, a
school building, a church, or the funeral home itself. The funeral service
most frequently is held in a church or in the chapel of the funeral home,
although on occasion funerals have been held in school buildings. The
feast occurs in the family home although again, if many people are
expected,
the large-scale cooking facilities available in a school, church, or
chapter
house are highly desirable.
In short, many more people gather during the different
phases of an
Anglo-style funeral than did during a traditional burial. In The Rites of
Passage, Van Gennep (1960) divided such rites into three categories: separa-
tion, transition, and incorporation. He wrote that separation was the most
prominent aspect of funeral ceremonies (incorporation was most stressed
at marriages) and that "although a complete scheme of rites of
passage
theoretically includes [all three], in specific instances these three types are
not always equally important or equally elaborated" (Ibid.: 11). Further-
more, he saw that each rite in itself "reduplicated" the three elements
(Ibid.). Presumably, then, the three "reduplications" also would not need
to be equally important or equally elaborated. It seems
very possible that,
in a time of culture change (and change which has been, in the case of
funerary practices, non-directive), that importance and elaboration could
 GRIFFEN 375
shift from one element to another. It is my assertion that this is precisely
what has happened in the half-century between 1928, when Reichard's
description was published, and 1977, when most of my interviews were
done. In 1928 separation was stressed:21 the favorite horse was killed,
personal belongings were buried or destroyed at the grave, the path taken
by the burial procession was carefully left unmarked to prevent signposts
which would lead the ch'lidii back toward the living, the returning
mourners skipped and hopped along their roundabout route and again
avoided marking their trail. The quiet and fasting inside the hogan were
observed in order not to delay the spirit in its travels to the next world.
After four days,
the spirit has reached the nether world and will not attempt to revisit
the scenes of his former existence unless a living person, by breaking in-
to his grave or deserted hogan (they are sometimes deserted instead of
burned) should show him the trail back. In such case he would harm the
individual who had disturbed him (Reichard 1928:143).
Van Gennep (1960:166) noted that, "In rites of incorporation there is
widespread use of the 'sacred bond,' the 'sacred cord,' the knot, and of
analogous forms such as the belt, the ring, the bracelet, and the crown."
Immediately after this sentence he went on to discuss the importance of
hair in various rites. If bonds and knots symbolize incorporation, the
opposite should be true for separation, and indeed it would seem so in a
traditional Navajo burial. Although not explicit with regard to "bonding,"
consider the minimum of such achieved by the following:
It is the duty of those who perform the most intimate rites and thus out
of friendship expose themselves to the greatest and most feared power of
the Navajo, Death, to protect themselves and others from contamination
in any form in which it may exist. Hence men wear only a breechcloth
and women nothing but a skirt. The hair is left flowing so that not even a
hair-string may be exposed (Reichard 1928:142).
Father Berard (Haile 1917:29) corroborates: "Before touching and prepar-
ing the corpse for burial the mourners divest to the breechclout and un-
string their hair." Leighton and Leighton (1944:16) agree that ". . . they
take off most of their clothing...."22
I do not wish to suggest that no symbols of separation exist in Anglo-
style funerals, for they do. The most extreme emphasis on separation of
course occurs among believers in yee naaldlooshii, as reported earlier.
Obliteration of footsteps has been mentioned. Two funeral directors
reported instances of being asked either to leave the person's hair flowing,
or that the final knots of the string or yarn used to wrap hair Navajo-style
be left unfinished; additionally they had been asked on occasion not to
376 AIQ
close the clasps on a necklace but merely to drape it around the neck.
Hermetically sealed caskets and outside vaults or boxes can be viewed as
protection against graverobbers and witches, but they may function as well
to bring about a firm separation between the dead and the living. As one
funeral director said of Navajo desire for these, "nothing can get in;
nothing can get out." Interestingly enough, name avoidance apparently
has never been a major separation device for the Navajos.23
This paper is replete with examples of incorporation; most striking are
the meeting, the collection which distributes funeral expenses widely
among the family as well as among more distant relatives and friends, the
contribution of time and effort involved in transportation, in the donation
of and preparation of food for the feast, and in attendance at the funeral
service and burial and at the feast which follows.24 Desire for a Memorial
Book, a picture of the deceased person in the casket, and programs of the
service given to those who attend the funeral probably should be included
here, as should return to the grave and the interest in grave markers noted
by three funeral directors, while two men reported that granite stones had
become more popular in recent years.
Four of the funeral directors presumably would explain the change in
emphasis as a result of a changed attitude toward death, and missionaries
undoubtedly would agree. One of the four said, "We've taught them that
there's more to life than death," and another stated that ". .. death is not
to be feared. Christians explain that one shouldn't be afraid." However, a
greater number of funeral directors-seven-mentioned public agencies as
responsible for change-Public Health Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and
the Navajo Tribe-or World War II. Nine men said either that they person-
ally, or the availability of their services through the funeral homes, have
brought about the increase in Anglo-style funerals. One man saw the change
as resulting from a combination of all these factors, plus an increase in
pur-
chasing power. He said, "If they have money they'll spend it, whether in
Gallup on Saturday or on a funeral .... Maybe it would be better not to
spend it [on a funeral], to spend it on the kids. ..." In summary, the man
said, the change is not one specific to funerals but "came about gradually
as the result of increasing contact with and experience in the
Anglo world."
Still to be investigated is what correlation exists between settlement
pattern and funeral style. Such a correlation, if it exists, would be yet an-
other aspect of the general acculturation process. At
present my formula-
tion is: a traditional Navajo family scatters as its members
adopt an Anglo
settlement pattern; at the same time members are more
apt to be exposed
to Anglo-style funerals. Such funerals of themselves
accomplish separation;
thus the emphasis of the funeral can be shifted to
incorporation for which
 GRIFFEN 377

family members now have a greater need since they no longer live in the
traditional relatively small, face-to-face settlement pattern.
At a more specific level, the causes of the change taking place between
1928 and 1977, their relative weights, and the proportion of Navajo
funerals which have in fact so changed, cannot be definitively settled at this
point. However, data on Anglo-style funerals, at least as reported by funeral
directors, seem to support the hypotheses presented here. First, the tradi-
tional Navajo funeral emphasizes separation of the dead from the living
while an Anglo-style funeral emphasizes, for whatever reason or reasons,
incorporation and reintegration of those still living. Second, the emphasis
on incorporation is possible only because a high-energy technology has made
available the transportation and communication systems and the buildings
necessary to carry out the rites which stress incorporation.
At present it is impossible to know whether Navajos performing burials
in 1917 (cf. Haile) and 1928 (cf. Reichard) would, in fact, have wished to
emphasize incorporation more than separation; even if they had, the low
energy budget of the group would have precluded the choice. I am not
stating that the high energy budget of the dominant Anglo culture caused
the change, but rather that only relatively high energy use can provide the
elements-from all-metal caskets and pickups and embalming to funeral
homes and schoolhouses with kitchens set up for group serving-increasing-
ly seen by Navajos as necessary for a truly fitting way to carry out what is
universally a rite of passage.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I am greatly indebted to the 21 funeral directors (18 Anglo and 3 Navajo) who
gave so freely of their time and observations during interviews conducted, for the
most part, during the summer of 1977. The men (no women were acting as funeral
directors) represented 14 funeral homes in 8 reservation-border towns and 3 on-reser-
vation locations. While no funeral home in the area is unrepresented, there is a wide var-
iation in the number of funerals reported to have been conducted for Navajos, from
"4 or 5" to "between 500 and 700." The best approximation of the total of
Navajo
funerals represented here is 6,000. I am also indebted to David M. Brugge, Charlotte J.
Frisbie, Irvy Goossen, and Jerrold E. Levy for sharing data with me. Thanks also are
due Frisbie and Goossen for having read and commented on an
early draft of this
paper.

NOTES

1. Frank Mitchell noted further that "From the time you pick up the body until
after the bath you only speak with sign language" (Frisbie and McAllester 1978:197).
2. A practice still occasionally followed: one funeral director reported that, "The
gravesite was quite near the house, but I was directed, on a circuitous route, to the
378 AIQ

grave, past the house, to foil evil spirits. After burial I couldn't just drive out past
the house, either, but had to go around the long way." (All quotations not otherwise
credited are from Griffen 1977).
3. The Franciscan Fathers (1910:508) add that during the four-day mourning
period the family abstains "from all unnecessary labor, visits and conversation"
[emphasis addedl.
4. It is impossible to give dates for the beginning of this period of transition, and
of course some areas of the reservation are still in such a period. Some informants
felt it began with World War II and the funerals for Navajo veterans, but clearly
traders, missionaries, and government employees were involved to some extent prior
to 1941.
5. In one locality a member of the family goes to the radio station and records a
tape telling who has died, where and when the meeting is to be, and when and where
the funeral service will be held.
6. Early in my research I started a tally on frequency of choice of funeral homes
from newspaper notices. I found, however, that three funeral homes routinely submit
death notices to the newspapers but not all do so, or do so only upon request by the
family. Newspaper accounts are, therefore, inaccurate sources for information about
Navajo funerals.
7. For explanations of these were-animals see, among others, Kluckhohn and
Leighton 1946:187-192, Lamphere 1977:37, and Wyman, Hill and Osanai 1942:19-
20,22). Briefly, the malignant portion of a dead person may assume the appearance
or the actual pelt of a coyote, a wolf, or another animal, and travel rapidly around
the reservation, always at night, to bring harm and even death to the living.
8. In a few instances believers in yee naaldlooshii also refused to have any marker
put on the grave, though burial had taken place in the municipal cemetery.
9. Only one funeral director stated to me that Navajos "want nothing to do with
dressing," and only one said that he had had Navajos ask to watch the embalming
process.
10. Killing horses at or near the grave had been observed by 16 of the funeral
directors, and an additional 2 knew of the practice but had not personally been pre-
sent when it was carried out. Of necessity these were burials on the reservation, since
no municipal cemeteries allow the practice.
11. Donations also may be accepted at the meeting, and one funeral director had
seen one graveside collection.
12. A man fluent in Navajo, not a funeral director, told me that in some cases the
utterances are to the effect of, "Now you're dead, go away, don't bother me, don't
hang around here any more."
13. However, in one instance unknown to the funeral director, an
Anglo-style
funeral was followed by a period of seclusion for the family which was ended
by
ritual shampooing (FD, personal communication).
14. Although, compared with Shepardson and Hammond (1970:203)
any inter-
action at all is in great contrast: "No funeral services are held, nor is
any attempt
made to mark the grave for remembrance. Relatives who assemble after a death have
come together not to mourn the dead, but rather to distribute his
property."
15. Newly bought or newly made clothing was
reported by 16 funeral directors or,
said a seventeenth, if it had been worn, it was
newly washed or dry-cleaned. Eight
funeral directors reported clothing placed in the casket in addition to that
being worn.
Eighteen funeral directors told of jewelry being brought in to be buried with the per-
 GRIFFEN 379

son, its value sometimes exceeding the cost of the funeral, and sometimes in such
quantity that the surplus had to be placed at the foot of the casket. Six funeral
directors had noted the purchase of new jewelry for the burial. A Pendleton or
Pendleton-style blanket is reported by 20 of the funeral directors; 9 of the 20 had
seen more than one blanket used, and with very few exceptions such blankets were
new. Cash was reported as being placed in the casket by 15 men, in amounts from
$1.91 (this sum made up of one penny, one nickel, one dime, one quarter, one
fifty-cent piece, and one one-dollar bill) to the usual $10 or $20, up to $50, to the
unusual sums of $500 (reported by 4 men) and $600 (reported by 2).
16. ". . .there is danger of affronting the ghost if one is too miserly or indicates
lack of respect for the deceased by not sacrificing enough wealth at his burial"
(Shepardson and Hammond 1970:202).
17. A recent meeting was scheduled at a residence, but a school official saw the
number of people arriving and unlocked a portion of the school building. He then
invited the family to change the meeting site; "He was afraid the house wouldn't hold
all those people" (RR, personal communication).
18. In two known instances family-owned pickups which had transported a body
were subsequently avoided. One of the pickups had been totally abandoned near the
grave, and had remained unvandalized for a period of three years. The other pickup
was traded in immediately after its use as a hearse, and the family had openly told
the automobile dealer this was their reason for trading it in.
19. Fresh flowers may be ordered through the funeral home during the initial
visit, but only one funeral director has, himself, plastic flowers for sale. Plastic
flowers (or permanent flowers, as one man called them), are often individually
placed, upright, on the surface of the grave until the raw dirt is completely obscured.
20. It is my impression, but I have no data to support it, that funeral home per-
sonnel traveled longer distances in the past than they do now. One man, for example,
reported round trips from Farmington, New Mexico, to Shonto and to Tuba City,
Arizona. Presumably funeral facilities which have recently become available in
Ganado and in Tuba City have lessened some of the distances formerly covered, as
has the increased utilization of cemeteries in reservation-border towns.
21. A statement by Wyman, Hill and Osanai (1942:23) seems to support this:
"Hence death rites are oriented towards the prevention of such return [i.e.,
separa-
tion] rather than towards the loss situation." Death rites oriented toward the loss
situation would presumably be those which stress incorporation. Van Gennep (1960:
164-165) specifically mentions meals shared after funerals in this connection. "Their
purpose is to reunite all the surviving members of the group with each other ... in
the same way that a chain which has been broken by the disappearance of one of its
links must be rejoined."
22. Frank Mitchell (Frisbie and McAllester 1978:197) said, "When
you remove
your clothes you tie your foreskin closed with a strip of yucca leaf but not with a
square knot." In Van Gennep's terms such an action would seem to protect against
intrusion.
23. Kluckhohn and Leighton (1946:41) reported that, "There is some avoidance
of uttering even the names of dead people." Shepardson and Hammond (1970:203)
note this reference, but also that
our experience at Navajo Mountain did not confirm this statement. True, our
informants seldom initiated a conversation about those who were dead, but
they evinced no reluctance to talk very freely when we brought up the subject.
380 AIQ

Their attitude might be expressed as "He is finished, gone and forgotten."

Shufeldt (1891:305) reported that ". . . they rarely speak of their dead, for fear of
offending the evil one...." But neither Father Berard Haile (1917) nor the Franciscan
Fathers (1910) mention name avoidance.
24. "Nonlocal attendance is especially marked for funerals where ... a special effort
was made to bring the primary kinsmen of the deceased from distant points for the
burial and part of the mourning period" (Lamphere 1977:166). Lamphere compared
the number of potential and actual kin cooperators in five types of ceremonies and
found the highest proportation-66%-of actual participants in the eight funerals
which occurred during her fieldwork. Five-day sings had 53%, Squaw and Fire
Dances had 51%, and both peyote meetings and girls' puberty ceremonies had 48%
actual, as compared to potential, kin cooperators (Ibid.:167).

REFERENCES CITED

Adams, William Y.
1963 Shonto: A Study of the Role of the Trader in a Modern Navaho Commun-
ity. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 188.
Franciscan Fathers
1910 An Ethnologic Dictionary of the Navaho Language. Saint Michaels, Arizona:
Saint Michaels Press.
Frisbie, Charlotte J. and David P. McAllester (eds.)
1978 Navajo Blessingway Singer: The Autobiography of Frank Mitchell, 1881-
1967. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.
Griffen, Joyce
1977 Unpublished Field Notes.
Haile, Father Berard
1917 Some Mortuary Customs of the Navajo. Franciscan Missions of the South-
west 5:29-33.
1943 Soul Concepts of the Navaho. Annali Lateranensi 7:59-94.
Kluckhohn, Clyde and Dorothea Cross Leighton
1946 The Navaho. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Lamphere, Louise
1977 To Run After Them: Cultural and Social Bases of
Cooperation in a Navajo
Community. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.
Leighton, Alexander H. and Dorothea Cross Leighton
1944 The Navaho Door: An Introduction to Navaho Life.
Cambridge: Harvard
University Press.
Reichard, Gladys A.
1928 Social Life of the Navajo Indians With Some Attention to Minor Ceremonies.
Columbia University Contributions to Anthropology 7. New York: Colum-
bia University Press.
Shepardson, Mary and Blodwen Hammond
1970 The Navajo Mountain Community: Social Organization and
Kinship Ter-
minology. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Shufeldt, R. W.
1891 Mortuary Customs of the Navajo Indians. The American Naturalist 25:
303-306.
 GRIFFEN 381

Van Gennep, Arnold L.

1960 The Rites of Passage. Monika B. Vizedom and Gabrielle L. Caffee, trans.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press. (Original: Les Rites de Passage, Paris,
1908.)
Wyman, Leland C., W.W. Hill, and Iva dsanai
1942 Navajo Eschatology. University of New Mexico Bulletin 377, Anthro-
pological Series 4(1).