Since death with the Navajo is a complex topic, I'll try to explain it to you here, Moondog.

First of all, there is one important thing to note about the Navajo. For a Navajo there is no such thing as something being paranormal or supernatural by our definition. Everything from what would be considered ESP to ghosts are all considered to be natural parts of this world. To say that the Navajo believe in ghosts is a major understatement and perhaps even a misrepresentation. The Navajo believe that every living thing on this planet has a spirit--irregardless of whether it is a dog, a person or a snake. These spirits within all living things are to be treated with the upmost respect. The image of a Native American hunting something and then soothing its spirit afterwards holds true for the Navajo. Spirits are everywhere and it isn't uncommon to hear someone talk about seeing a spirit in their home or elsewhere. Nobody bats an eye or laughs. It's just the way that it is.

When a Navajo dies, it is believed that their spirit moves on to the next world. This is the natural course: birth into this world, life, marriage, family, death, and on to the next world. Attending a Navajo funeral would probably blow most people's minds. There will only rarely being sobbing friends, family and loved ones. This isn't a lack of love for the deceased, however. The Navajo believe that the spirit doesn't immediately move on to the next world after death. In fact, they believe that a spirit can be interrupted in their journey or perhaps even called back. To show great distress at a Navajo funeral could cause the spirit to stop its journey and return. This is a major wrong in the natural course of events. They are showing their love for the deceased by not sobbing and crying. They want to see the deceased in the next world and not have them forever trapped in this one.

The Navajo bury their dead as quickly as possible so that the spirit does not remain. However, the spirit does not necessarily remain with the body in the Navajo way. A Navajo could be driving along the highway and past a fatal accident, seeing a corpse on the roadside. A traditional Navajo will often have a blessingway done afterwards to assure that this person's spirit did not "attach" itself to him/her. Spirits can linger in homes, places of death, and even on beloved belongings if their journey should be interrupted. Again, the idea is to get the spirit to move on--not attach itself to someone and linger.

The hogan has been the home and much more to the Navajo for centuries. Traditionally, when a couple is to be married, a hogan (aka the women's hogan) is built on the bride's family property and it is in this hogan that the marriage ceremony takes place. The hogan isn't just a home. It is a home and a chapel of sorts. It is sacred and it is bound to the family living within it. Everything about the hogan is placed in very particuliar areas. The door is to the east, the south side is for what is attributed to women, the north to the men and the west is for honored guests and heads of the family. This arrangement is important in ceremonials. During one ceremony that I have participated in, I and other women in the family sat on the south side, the two male heads of the family sat towards the West with the medicine man sitting directly across from the door at the far west. The rest of the men were at the north. When a death occurs within the hogan, then the hogan is to be destroyed. This is because the hogan isn't just a home--it's sacred and bound to those who live within it. Because spirits for the Navajo can linger and stay at particuliar areas, death in a hogan is very serious. The door at the east is blocked and the north wall is destroyed to basically direct the spirit in the right direction. The hogan is to never be entered again and is marked in such a way that noone who would know that it was a death hogan would enter it even by mistake. The concern is that if loved ones remained living in the hogan, the spirit would linger and not move on. Or even worse, attach itself to a living person.

This concern in regards to spirits of the dead applies to all places of death for the Navajo. Just a couple weeks ago, an uncle of a relative's girlfriend was stabbed to death in front of a convenience store in Fort Defiance. (This kind of thing usually doesn't happen and rocked the community.) Because he died in front of it, the convenience store will always have a stigma to it. I wouldn't be surprised if the owners had as many ceremonials as they could to cleanse the property and probably is counting their blessings that it didn't actually happen in the store itself. Entering an area where someone has died, particuliarly if they died abruptly, risks spirit attachment--very bad thing.

The place or objects of the dead don't even have to be recent to be shunned by the Navajo--especially traditional Navajo. As I mentioned, even very old objects are considered risky to even look at. When my inlaws gave me some puebloan ("anasazi") potsherds to photograph and show to the proper authorities for site notification, it came with a warning. I came down with the flu a week later and they half-joked that my handling the potsherds was to blame. Spirits can even follow broken pieces of pottery.

Some other interesting things to note about Navajo and death:

When a loved one dies, it's not uncommon for the surviving members of the family to ask for assistance from the community in burying them. Collections are often started as soon as the death in the family is discovered. The Navajo do not pinch pennies in helping their friends and/or coworkers. In a sense, the entire community pays for not just the burial but also assists with the feast afterwards.

Life does not stop when a loved one dies. Not even for a moment. They die, the funeral and feast is had and life goes on immediately afterwards. This could also be similiar with the Hopi as well. The young woman whose uncle was killed recently was Hopi. That following weekend, we had a family birthday party and I was surprised to see her there, carrying on. Discussion about the event was brief. Just inquiring about the rest of the family and if they were well. No discussion about what happened.

Let me know if you need more explaining about any of this or if you have any questions.

Stephanie


In every man there is something wherein I may learn of him, and in that I am his pupil.--Ralph Waldo Emerson



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/14/2005 12:59AM by Stephanie.