Post by blackcrowheart on Jun 13, 2007 14:58:39 GMT -5
Death And Burial - Yana
"He is sick, he is very sick. It looks as if he is going to die. Perhaps he
will not recover. If four days have elapsed and he has not recovered, you
will run to get the medicine-man, and he will suck the sickness out of him.
You will offer him as pay perforated white beads. Wear them around your
neck. Surely he will get up and start hither, for medicine-men always like
perforated white beads." He who had been sent arrived (at the medicine-man's
house) and put the beads down on the ground. The medicine-man smelled them.
"I shall not be able to make him recover. I shall indeed go to see him
anyway. The perforated white beads already have an odor."[1] He ran back and
arrived home. He hung up the beads and cried, sitting down on the ground.
"Do you put water down on the ground. The medicine-man has already come."
The medicine-man sat down. "Well, I shall try to do what I can." He doctored
him. "He will not recover. I do not understand what to do, I am beaten."[2]
After he had finished doctoring, he said, "He will die." (The sick man's
father) started in to cry, and they all wept with him. "Do you run to bring
them hither!" he said. "They shall all come here. I do not wish them to be
ignorant about this."
On the following day, at daybreak, he had died. They all started in to cry
together. "Go and dig the grave! Do you put together the perforated white
beads, the dressed buckskin blanket, dentalia, wa'k'u shell beads, aprons
fringed with pine-nut tassels, various pack-baskets, and trinkets. Make a
burial net of coarse rope, and wrap him up in it." Then they washed him and
combed his hair. The people all came, came together, dancing and weeping,
women, men, and their children, while his mother cried. He was lifted down
and put away in the house, while the people and his father and mother wept
over him. They did not eat anything. Now they sewed together the deer-hide
blanket.
"Now!" said (his father). "Amm!"[3] Don't think that you will continue to
eat. There is no sickness going about, and yet I am the only one going about
that has sickness. Since the people were not sick, I thought I had a good
medicine-man. Perchance you think you will not go to get wood!"[4] (Thus he
spoke to himself). "You will just go ahead and bury him tomorrow! Do you
make the grave deep!" (he said to the people). There was a man from the
south[5] who said, "I do not intend to cry." He had flint arrowheads and
inspired everyone with fear. "Whence is the poison that is always acting? I
have no intention of eating, of eating my food with tears." It was the brave
warrior that spoke thus. "You will bury him at noon. Probably nearly all
have come. They say that there are many weeping for him, they say the chief
weeps for him, they say that he is greatly angered. My medicine-man forgets,
does he not? I shall not be the only one to cry.[6] Do you all start!"
They took him up and carried him, all sorts of belongings being wrapped up
with him-arrows, bows, and various blankets, Now they had all moved down to
his grave. They brought him down to the grave and put him into it. "Now!
Cry!" said he. His brother lay down in the grave, was pulled out back again.
"Do not weep, you will soon follow him."[7] The women all danced and cried,
weeping for him, putting down water on the ground to the east of him. "Now
it is well, is it not?" he said. "Let me see! Go ahead and fail to find the
poison.[8] In former days he said to me, 'Surely you shall have no cause to
weep, and thus it will always be with you.' That is what he said to me."
The dead man's mother stayed there all night near the grave. Now the people
all moved off back to his house. "I shall no longer stay in the house. Set
the house on fire!" They set on fire his ropes and all his belongings. "Set
the food on fire!" They set everything on fire, and moved on to another
place. "You all will go to get other food. I did not think that I would ever
be without his laughter when eating." They were all weeping at night, when
suddenly the old woman came back. Now at night they started in to eat. "Do
you all eat after weeping! Truly we shall all die; we shall not live
forever, is it not so? The time of death is near at hand.[9] Do you all
procure food for yourselves! Go to the river and catch salmon. No!" he said,
"I shall not hurry (to eat). 'Yes, we shall catch salmon (for you),' he used
to say to me.[10] I shall cry yet a while, if you please. I shall take food
soon."
The chief spoke. "Pray do it now!" he said (to the warrior). "Lie in wait
for him on his trail. He will find out! They say he has been talking about
me, that is what he has been saying. Yes, he will know! He thinks that he
has sense. I have sense. the sense of a chief. I shall soon speak out my
mind. Though he was my medicine-man, pray shoot him!" he said. "Take him out
into the brush and kill him!"
The people brought wa'k'u beads, dentalia, and perforated white beads.
"Here! Pound these," they said. He pounded them at the grave. "I did not
know about it, that is why I did not come," (they said). Every summer they
burn food (at the grave).
Footnotes:
[1] I.e., they already smell of death.
[2] Le., I can not cope with the disease spirit.
[3] He angrily apostrophizes the medicine-man, whom he suspects of having
magically "poisoned" his son.
[4] The implication is that he will murder the medicine-man when he
unsuspectingly goes out into the brush for firewood.
[5] This man, named Wa'it'awasi, was said to be a brave warrior, a
yô'?laina.
[6] in other words, the medicine-man's folks will weep, for he shall not
escape with his life.
[7] This sort of consolation seems to be rather Christian than Indian.
[8] He is again angrily apostrophizing the medicine-man. "You will fail to
find it, will you?"
[9] He remembers how his son used to say to him, "Don't bother about getting
salmon. I'll attend to that myself."
Yana Texts, by Edward Sapir. University of California Publications in
American Archaeology and Ethnology Vol. 9, No. 1, pp. 1-235 [1910] and is
now in the public domain
"He is sick, he is very sick. It looks as if he is going to die. Perhaps he
will not recover. If four days have elapsed and he has not recovered, you
will run to get the medicine-man, and he will suck the sickness out of him.
You will offer him as pay perforated white beads. Wear them around your
neck. Surely he will get up and start hither, for medicine-men always like
perforated white beads." He who had been sent arrived (at the medicine-man's
house) and put the beads down on the ground. The medicine-man smelled them.
"I shall not be able to make him recover. I shall indeed go to see him
anyway. The perforated white beads already have an odor."[1] He ran back and
arrived home. He hung up the beads and cried, sitting down on the ground.
"Do you put water down on the ground. The medicine-man has already come."
The medicine-man sat down. "Well, I shall try to do what I can." He doctored
him. "He will not recover. I do not understand what to do, I am beaten."[2]
After he had finished doctoring, he said, "He will die." (The sick man's
father) started in to cry, and they all wept with him. "Do you run to bring
them hither!" he said. "They shall all come here. I do not wish them to be
ignorant about this."
On the following day, at daybreak, he had died. They all started in to cry
together. "Go and dig the grave! Do you put together the perforated white
beads, the dressed buckskin blanket, dentalia, wa'k'u shell beads, aprons
fringed with pine-nut tassels, various pack-baskets, and trinkets. Make a
burial net of coarse rope, and wrap him up in it." Then they washed him and
combed his hair. The people all came, came together, dancing and weeping,
women, men, and their children, while his mother cried. He was lifted down
and put away in the house, while the people and his father and mother wept
over him. They did not eat anything. Now they sewed together the deer-hide
blanket.
"Now!" said (his father). "Amm!"[3] Don't think that you will continue to
eat. There is no sickness going about, and yet I am the only one going about
that has sickness. Since the people were not sick, I thought I had a good
medicine-man. Perchance you think you will not go to get wood!"[4] (Thus he
spoke to himself). "You will just go ahead and bury him tomorrow! Do you
make the grave deep!" (he said to the people). There was a man from the
south[5] who said, "I do not intend to cry." He had flint arrowheads and
inspired everyone with fear. "Whence is the poison that is always acting? I
have no intention of eating, of eating my food with tears." It was the brave
warrior that spoke thus. "You will bury him at noon. Probably nearly all
have come. They say that there are many weeping for him, they say the chief
weeps for him, they say that he is greatly angered. My medicine-man forgets,
does he not? I shall not be the only one to cry.[6] Do you all start!"
They took him up and carried him, all sorts of belongings being wrapped up
with him-arrows, bows, and various blankets, Now they had all moved down to
his grave. They brought him down to the grave and put him into it. "Now!
Cry!" said he. His brother lay down in the grave, was pulled out back again.
"Do not weep, you will soon follow him."[7] The women all danced and cried,
weeping for him, putting down water on the ground to the east of him. "Now
it is well, is it not?" he said. "Let me see! Go ahead and fail to find the
poison.[8] In former days he said to me, 'Surely you shall have no cause to
weep, and thus it will always be with you.' That is what he said to me."
The dead man's mother stayed there all night near the grave. Now the people
all moved off back to his house. "I shall no longer stay in the house. Set
the house on fire!" They set on fire his ropes and all his belongings. "Set
the food on fire!" They set everything on fire, and moved on to another
place. "You all will go to get other food. I did not think that I would ever
be without his laughter when eating." They were all weeping at night, when
suddenly the old woman came back. Now at night they started in to eat. "Do
you all eat after weeping! Truly we shall all die; we shall not live
forever, is it not so? The time of death is near at hand.[9] Do you all
procure food for yourselves! Go to the river and catch salmon. No!" he said,
"I shall not hurry (to eat). 'Yes, we shall catch salmon (for you),' he used
to say to me.[10] I shall cry yet a while, if you please. I shall take food
soon."
The chief spoke. "Pray do it now!" he said (to the warrior). "Lie in wait
for him on his trail. He will find out! They say he has been talking about
me, that is what he has been saying. Yes, he will know! He thinks that he
has sense. I have sense. the sense of a chief. I shall soon speak out my
mind. Though he was my medicine-man, pray shoot him!" he said. "Take him out
into the brush and kill him!"
The people brought wa'k'u beads, dentalia, and perforated white beads.
"Here! Pound these," they said. He pounded them at the grave. "I did not
know about it, that is why I did not come," (they said). Every summer they
burn food (at the grave).
Footnotes:
[1] I.e., they already smell of death.
[2] Le., I can not cope with the disease spirit.
[3] He angrily apostrophizes the medicine-man, whom he suspects of having
magically "poisoned" his son.
[4] The implication is that he will murder the medicine-man when he
unsuspectingly goes out into the brush for firewood.
[5] This man, named Wa'it'awasi, was said to be a brave warrior, a
yô'?laina.
[6] in other words, the medicine-man's folks will weep, for he shall not
escape with his life.
[7] This sort of consolation seems to be rather Christian than Indian.
[8] He is again angrily apostrophizing the medicine-man. "You will fail to
find it, will you?"
[9] He remembers how his son used to say to him, "Don't bother about getting
salmon. I'll attend to that myself."
Yana Texts, by Edward Sapir. University of California Publications in
American Archaeology and Ethnology Vol. 9, No. 1, pp. 1-235 [1910] and is
now in the public domain