Native Americans: 22 Books on History, Mythology, Culture & Linguistic Studies. James Mooney

of [fat]. When there they stood around [the] grave [of the woman] upon which they placed the articles they had brought. Then one of them stepped up, took a piece of the [deer meat], cut a slice and ate it, at the same time cutting off another slice and placing it under a stone by the grave. Then the knife was passed from one hand to the other, both hands being thrown behind the person. This form of shifting the implement was continued for perhaps a minute, the motions being accompanied by constant talk with the dead. Then a piece of [deer] fur and some [fat] were placed under the stone with an exclamation signifying, “Here is something to eat and something to keep you warm.” Each of the [natives] also went through the same forms. They never visit the grave of a departed friend until some months after death, and even then only when all the surviving members of the family have removed to another place. Whenever they return to the vicinity of their kindred’s grave, a visit is made to it with the best of food as a present for the departed one. Neither seal, polar bear, nor walrus, however, is taken.

      According to Klutschak (p. 154), the natives of Hudson Bay avoid staying a long time on the salt water ice near the grave of a relative.

      On the fourth day after death the relatives may go for the first time upon the ice, but the men are not allowed to hunt; on the next day they must go sealing, but without dogs and sledge, walking to the hunting ground and dragging the seal home. On the sixth day they are at liberty to use their dogs again. For a whole year they must not join in any festival and are not allowed to sing certain songs.

      If a married woman dies the widower is not permitted to keep any part of the first seal he catches after her death except the flesh. Skin, blubber, bones, and entrails must be sunk in the sea.

      All the relatives must have new suits of clothes made and before the others are cast away they are not allowed to enter a hut without having asked and obtained permission. (See Appendix, Note 7.)

      Lyon (p. 368) makes the following statement on the mourning ceremonies in Iglulik:

      Widows are forbidden for six months to taste of unboiled flesh; they wear no ***pigtails, and cut off a portion of their long hair in token of grief, while the remaining locks hang in loose disorder about their shoulders. ***After six months, the disconsolate ladies are at liberty to eat raw meat, to dress their pigtails and to marry as fast as they please; while in the meantime they either cohabit with their future husbands, if they have one, or distribute their favors more generally. A widower and his children remain during three days within the hut where his wife died, after which it is customary to remove to another. He is not allowed to fish or hunt for a whole season, or in that period to marry again. During the three days of lamentation all the relatives of the deceased are quite careless of their dress; their hair hangs wildly about, and, if possible, they are more than usually dirty in their persons. All visitors to a mourning family consider it as indispensably necessary to howl at their first entry.

      I may add here that suicide is not of rare occurrence, as according to the religious ideas of the Eskimo the souls of those who die by violence go to Qudlivun, the happy land. For the same reason it is considered lawful for a man to kill his aged parents. In suicide death is generally brought about by hanging.

      Tales and Traditions

       Table of Contents

Ititaujang

       Table of Contents

A long, long time ago, a young man, whose name was Ititaujang, lived in a village with many of his friends. When he became grown he wished to take a wife and went to a hut in which he knew an orphan girl was living. However, as he was bashful and was afraid to speak to the young girl himself, he called her little brother, who was playing before the hut, and said, “Go to your sister and ask her if she will marry me.” The boy ran to his sister and delivered the message. The young girl sent him back and bade him ask the name of her suitor. When she heard that his name was Ititaujang she told him to go away and look for another wife, as she was not willing to marry a man with such an ugly name.9 But Ititaujang did not submit and sent the boy once more to his sister. “Tell her that Nettirsuaqdjung is my other name,” said he. The boy, however, said upon entering, “Ititaujang is standing before the doorway and wants to marry you.” Again the sister said “I will not have a man with that ugly name.” When the boy returned to Ititaujang and repeated his sister’s speech, he sent him back once more and said, “Tell her that Nettirsuaqdjung is my other name.” Again the boy entered and said, “Ititaujang is standing before the doorway and wants to marry you.” The sister answered, “I will not have a man with that ugly name.” When the boy returned to Ititaujang and told him to go away, he was sent in the third time on the same commission, but to no better effect. Again the young girl declined his offer, and upon that Ititaujang went away in great anger. He did not care for any other girl of his tribe, but left the country altogether and wandered over hills and through valleys up the country many days and many nights.

      At last he arrived in the land of the birds and saw a lakelet in which many geese were swimming. On the shore he saw a great number of boots; cautiously he crept nearer and stole as many as he could get hold of. A short time after the birds left the water and finding the boots gone became greatly alarmed and flew away. Only one of the flock remained behind, crying, “I want to have my boots; I want to have my boots.” Ititaujang came forth now and answered, “I will give you your boots if you will become my wife.” She objected, but when Ititaujang turned round to go away with the boots she agreed, though rather reluctantly.

      Having put on the boots she was transformed into a woman and they wandered down to the seaside, where they settled in a large village. Here they lived together for some years and had a son. In time Ititaujang became a highly respected man, as he was by far the best whaler among the Inuit.

      Once upon a time the Inuit had killed a whale and were busy cutting it up and carrying the meat and the blubber to their huts. Though Ititaujang was hard at work his wife stood lazily by. When he called her and asked her to help as the other women did she objected, crying, “My food is not from the sea; my food is from the land; I will not eat the meat of a whale; I will not help.”

      Ititaujang answered, “You must eat of the whale; that will fill your stomach.” Then she began crying and exclaimed, “I will not eat it; I will not soil my nice white clothing.”

      She descended to the beach, eagerly looking for birds’ feathers. Having found a few she put them between her fingers and between those of her child; both were transformed into geese and flew away.

      When the Inuit saw this they called out, “Ititaujang, your wife is flying away.” Ititaujang became very sad; he cried for his wife and did not care for the abundance of meat and blubber, nor for the whales spouting near the shore. He followed his wife and ascended the land in search of her.

      After having traveled for many weary months he came to a river. There he saw a man who was busy chopping chips from a piece of wood with a large hatchet. As soon as the chips fell off he polished them neatly and they were transformed into salmon, becoming so slippery that they glided from his hands and fell into the river, which they descended to a large lake near by. The name of the man was Eχaluqdjung (the little salmon).

      On approaching, Ititaujang was frightened almost to death, for he saw that the back of this man was altogether hollow and that he could look from behind right through his mouth. Cautiously he crept back and by a circuitous way approached him from the opposite direction.

      When Eχaluqdjung saw him coming he stopped chopping and asked, “Which way did you approach me?” Ititaujang, pointing in the direction he had come last and from which he could not see the hollow back of Eχaluqdjung, answered, “It is there I have come from.”