American Indians and Death

From the Paper:

"North American Indian cultures incorporated a number of ceremonies within their communities. These activities were held for a variety of reasons and purposes, but all held an important role within the tribe's daily life. And, with the different tribes' universal belief in the supernatural, death received as much attention as the other life events: birth, puberty and marriage. The purpose of this paper will be to research the ethnographic accounts of treatment and attitudes toward the dead among the Indians of Arizona and New Mexico.


Religious beliefs, which are the basis of all Indian ceremonies and rituals, were linked with supernatural and extraordinary forces of the spirit world (249). For the North American Indians, religion was as important in government and social control as in any other function of society. In fact,..."

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