Navajo Nuggets: October 31

Halloween is a disturbing time here. I read a story in the Navajo Times written for the occasion about going on a “ghost tour.” The tour guide, Leonard Perry, said, “Our worlds [the worlds of the living and the dead] overlap. The paranormal is just part of it.” His advice was to use your peripheral vision to catch shadowy figures because they would disappear if you looked directly at them. He also said if you encounter a spirit, you should not engage it.”

Because there have been several funerals involving school families just since August, and two of them involved children in my class last weekend, I asked a woman who is very familiar with Navajo Culture to fill me in.

She told me that historically, the departed person was either wrapped in a beautiful blanket or placed in a casket and usually buried on family land. Jewelry and other necessary items were placed on the coffin for the person to use in the afterlife. She recalled seeing a beautiful horse shot and draped over the coffin so the deceased could ride it into the next life.

The family sat for a four-day vigil. This could have been for various reasons: the spirit had not really left yet, to show respect, or to guard against grave robbers. This tradition is still kept. The adults stay up at least one night and nobody in the clan takes showers for the four days. “This is a watch of terror,” she said. There is a fear that if they don’t do it just right, something bad will happen to them.

During the “funeral,” the family comes together to encourage each other and to share stories about the deceased. They avoid saying the name of the person so as not to offend the spirit. It could be a key time for Christians in the family to explain the gospel, but many don’t because of their unwillingness to offend.

Because the spirit world is part of life here, they feel uneasy about ghosts and spirits.

This explains the taboo against making a will. If you make a will, that is preparation for dying; and it is like inviting death upon yourself. Also, they are afraid of riding in ambulances where someone might have died; there might be a spirit hanging around there.

New regulations state that Navajos must be buried in registered cemeteries. This creates difficulties for them because Navajos do not own or work in mortuaries. Taking care of their dead has become enormously expensive.

The Traditional religion of the Navajo is based on fear. Everywhere they turn they encounter taboos, and they are bound by the fear of what the spirits will do to them if they don’t follow the rules. The Navajos respond to Jesus when they are in great need, and what they are doing isn’t working out. They need to know that Jesus, the Son of the Living God, is more powerful than the spirits they know.