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138 BUREAU OP AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 99
two chains from a pole laid horizontally and lengthwise across the
wagon.
"When the cemetery is reached the coffin is put down near the
grave which has been dug in the meanwhile by the "grave-digging
company." A Christian hymn is sung in Cherokee, or maybe in
English,^^ by a couple of men or women present; this again is not
determined by the sex of the deceased, but depends merely on who
is able and willing to sing.
The "preacher" again says a few words, bidding good-by to the
departed one. Before being lowered, the coffin is opened and the
cover laid back so that only the face of the corpse can be seen. Everybody
passes by the cofiin to cast a last look on it. The nearest rela-
tives—father, mother, wife, children'— pass first ;^^ when the last
person present has passed by the cover is nailed down definitely and the
coffin is lowered into the grave. The grave is dug and the coffin is
lowered into it in such a way that the head lies toward the west.
The grave is immediately filled, and those present climb down the
hill in different directions, all the people but the relatives of the
deceased going to their respective homes.
After Burial
Immediately after the burial the nearest relatives of the deceased,
i. e., the members of his household, have to go to the river, accompanied
by the priest, who recites a prayer to purify them. If, for some
reason, this ceremony is not performed immediately, before the
family has gone home, it may be performed the following day; but in
this case, one purification is not held to be sufficient, and the ceremony
is repeated every morning for four days. The formula recited on this
occasion is the same as the one used when "going to water" every new
moon; white cloth and beads are also used, and the officiating medicine
man also chews "old tobacco," the juice of which he sprays from his
mouth into the necks of the members of the party, who stand facing
the water.
Not one member of the household must go out for a period of four
days (some say seven days, which is probably the older and more
correct belief) for "anything which is not strictly necessary." Such
essential duties as cutting wood for firewood, hunting for the daily
sustenance, etc., are not prohibited, but there is to be no visiting
of neighbors, no partaking in social functions, as the baU game, a
dance, etc.
The belief prevails that whatever is done by the members of the
household during the four days of this period will be done by them for
88 "Nearer, my God, to Thee," was sung at one funeral I witnessed.
*^ Unless a woman with child be present. (See p. 121.)