Untitled - Smithsonian Institution

oScHTs] THE SWIMMEK MANUSCRIPT 139
the rest of their lives; i. e., if they attend only to the real necessities of
life they will forever after be dutiful and reliable in whatever their
occupation may be. The men will be smart, well-providing sons and
husbands; the women alert and solicitous wives and mothers; whereas,
were any of them to go out and gossip, or otherwise join in " unneces-
sary " phases of social life he would for the rest of his life be a fickle
rake or a heedless hussy.
As soon as the family gets home from the burial, or from the subsequent
ceremony at the river's edge, the new fire is started, after all the
old ashes have been taken outside and scattered about the yard. In
olden time this fire was no doubt kindled from the sacred communal
fire of the council house; now the more modern match is used, although
I have known cases where flint and punk were still resorted to.
The cabin is smoked with pine branches, burned in a cooking vessel
pine branches are also thrown on the rekindled hearth fire ;
according
to some of the people, "the smell of the pine takes all away that has
been left of death and disease." Pines, as all evergreens, are considered
by the Cherokee to have eternal lives, and are therefore most
fit to avert death and destruction.
Originally, not only the house where the death occurred had to be
smoked in this fashion, but each and every house of the settlement.
This custom is now rapidly falling into oblivion, but I still noticed,
during my stay, that all those who had been taking any part in the
care of the deceased, before and after his death, went through this
purification rite with scrupulous care.
Old traditions and references to it in myths and tales establish
beyond doubt that long ago, seven days after the burial a dance took
place at which every member of the deceased's household and all the
people of the settlement were present. This dance seems to have
served the double purpose of speeding the spirit on its journey ^^ and
of diverting the sorrowing relatives. Such a dance is referred to in
" The Daughter of the Sun " myth (Mooney, Myths, p. 254) and also
in a tale collected by me, but yet unpublished.
It can not now be stated whether at these dances any special songs
were sung, but if we can trust tradition on this point it would appear
that those dances and songs were selected which would best suit the
purpose of amusing the mourners present; it was thought that if they
reaUy enjoyed themselves on this occasion there was no fear that they
would pine away with grief; but if the entertainers failed in their pur-
pose the future looked gloomy and threatening for the mourners.
There is no visiting of graves after the burial; to do so would
bring bad luck. This is easy to understand, if we recall the Cherokee
"* The ghost of the deceased lingers 7 days around the settlement before pro-
ceeding on its journey "out west" (see p. 142).