The Beyond

In American stories, the existence of a duality in the other world is not common, where one place is placed for punishment and another for rewards.

In the story "Travel to Heaven", narrated by the coushatta tribes of Alabama, the spirit of the deceased must overcome several difficulties.

The most serious problems are a lot of water and a place full of snakes.

They always bury the deceased with a big knife so that he can protect himself from the big eagle that attacks everything that moves along the way.

The crossing under the cloudy sky as it rises and descends to the edge of the earth is the final obstacle.

Death and Life After Death

Indian customs and beliefs about the end of life varied from nation to nation, although many peoples believed that a person had at least two souls. One was material and remained within the body during dreams and illness, while the other was free and left the body in dreams or illness. The first soul was transferred to the future life upon death, while the second soul died with the body or, at least, remained united to it for an indefinite period.

For the Navajo, death occurred when the wind of life entering the body at birth escaped. In general, they feared death because, although the goodness of the deceased helped to balance and harmonize the universe, the negative qualities persisted in the form of a spectrum that could harm the living.

Among the tlingits of the northwest coast, the funeral rites were carried out by another group without any related relations because the most threatened beings by the dead were those to whom they had been closest in life. The Aborigines, as in other transitional rituals, placed the dead in a remote place and cut off their connections with the world of the living. The deceased's house was burned by the Yumas of the southwest, and if the relatives continued to live in the house, they created a door or hole so that the deceived could not enter. The bodies were incinerated, buried in a mound of land or placed on an open-air stand. According to the Lakotas, wanagi spirits, or "shadow things", protect tombs and have the ability to cause harm if the deceased are disturbed.

Almost all nations had faith in future life, although it was not always limited to the stereotyped “happy hunting territory” where the Indians died. One of the souls of the deceased was supposed to meet with the Creator over time. The Delawar believed that the material soul had to go through twelve cosmic layers before reaching it. Many times, the other world was a precursor to the reincarnation of the soul. As the rivers flowed backwards, the seasons mixed, and people danced with their legs crossed, in some villages future life was equivalent to the reversal of the world of the living.

The dead struggled to alleviate their pain because they were often distressed by being separated from the living. Some Indians inflicted tails on themselves or ripped off the jewel from their fingers to demonstrate how much they missed someone. Many people were in a state of mourning for a period of time, while others performed simple and delicate ceremonies, such as the offering of food, in order to facilitate the transition from the deceased to the other world. Some villages, such as the hopis brides, prepared for death from their youth.

The Origin of Death

In some myths about the origin of death, there is a conversation between two beings, as in the following story about the slopes of the Western Plains.

In the past, the two most prominent characters were the Wolf and the Coyote, who always tried to break the plans of the former. One day, the Wolf told him that when a person died, he could be restored to life by firing a arrow on the ground that was underneath him. The Coyote told him it didn't seem like a good idea because if all the people were to get back to life, there would be too many people in the world.

Although the Wolf accepted his reasoning, he decided that the Coyote's son would be the first to die, and his desire was responsible for the young man's death. The Coyote approached him, told him what had happened and reminded him that people could revive by firing a arrow under them. However, the Wolf replied with the Coyote's assertion that the individual should die, and has been so ever since.

The Other World

People describe the beyond as a place full of peace and happiness, in addition to abundant hunting, so they call it "Happy Hunting Places". Because many tribes do not have a lower world or hell, death does not cause much fear. After death, the person can only travel to the land of spirits and live there as he had done on earth.

There are several ways in which living beings can travel to the other world. Some cross a river, a sea or the rainbow. Semi-gods help mortals cross a magic string of arrows or a tree that leads to the upper world. Some people just close their eyes and want to be there.

There are many stories about men from beyond who fall in love with earth women, look for them, have a child and then return home. Almost always, the earthly wife violates a taboo and must return with her child through a leather rope or ribbon. One story of Blackfoot talks about a successful marriage in which the tipis of the different children are seen in the sky as the Milky Way.