Native American rites of passage

Tribes affected: Pantribal

Significance: Rite of passage ceremonies mark important, status-changing events in the life cycle, such as birth, naming, puberty, initiation, marriage, and death

Rites of passage are ceremonies associated with the transformation from one stage of life to another. The four primary events of birth, naming, puberty, and death are celebrated as spiritual occasions. The secondary events of marriage and initiation into societies are considered social by some tribes and spiritual by others.

Three stages can be identified in any rite of passage. In the separation phase one loses the old status; in the marginal phase one has essentially no identity; and in the re-entry phase one takes on a new identity within the community, gaining new rights and obligations. An element of danger exists in the transition. The time between two states has a mysterious quality, during which the individual requires protection from potential harm. This marginal phase is a symbolic death of the old status.

Childbirth

Among traditional people, childbirth was a time of crisis for mother and child, since the mortality rate for both was highest then. Childbirth was also regarded as a time of danger for males in the community. The miraculous new life within the mother’s body held the sacred power of the Creator. It could endanger those not as powerful. This belief, along with the practical concerns of comfort and privacy, plus the need for concentrated attention during birthing, led to the segregation of women in labor. The period of labor represented the “between” phase, requiring protection for both mother and infant through petitions to the spirits for guidance.

A woman in labor was usually assisted in the birthing hut by other women, but a Southwest Caddo woman went alone to a nearby river when labor began. She built her own shelter, delivered her baby, and, even in winter, bathed herself and the child in the river. She returned to the village right away. Among the Nez Perce of Idaho, mother and infant were secluded for as long as three months after delivery, and in tribes in the Great Basin culture area the father also stayed in bed and ate special foods.

Naming

Anyone without a name was considered powerless, because the spirits would not recognize them. Not all babies received names; some tribes waited until a particular trait suggested a name. A Native American name could be revealed through a parent’s dream, or given in a formal ceremony after months or years of waiting. A person could have several names throughout life: as an infant, a young child, at puberty, and upon a worthy achievement.

Omaha newborns were thought to be just other beings in nature. An infant was presented to the powers of nature with prayers for safety on its journey through life. With its first steps, the baby became a member of the tribe and was given a new pair of moccasins containing a little hole. In case the spirits called, the child could respond, “I can’t travel now; my moccasins are worn out.”

Marriage

Some tribes had no marriage ceremony. A couple would announce their plans, but the tribe might not consider them truly married until a child was born. In more formal marriages, the groom brought gifts for the bride’s parents, such as horses in the Plains culture, and cedar blankets or carved boxes in the Northwest. Marriage was accomplished through an exchange of gifts between both families among the California Pomo.

A bride and groom in the Cherokee tribe feasted separately with their relatives, then met later in the community ceremony. The groom’s mother gave him a leg of venison and a blanket; the bride’s mother gave her an ear of corn and a blanket. The couple exchanged the food and wrapped themselves in their blankets. A similar ritual completed an Ojibwa marriage; in addition, the couple had the hems of their coats sewed together.

Marriage customs for the Hopi required the girl to grind corn for several days at home, then go to her groom’s home and grind corn for three more days. The groom’s aunts called her lazy and jokingly taunted her for stealing their favorite nephew. On the wedding day, the two were joined for life when the couple’s mothers washed the bride and groom’s heads in one basin and twisted their hair together. Later, they went to the edge of the mesa to pray to the rising sun. After the wedding breakfast, the groom went with townsmen into the kiva (ceremonial chamber) to weave the bride’s wedding garments while she spent the long days grinding more corn. The two white robes and the long white belt would be used eventually to wrap her body for her journey into the spirit world.

Death, Burial, and Mourning

The greatest of mysteries surrounds this final rite of passage, and the most varied ceremonies mark the transition. Among the Apache and Navajo, where death is deeply feared, burial is simple and swift, and mourning is brief. The deceased is bathed, dressed in fine clothing and jewelry, and then placed in a crevice and covered with stones. If the person died at home, the house and possessions were burned and the family moved to a new house.

In the Great Basin, burial sites were caves, and on the Plains, scaffolds and trees were used. Cremation was common in California; wooden cabins, boxes, or canoes on posts were burial places in the Northwest. The Eastern Ojibwa wrapped their dead in birchbark and placed them in a grave lined with cedar boughs. A small house was built over the grave, a fire was lit, and food was left for the spirit’s journey.

The Iroquois Rite of Consolation, a ceremony for a deceased sachem (chief), recounted deeds of ancestors, acknowledged the departed one’s greatness, and comforted the bereaved, symbolically reinforcing the past, present, and future of the Iroquois Confederacy.

The Huron of the East held a Feast of the Dead every ten to twelve years. The souls were released in an extended mourning ceremony as relatives removed bodies from temporary burial sites, cleaned the bones and put them into bundles. Mourners carried their bundles to a communal burial site, and at dawn, with a great wailing, they deposited their bundles into the pit. This mingling of ancestral bones symbolized an obligation to tribal unity.

An extraordinary burial custom existed among the Natchez of the Southeast, where the highest class members were required to marry commoners. When the highborn one died, the commoner spouse and children were sacrificed to accompany the deceased on the journey.

Bibliography

Allen, Paula Gunn. The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in American Indian Traditions. Reprint. Boston: Beacon Press, 1992.

Garbarino, Merwyn S. Native American Heritage. Boston: Little, Brown, 1976.

Johnston, Basil. Ojibwa Ceremonies. Illustrated by David Beyer. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1982.

Niethammer, Carolyn. Daughters of the Earth: The Lives and Legends of American Indian Women. New York: Collier Books, 1977.

Turner, Victor W. The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure. Chicago: Aldine, 1969.