Death : Ojibwe Traditions & Beliefs
BELIEFS
It is believed that within us all is the Anishinabee spirit. We only occupy a physical body during this lifetime. When the creator puts a person on the Earth, they are given a purpose, and once that purpose is fulfilled our physical body dies and our spirit passes on into the afterlife.
After death, the soul begins a 4 day journey. On each day of the spirit’s journey, it will be faced with a new temptation in the form of different berries. The soul must be strong enough not to stop and eat the berries or they will be trapped in
that location forever. After successfully defeating the temptations, the passing soul will come across a river with a slippery log which they must cross. If the soul fails to cross successfully they are swept away into oblivion. However, if the soul makes it over the log, they will be able to join ancestors who have already successfully completed their journey into the afterlife.
A lonely soul or soul who gets stuck in temptations (wandering soul), may take another person's spirit with them into the afterlife without knowing it. Small children and babies are particularly vulnerable to a lonely soul. Ojibwe parents may practice smudging charcoal on children before bed to prevent them from falling vulnerable to wandering spirits.
TRADITIONS
Upon death, the corpse is washed, groomed, dressed well and wrapped in birch bark before the burial. The family of the deceased will continuously burn a fire in their home for 5 days; until the body is buried. During the time of mourning (the first 4 days), food and tobacco are offered to the spirit and birch bark matches are placed in the coffin to ask the creator to the light the spirit’s path to Gaagige Minawaanigozigiwining (the land of everlasting happiness). Usually, the coffin would be laced in a burial ground marked by a wooden slate with the deceased’s clan sign engraved. The deceased is often buried with a few items of importance, for belief that they will be of use in the after life. Items usually included in the coffin are hunting tools, tobacco and clothes.
On the fifth night the family has a feast in which they offer food to the creator and set a place for the deceased. After the feast relatives will smoke or burn a final offering of tobacco in the fire. A shaman will speak directly to the spirit, letting them know the journey in which they are to take. At the conclusion of the feast, the plate set out for the deceased should be taken out into the woods and placed somewhere deep and peaceful. When walking away from the plate it is important that you do not look back, as this may attract the spirit to follow you.
After the funeral, it is customary to destroy or get rid of all of the deceased member’s things as part of the grieving process. Often times the items were burned or thrown in a river. When it is a child who passes on, an Ojibwe elder would typically make a doll with the dead childs hair and give it to the mother of the child who would carry it around for one year as a symbolization of her grief.
Resources:
https://m.recoveryonpurpose.com/upload/Mourning%20Practices%20of%20Cree%20and%20Ojibway.pdf
http://www.everyculture.com/North-America/Ojibwa-Religion-and-Expressive-Culture.html
http://blog.sevenponds.com/cultural-perspectives/the-spirit-of-the-dead-according-to-ojibwe-beliefs
https://www.funeralzone.co.uk/blog/death-around-world-native-american-beliefs
https://www.encyclopedia.com/environment/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/anishinaabe-religious-traditions
http://www.crystalinks.com/ojibwa.html