The Seven Sacred Rites of the Lakota

Wanagi yuhapi....Ghost Keeping

When a person dies, particularly a favorite son (hokšicantkiye, 'boy beloved'), the parents may elect to perform a ritual called Wanagi yuhapi (from wanagi, 'ghost'; yuhapi, 'they have, keep'). Although at one time a ghost was kept for two or more years, nowadays six months to a year is sufficient.

Normally, when a person dies his wanagi travels south along the Wanagi tacanku, 'ghost road' (the Milky Way) until it meets the old woman who decides its fate and sends it on to the hereafter or orders it to return to the earth, where it will live as a shade. To "go south" is a metaphor for dying.

If a ghost is kept, however, by means of this special ceremony, the wanagi will linger around its relatives until such time as it is ritually released. A ghost is kept so that by the proper rites it will be assured a return to its origin, and because the lingering ghost will help people to be mindful of death. Keeping the ghost also requires that the immediate members of the family go through a great sacrifice, ultimately giving away all their personal belongings to the needy in memory of the ghost.

The ritual is initiated when the family of the deceased calls in a sacred person, to whom they offer a pipe. If he accepts, they smoke, and then the sacred person cuts a lock of hair from the forehead of the deceased. It is wrapped in a new cloth or skin and put away for four days. Four yards of red cloth are then cut in half and the mother offers half to the earth by burying it in a three-foot hole away from camp. The other half is divided into eight parts and each part is given to a man who has successfully kept a ghost at another time.

Once the lock of hair has been cut, the duties of the father begin. There are many restrictions that he must observe lest he cause misfortune to fall upon his family. To demonstrate that he is in mourning (wašigla), he must not eat dog meat or any meat scraped from the hide of an animal. He may not cut open the skull of an animal to obtain the brains, and he may not break the ribs of any animal or butcher it. He may not take any weapon into his hands; he may not run, swim, or make any violent movement that disturbs the air. No one may pass in front of him or touch him. He must live separately from his wife, and must never take a child into his arms.

A special tipi (wanagi tipi) is made for the ghost. The lock of hair is put into a buckskin bag, and it, along with the pipe used to initiate the ritual and any other objects chosen by the family, is rolled up in a bundle approximately two feet long and six inches in diameter. The father takes the bundle into his arms as if he were cradling an infant and rides on horseback around the camp, thus announcing to all his intention to keep the ghost.

A slender pine pole is then selected and the ghost bundle is tied to it. It is then placed outside the door of the ghost keeper for four days. At the end of this time, three crotched sticks are cut and made into a tripod and placed in the ghost lodge at the catku, or place of honor opposite the doorway. The three feet of the tripod are placed at the west, north, and east, leaving an opening at the south where the ghost bundle is tied.

Once the ghost bundle is in the tipi, it requires constant care. Anyone entering the tipi must pass sunwise, always going behind the tripod. The father and mother each day are required to feed the ghost meat and cherry juice, which is buried in a mellowed place in front of the tripod. On clear days, the mother places the bundle out in the sun, but should a strong wind arise, or should there be a portending thunderstorm, the bundle is quickly retrieved and returned to the tipi. If the camp moves, the tripod, bundle, and paraphernalia needed to keep it are packed on a special horse called the wanagi tašunke, 'ghost's horse', and carefully transported to the new destination. During the entire period of mourning, the family and their near relatives occupy themselves in making articles of clothing, household utensils, and other goods which will be given away on the final day of the ghost keeping.

As the final day approaches, a sacred person is chosen to carve a spirit post (wanagi glepi, 'spirit place'). The post is dressed to represent the deceased and is erected inside the spirit lodge on the south side. On the day on which the soul is to be released, a special ritual called wakicagapi, 'they do something for it', is performed. All the family's relatives and friends, and even members from other tribes, assemble at the spirit lodge. A great feast is prepared and the ghost fed for the last time. Women enter the spirit lodge, each in turn hugging the spirit post and lamenting. The articles of clothing and other utensils are then given away to all who are in attendance. The clothing of the family, all its personal belongings, horses, and tipi are given away and the family is left impoverished. Later, relatives and friends give new clothing, a new tipi, and other necessities to the family, permitting them to begin their lives anew.

The ritual known as wokiksuye kicagapi (wokiksuye, 'memorial'; kicagapi, 'they make for him/her') is conducted approximately one year after the death of a loved one. The Oglalas believe that the nagi (ghost) of a person lingers near the place where he died and for one year attempts to lure loved ones away. The presence of the spirit is often manifested in the form of a child crying or cock crowing. As an immediate precaution for preventing death in the family, a gun is shot off or incense (wazilya) is burned to frighten the spirit away. Cedar (ĥante) or sweetgrass (wacanga) is most frequently used.

After a person dies, a close relative may elect to perform the duties of a mourner (wašigla), which last for one year. During this period the mourner must refrain from attending social functions such as powwows, feasts, or any other secular rituals. He regards the spirit as being nominally alive: it is talked to and ritually fed every day. A place is set at the table for the spirit, and meat and water are offered it. At the end of the meal, the meat is buried or burned and the water cast on the ground. The task is arduous and dangerous, for once a person elects to feed the spirit, he must not forget his daily obligations lest the spirit become angry and potentially harmful to the mourner or someone else in the family.

Much of the mourner's time is spent with close relatives preparing items for the give-away that will accompany the final memorial feast. The usual items consist of star quilts, quilt tops, hand-decorated linens, beadwork, or other craftwork. Money is saved during this time for the purchase of other give-away items such as blankets, shawls, shoes, and other personal needs. Relatives of the mourner are expected to help out by contributing to the manufacture of goods and accumulation of money and foods which will be distributed during the memorial. Those who have helped out the most will receive recompense at the final give-away.

Memorial feasts may be held in a mourner's home, a community house, or a church. When it is held under the auspices of a denominational sect, the memorial feast is often regarded as a Christian ritual. However, sacred persons participate as well as lay catechists. Prayers and psalms are sung in Lakota, but the structure of the ritual otherwise resembles a memorial feast held in the country without Christian intervention.

Prior to the assigned day, a relative of the mourner or the community announcer (eyapaha) informs the people in the community, as well as relatives living in other parts of the reservation, that the memorial feast will be conducted. The feast is known colloquially as "memorial dinner" or simply "dinner." In Lakota it may be called feast (wohanpi), or, more formally, memorial feast (wikiksuye wohanpi).

On the assigned day, as many as three hundred to four hundred relatives and friends journey to the memorial feast. At the more traditional feasts, old-time foods are served. The men may hunt for venison, and the families often donate dog meat for the enjoyment of the older people. Men do the cooking outdoors over large iron grills placed over pit fires. Pies and pastries are usually prepared indoors by the women. Fry bread (wigli un kagapi, 'they make it with grease'), pemmican (wasna), and fruit soup (wojapi) are usually served along with store-bought bread, crackers, coffee, potatoes, and sweet breads.

The memorial feasts always begin on a light sociable note despite the eventual seriousness of the event. People arrive about noon and spend the day chatting and smoking with their friends and relations. During the summer, the feasts are normally held outdoors in an arbor. In the winter, if the assembly is not too large, they may be held inside the community houses. The people sit in a large circle, inside of which the family has set up a table with the various foods that will be distributed to the guests. As the food is prepared, it is passed out among the guests by servers making their way around the circle as many times as required to distribute all the food. As at any other feast, the visitors bring their own knives, forks, spoons, bowls, and cups. In addition, they bring wateca buckets (wateca, 'leftovers') for whatever they cannot consume on the spot.

After the people have been fed, the spirit may be ritually fed for the last time. Following the ritual feeding of the spirit, the family sponsoring the memorial feast prepares the give-away. The give-away (otuĥan) is a traditional Oglala institution found in a number of sacred and secular contexts. When a person dies, his next of kin give away everything the deceased owned in life, as well as their own personal property. This custom is still an integral part of the funeral rituals, even those held in Christian churches. Once all their personal belongings have been given away, the donors are rendered destitute (unšike) and their neighbors and relatives will take pity on them. Usually within the year, at future give-aways, the original donors will become the recipients of goods and money, and eventually the original personal property that they gave away will be replaced.

The give-away associated with the memorial feast is a thanksgiving (wopila) in which the mourner and his or her family acknowledge the help received from neighbors and kin during the one-year period. A table is set up in the middle of the circular shade or community house and the gifts placed on it. The mourner and close kin stand around the table and select gifts to be given to specific people, whose names are announced by an announcer. As each person's name is called, he or she approaches the table, receives the gift, and shakes hands with all the members of the family (possibly as many as a half-dozed relatives stand at the table, but the mourner is the central focus). After all the gifts have been handed out, the announcer asks the people to shake hands with the mourner and close kin, upon which they form a line which passes in front of the table, each in turn shaking hands with the mourner and his or her family. Often a picture of the deceased is placed on the table or is carried around the periphery of the shade for all to see, and the participants view the deceased for the last time. At this point in the memorial feast, the tenor has changed from the initial one of sociability to to one highly pitched with emotion. Men and women begin to cry openly as they pass the family and shake hands. The mourner begins to weep, and the people embrace him or her and offer condolences. The mourner often collapses and has to be carried away before all the people have filed by. With the final shaking of hands, the memorial feast is concluded.