article
Changing burial practices of the Western Navajo: a consideration of the relationship between attitudes and behavior
American Indian quarterly • 4 (4) • Published In 1978 • Pages: 397-405
By: Levy, Jerrold E..
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
In this article, Levy documents the changes in Navajo burial practices. Traditional practices were marked by the absence of public ceremony. The corpse was disposed of quickly and home abandoned to insure minimal contact with the dead for fear of misfortune, sickness, and death. Close kin who handled the corpse observed a four-day morning ceremony and purification ritual, after which all returned to normal. The 1960s witnessed an increase in cemetery burials, public gatherings, and eulogies. Levy discusses Navajo ideas about witchcraft, or CH'IIDII, which Navajo continue to believe in, in spite of changes in burial practices. He discusses possible reasons for the changes such as Western education, conversion to Christianity, and wage labor, but is unable to make any conclusion until more evidence is available.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Acculturation and culture contact
- Burial practices and funerals
- Eschatology
- Religious denominations
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Navajo
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2004
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- North America
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Southwest and Basin
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- article
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Ethnologist
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Ian Skoggard ; 2003
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1960-1973
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1950-1978
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Navajo Nation, Arizona, United States
- NotesAdditional notes
- Jerrold E. Levy
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 405)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 74647596
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Navajo Indians