article
Variations on a rite of passage: some recent Navajo funerals
American Indian quarterly • 4 (4) • Published In 1978 • Pages: 367-381
By: Griffen, Joyce.
Abstract
In this article Griffen comments on how Navajo funerals have become more sociable affairs focused on the survivors rather than the deceased's spirit. Traditional burials involved as few people as possible to avoid any harmful contact with the ghost. In contrast, contemporary funerals can involve upwards of 500 people, who are not shy about seeing or even touching the body, unusual even by Anglo standards. Using Van Gennep's division of rituals into the three phases of separation, transition, and incorporation, Griffen argues that Navajo burial practices have shifted their emphasis to the last phase.
- HRAF PubDate
- 2004
- Region
- North America
- Sub Region
- Southwest and Basin
- Document Type
- article
- Evaluation
- Creator Type
- Ethnologist
- Document Rating
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- Analyst
- Ian Skoggard ; 2003
- Field Date
- 1977
- Coverage Date
- 1917-1977
- Coverage Place
- Navajo resservation and environs, southwestern United States
- Notes
- Joyce Griffen
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 380-381)
- LCCN
- 74647596
- LCSH
- Navajo Indians