2i6 PRIMITIVE PATERNITY 



to the dead is given in which the relatives of the dead 

 person wish to make offerings to the shade, the latter 

 is invited to attend by means of songs of invitation 

 and by putting up sticks with the totem-marks of the 

 deceased upon them." The shade is supposed to obey 

 the summons. In company with other shades in the 

 fire-pit under the floor of the kashim, or assembly- 

 house, "it receives the offerings of food water and 

 clothing that are cast on the floor. Then is rendered 

 the song that announces the presence of the namesake, 

 at which the shade enters the form of that person. 

 The feast-giver then removes the new suit of clothing 

 he wears for the purpose and places it upon the name- 

 sake, and in doing this the shade becomes newly 

 clothed ; the food-offerings given to the namesake 

 during this festival are in the same way believed to be 

 really given to the dead. When this ceremony is 

 finished the shade is dismissed back to the land of the 

 dead." 1 



A comparison of these customs and beliefs suggests 

 that the interpretation reported to us from Greenland 

 and Baffin's Bay, and the rites observed by the Eskimo 

 of Bering Strait are alike of more recent origin than the 

 practice of naming children after the dead which is 

 common to all Eskimo. The Eskimo of Bering Strait 

 are in direct contact with the Athapascans and other 



1 Nelson, Rep. Bur. Ethn. xviii. 289, 424. For further details 

 see Ibid. 364, 365, 371, 377. So far is the identification of the 

 living representative with the deceased carried that during the Doll 

 Festival " the namesakes of men dead are paired with namesakes of 

 their deceased wives without regard to age, and during this period 

 the men or the boys bring their temporary partners firewood, and 

 the latter prepare food for them, thus symbolising the former union 

 of the dead" (Ibid. 379). This is surely much more than 

 symbolism. 



