E. W. HAWKES THE DANCE FESTIVALS OF THE ALASKAN ESKIMO 29 



THE FEASTS TO THE DEAD 



The Eskimo idea of the life after death and the rationale 

 for their most important ritual, the Feast to the Dead, is nowhere 

 better illustrated than in a quaint tale current along the Yukon, 

 in which the heroine, prematurely buried during a trancelike 

 sleep, visited the Land of the Dead. She was rudely awakened 

 from her deathlike slumber by the spirit of her grandmother 

 shaking her and exclaiming, "Wake up. Do not sleep the hours 

 away. You are dead I" Arising from her grave box, the maiden 

 was conducted by her guide to the world beneath, where the 

 dead had their dwellings in large villages grouped according 

 to the localities from which they came. Even the animal 

 shades were not forgotten, but inhabited separate communities 

 in human shape. 1 After some travel the girl found the village 

 allotted to her tribe, and was reclaimed by her departed relatives. 

 She was recognized by the totem marks on her clothing, which 

 in ancient times the Eskimo always wore. She found the 

 inmates of this region leading a pleasant but somewhat monoto- 

 nous life, free from hardships and from the sleet and cold of their 

 earthly existence. They returned to the upper world during 

 the feasts to the dead, when they received the spiritual essence 

 of the food and clothing offered to their namesakes 2 by relatives. 

 According to the generosity or stinginess of the feast givers 

 there was a feast or a famine in spirit land, and those who were 

 so unfortunate as to have no namesake, either through their 



1 The shades of animals are thought by the Alaskan Eskimo to be like those of men, and in 

 ancient times animals possessed the power of changing their forms at will. This was effected 

 by pulling the muzzle up over the head to become people or of pulling it down again to regain 

 their original form. 



2 The first child born in the village after his death becomes the deceased's namesake. How- 

 ever, if born in camp, its mother gives it the name of the first natural object to catch her eye. 



