76 G- Holm. 



Mourning custoäis. — The Angmagsaliks have a great many 

 mourning customs, such as howhng and groaning and abstinence 

 from a number of things; they say that they keep the mourning 

 customs 'in order that the dead person may not be wrath'. 



Immediately after the death, the family and the housemates 

 carry out their private possessions as well as wall- and platform- 

 skins and clothes, and leave them outside for three days. The sur- 

 viving relatives cease wearing their old clothes, which they now cast 

 off. If they have no new clothes, they sew some as speedily as pos- 

 sible. Everything which has belonged to the dead person is thrown 

 away or placed in stone-settings, except knives with iron-blades and 

 other objects of value, which are kept by the descendants of the 

 deceased. 



The inmates of the house mourn for a space of from three to 

 five days, during which they do not go out hunting or engage in 

 any other occupation, but at intervals weep and lament loudly over 

 the dead person, enumerating all his good qualities. In some cases 

 the mourning on the part of the fellow-inmates of the house does 

 not extend over so long a period as that of the family. The dead 

 person's nearest of kin, at any rate his mother and wife, mourn a 

 whole month, engaging in no occupation during this period. We 

 heard of an instance of a mother, on receiving news that her son 

 had been drowned, having washed herself all over and carefully 

 done up her hair — as a sign of mourning. 



Those who have been engaged in dressing the deceased must abstain 

 from working in iron. It seems that this precaution has to be ob- 

 served for several years, lest any misfortune befall their family. 

 When they at last do resume this kind of work, they must first use 

 a charm. 



When the absent members of the family hear of the death, 

 they likewise indulge in loud lamentations, but their mourning 



in the graves of small children. — In "Kort Vejledning i det kgl. ethno- 

 grafiske Museum" by C. L. Steinhauer (page 29) we find mentioned ''fifteen very 

 roughly carved wooden figures representing Greenlanders of both sexes, all of 

 which, as far as has been ascertained, have been found in ancient Greenland 

 graves". As to this, Steinhauer remarks that these figures seem "to point to an 

 established custom which can hardly have been devoid of a higher signifi- 

 cance". We have brought home with us more than fifty such dolls from the 

 East coast, much more beautifully carved than those which the museum pos- 

 sesses from the West coat, one of them being over a foot in length. These 

 are all children's toys, and none of them have been found in graves. Of course 

 dolls might be found in graves as well as other toys, especially as they are 

 likely to be the child's favourite possession. The Angmagsaliks do not лvorship■ 

 idols or any visible symbol connected with their religion. 



