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I have mentioned that it is extremely difficult to find out the innumerable regulations connected with the religious ideas and customs of the Eskimo. The difficulty is even greater in regard to the customs which refer to birth, sickness, and death, and it is no wonder that, while some of the accounts of different writers coincide tolerably well, there are great discrepancies in others, particularly as the customs vary to a great extent among the different tribes.

Before the child is born a small hut or snow house is built for the mother, in which she awaits her delivery. Sick persons are isolated in the same way, the reason being that in case of death everything that had been in contact with the deceased must be destroyed. According to Kumlien (p. 28) the woman is left with only one attendant, a young girl appointed by the head ancut (angakoq) of the encampment; but this, no doubt, is an error. She may be visited by her friends, who, however, must leave her when parturition takes place. She must cut the navel string herself, and in Davis Strait this is done by tying it through with deer sinews; in Iglulik (Lyon, p. 370), by cutting it with a stone spear head. The child is cleaned with a birdskin and clothed in a small gown of the same material. According to Lyon the Iglulirmiut swathe it with the dried intestines of some animal.

Kumlien describes a remarkable custom of which I could find no trace, not even upon direct inquiry (p. 281):

As soon as the mother with her new born babe is able to get up and go out, usually but a few hours, they are taken in charge by an aged female angakoq, who seems to have some particular mission to perform in such cases. She conducts them to some level spot on the ice, if near the sea, and begins a sort of march in circles on the ice, the mother following with the child on her back; this manœuvre is kept up for some time, the old woman going through a number of performances the nature of which we could not learn and continually muttering something equally unintelligible to us. The next act is to wade through snowdrifts, the aged angakoq leading the way. We have been informed that it is customary for the mother to wade thus bare-legged.

Lyon says (p. 370):

After a few days, or according to the fancy of the parents, an angakoq, who by relationship or long acquaintance is a friend of the family, makes use of some vessel, and with the urine the mother washes the infant, while all the gossips around pour forth their good wishes for the little one to prove an active man, if a boy, or, if a girl, the mother of plenty of children. This ceremony, I believe, is never omitted, and is called qoqsiuariva.

Though I heard about the washing with urine, I did not learn anything about the rest of the ceremony in Cumberland Sound and Davis Strait.

A few days after birth the first dress of the child is exchanged for another. A small hood made from the skin of a hare’s head is fitted snugly upon the head, a jacket for the upper part of the body is made of the skin of a fawn, and two small boots, made of the same kind of a skin, the left one being wreathed with seaweed (Fucus), cover the legs. While the child wears this clothing that which was first worn is fastened to a pole which is secured to the roof of the hut. In two months the child gets a third suit of clothes the same as formerly described (p. 557). Then the second gown is exposed for some time on the top of the hut, the first one being taken down, and both are carefully preserved for a year. After this time has expired both are once more exposed on the top of a pole and then sunk into the sea, a portion of the birdskin dress alone being kept, for this is considered a powerful amulet and is held in high esteem and worn every fall at the Sedna feast on the point of the hood (see p. 604). I have stated that those who were born in abnormal presentations wear women’s dresses at this feast and must make their round in a direction opposite to the movement of the sun. Captain Spicer, of Groton, Conn., affirms that the bird used for the first clothing is chosen according to a strict law, every month having its own bird. So far as I know, waterfowl are used in summer and the ptarmigan in winter, and accordingly the men are called at the great autumn feast the ducks and ptarmigans, the former including those who were born in summer, the latter those born in winter.

As long as any portion of the navel string remains a strip of sealskin is worn around the belly.

After the birth of her child the mother must observe a great number of regulations, referring particularly to food and work. She is not allowed for a whole year to eat raw meat or a part of any animal killed by being shot through the heart. In Cumberland Sound she must not eat for five days anything except meat of an animal killed by her husband or by a boy on his first hunting expedition. This custom seems to be observed more strictly, however, and for a longer period if the new born child dies. Two months after delivery she must make a call at every hut, while before that time she is not allowed to enter any but her own. At the end of this period she must also throw away her old clothing. The same custom was observed by Hall among the Nugumiut (I, p. 426). On the western shore of Hudson Bay she is permitted to re-enter the hut a few days after delivery, but must pass in by a separate entrance. An opening is cut for the purpose through the snow wall. She must keep a little skin bag hung up near her, into which she must put a little of her food after each meal, having first put it up to her mouth. This is called laying up food for the infant, although none is given to it (Hall II, p. 173). I have already mentioned that the parents are not allowed in the first year after the birth of a child to take part in the Sedna feast.

The customs which are associated with the death of an infant are very complicated. For a whole year, when outside the hut, the mother must have her head covered with a cap, or at least with a piece of skin. If a ground seal is caught she must throw away the old cap and have a new one made. The boots of the deceased are always carried about by the parents when traveling, and whenever they stop these are buried in the snow or under stones. Neither parent is allowed to eat raw flesh during the following year. The woman must cook her food in a small pot which is exclusively used by her. If she is about to enter a hut the men who may be sitting inside must come out first, and not until they have come out is she allowed to enter. If she wants to go out of the hut she must walk around all the men who may happen to be there.

The child is sometimes named before it is born. Lyon says upon this subject (p. 369):

Some relative or friend lays her hand on the mother’s stomach, and decides what the infant is to be called, and, as the names serve for either sex, it is of no consequence whether it proves a girl or a boy.

On Davis Strait it is always named after the persons who have died since the last birth took place, and therefore the number of names of an Eskimo is sometimes rather large. If a relative dies while the child is younger than four years or so, his name is added to the old ones and becomes the proper name by which it is called. It is possible that children receive the names of all the persons in the settlement who die while the children are quite young, but of this I am not absolutely certain. When a person falls sick the angakut change his name in order to ward off the disease or they consecrate him as a dog to Sedna. In the latter event he gets a dog’s name and must wear throughout life a harness over the inner jacket. Thus it may happen that Eskimo are known in different tribes by different names. It may also be mentioned here that friends sometimes exchange names and dogs are called by the name of a friend as a token of regard.

The treatment of the sick is the task of the angakoq, whose manipulations have been described.

If it is feared that a disease will prove fatal, a small snow house or a hut is built, according to the season, into which the patient is carried through an opening at the back. This opening is then closed, and subsequently a door is cut out. A small quantity of food is placed in the hut, but the patient is left without attendants. As long as there is no fear of sudden death the relatives and friends may come to visit him, but when death is impending the house is shut up and he is left alone to die. If it should happen that a person dies in a hut among its inmates, everything belonging to the hut must be destroyed or thrown away, even the tools &c. lying inside becoming useless to the survivors, but the tent poles may be used again after a year has elapsed. No doubt this custom explains the isolation of the sick. If a child dies in a hut and the mother immediately rushes out with it, the contents of the hut may be saved.

Though the Eskimo feel the greatest awe in touching a dead body, the sick await their death with admirable coolness and without the least sign of fear or unwillingness to die. I remember a young girl who sent for me a few hours before her death and asked me to give her some tobacco and bread, which she wanted to take to her mother, who had died a few weeks before.

Only the relatives are allowed to touch the body of the deceased. They clothe it or wrap it in deerskins and bury it at once. In former times they always built a tomb, at least when death occurred in the summer. From its usual dimensions one would suppose that the body was buried with the legs doubled up, for all of them are too short for grown persons. If the person to be buried is young, his feet are placed in the direction of the rising sun, those of the aged in the opposite direction. According to Lyon the Iglulirmiut bury half grown children with the feet towards the southeast, young men and women with the feet towards the south, and middle aged persons with the feet towards the southwest. This agrees with the fact that the graves in Cumberland Sound do not all lie east and west. The tomb is always vaulted, as any stone or piece of snow resting upon the body is believed to be a burden to the soul of the deceased. The man’s hunting implements and other utensils are placed by the side of his grave; the pots, the lamps, knives, &c., by the side of that of the woman; toys, by that of a child. Hall (I, p. 103) observed in a grave a small kettle hung up over a lamp. These objects are held in great respect and are never removed, at least as long as it is known to whose grave they belong. Sometimes models of implements are used for this purpose instead of the objects themselves. Figure 536 represents a model of a lamp found in a grave of Cumberland Sound. Nowadays the Eskimo place the body in a box, if they can procure one, or cover it very slightly with stones or snow. It is strange that, though the ceremonies of burying are very strictly attended to and though they take care to give the dead their belongings, they do not heed the opening of the graves by dogs or wolves and the devouring of the bodies and do not attempt to recover them when the graves are invaded by animals.

Fig. 536. Model of lamp from a grave in Cumberland Sound. (Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin.)

The body must be carried to the place of burial by the nearest relatives, a few others only accompanying it. For this purpose they rarely avail themselves of a sledge, as it cannot be used afterward, but must be left with the deceased. Dogs are never allowed to drag the sledge on such an occasion. After returning from the burial the relatives must lock themselves up in the old hut for three days, during which they mourn the loss of the deceased. During this time they do not dress their hair and they have their nostrils closed with a piece of deerskin. After this they leave the hut forever. The dogs are thrown into it through the window and allowed to devour whatever they can get at. For some time afterward the mourners must cook their meals in a separate pot. A strange custom was observed by Hall in Hudson Bay (II, p. 186). The mourners did not smoke. They kept their hoods on from morning till night. To the hood the skin and feathers of the head of Uria grylle were fastened and a feather of the same waterfowl to each arm just above the elbow. All male relatives of the deceased wore a belt around the waist, besides which they constantly wore mittens. It is probable that at the present time all Eskimo when in mourning avoid using implements of European manufacture and suspend the use of tobacco. It has already been stated that women who have lost a child must keep their heads covered.

Parry, Lyon (p. 369), and Klutschak (p. 201) state that when the Eskimo first hear of the death of a relative they throw themselves upon the ground and cry, not for grief, but as a mourning ceremony.

For three or sometimes even four days after a death the inhabitants of a village must not use their dogs, but must walk to the hunting ground, and for one day at least they are not allowed to go hunting at all. The women must stop all kinds of work.

On the third day after death the relatives visit the tomb and travel around it three times in the same direction as the sun is moving, at the same time talking to the deceased and promising that they will bring him something to eat. According to Lyon the Iglulirmiut chant forth inquiries as to the welfare of the departed soul, whether it has reached the land Adli, if it has plenty of food, &c., at each question stopping at the head of the grave and repeating some ceremonial words (p. 371).

These visits to the grave are repeated a year after death and whenever they pass it in traveling. Sometimes they carry food to the deceased, which he is expected to return greatly increased. Hall describes this custom as practiced by the Nugumiut (I, p. 426). He says:

They took down small pieces of [deer] skin with the fur on, and of [fat]. When there they stood around [the] grave [of the woman] upon which they placed the articles they had brought. Then one of them stepped up, took a piece of the [deer meat], cut a slice and ate it, at the same time cutting off another slice and placing it under a stone by the grave. Then the knife was passed from one hand to the other, both hands being thrown behind the person. This form of shifting the implement was continued for perhaps a minute, the motions being accompanied by constant talk with the dead. Then a piece of [deer] fur and some [fat] were placed under the stone with an exclamation signifying, “Here is something to eat and something to keep you warm.” Each of the [natives] also went through the same forms. They never visit the grave of a departed friend until some months after death, and even then only when all the surviving members of the family have removed to another place. Whenever they return to the vicinity of their kindred’s grave, a visit is made to it with the best of food as a present for the departed one. Neither seal, polar bear, nor walrus, however, is taken.

According to Klutschak (p. 154), the natives of Hudson Bay avoid staying a long time on the salt water ice near the grave of a relative.

On the fourth day after death the relatives may go for the first time upon the ice, but the men are not allowed to hunt; on the next day they must go sealing, but without dogs and sledge, walking to the hunting ground and dragging the seal home. On the sixth day they are at liberty to use their dogs again. For a whole year they must not join in any festival and are not allowed to sing certain songs.

If a married woman dies the widower is not permitted to keep any part of the first seal he catches after her death except the flesh. Skin, blubber, bones, and entrails must be sunk in the sea.

All the relatives must have new suits of clothes made and before the others are cast away they are not allowed to enter a hut without having asked and obtained permission. (See Appendix, Note 7.)

Lyon (p. 368) makes the following statement on the mourning ceremonies in Iglulik:

Widows are forbidden for six months to taste of unboiled flesh; they wear no ***pigtails, and cut off a portion of their long hair in token of grief, while the remaining locks hang in loose disorder about their shoulders. ***After six months, the disconsolate ladies are at liberty to eat raw meat, to dress their pigtails and to marry as fast as they please; while in the meantime they either cohabit with their future husbands, if they have one, or distribute their favors more generally. A widower and his children remain during three days within the hut where his wife died, after which it is customary to remove to another. He is not allowed to fish or hunt for a whole season, or in that period to marry again. During the three days of lamentation all the relatives of the deceased are quite careless of their dress; their hair hangs wildly about, and, if possible, they are more than usually dirty in their persons. All visitors to a mourning family consider it as indispensably necessary to howl at their first entry.

I may add here that suicide is not of rare occurrence, as according to the religious ideas of the Eskimo the souls of those who die by violence go to Qudlivun, the happy land. For the same reason it is considered lawful for a man to kill his aged parents. In suicide death is generally brought about by hanging.