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American Indian belief in Reincarnation

deborah

deborah

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I purchased a book last year titled Amerindian Rebirth - Reincarnation Belief Among North American Indians and Inuit The book has many anthroplogists that have contributed to the research. It was edited by Antonia Mills who is appointed in the Department of Psychiatric Medicine and the Anthropology Department at the University of Virginia. And by Richard Slobodin -professor Emeritus of Anthropology, McMaster University.

The book is focused on reincarnation and the concepts of self identity, kinship, religion, cosmology, resiliency, and change among native North American peoples from the time of contact until the present day.

The case studies show a wide variety of belief's around reincarnation. Like same clan re-birth and next life identification of specific individuals. Male and female life times - and the inclusion of white people who were identified as being reborn Indians the next life. I find that fascinating and especially the circumstances surrounding life time to life time.

Most of them believe that rebirth happens within one year and that identifying marks such as birth marks - or marks given a dying person can help with the identification process.

I am part Cherokee - in this life, and have lead a life time with the Indians in the late 1700's. I am curious - how many of you remember an American Indian life time and do you think that life influenced your spiritual growth and ability to remember now? I remember vividly - what an impact their spiritual belief's had on me as a small white boy - rasied by them. I felt more at home than with my white family.

Is it common knowledge that so many American Indians believed in reincarnation or do we tend to focus on Buddhist, Hindu, and Gnostic's belief's? The Intuit, Kutchin, Winnebago, Huron, and Eskimo just to name a few tribes do believe in reincarnation. Have you read any books that reference them? If so - where? If not - why do you think that is? There is a real depth of knowledge in American spirituality. I would love to learn more. :)
 
Hi, im not an expert on any of this. I also havent had any past life memories on the Native American, BUT i have strong feelings of being at home when im around my granmother. My great granmother was cherokee, my granmother was half, and i guess im one third. The music is what does it for me tho. It seems to calm my soul and bring me peace of mind. I enjoy walking thru the mountains and looking at nature. When i look at native american art of women i can see myself. Or if i see a photo taken of native americans, i can feel them, ya know? I dunno, maybe a sense of what they are doing in the picture. Its a great question and topic. I sure would love to learn more on it as well. I dont get to read up alot on all this, so im curious about it all.
 
I remember being a Native American sometime in the nineteenth century, but in that life, I don't seem to have given much thought to spiritual matters. I lived most of my adult life with white people, who I considered (sorry, white people) pretty foolish--except my wife.
I think every life influences our spiritual growth, but I probably won't understand how, or in what way, until it's over. :)
 
American Indian belief in reincarnation

I don't have any memories of an Indian life, but I feel the same anguish when I read about how they were treated as I feel about the slaves. I do have some memory of being a female Negro slave whose sons were beaten to death by the master, But I have't recalled any names or particular places. I think it is shameful how the Indians were treated and I think it is shameful how African Americans were treated, and I think it is shameful how Hispanic people are treated today.
 
AN example of Indian Teachings

I thought I would share an example; I remember living with the American Indians and I do think that life influenced my spiritual growth then and now. In a meditation in 1994 I found myself not remembering a past life, but learning from an American Indian Spirit. I had asked specifically before meditating why I was so impatient and frustrated lately and I wanted to know how to work through it. :butbut:

I went into a very intense blue light, and then found my self speaking with an old Indian man. I saw myself pushing a large wagon wheel up a hill. I was struggling to get it up the hill. This seemed to be a metaphor for my internal struggles. Then I was back with the Indian Spirit.

I feel however that I knew him from before - our relationship was past life related, and we spoke about the struggle. It was interesting because we were conversing in the Indian language. Not in English.

He said and I translate: "You must take what you know here (and he pointed to the third eye region) and move it down to here (he pointed to the belly and navel area). Then you must move it back up again. This will help you find patience."

What is so interesting is that my son Daniel interrupted the meditation. In the beginning when I asked the original question. I kept hearing "My Son" several times. I originally ignored it. It was at this point in the meditation that I realized my son Daniel was key to my understanding and awakening to full CONSCIOUS patience. Or at least understanding how to. :tongue:

I continued to meditate, to find that place of peace within myself even though my son was asking me questions. I answered each question simply and with love. Daniel put his hand on my belly with such grace and love in return it was amazing.

This was a strange action for a child that was hyperactive, constantly moving and never sat still! I am sure he was the test for my lesson. I immediately found the "power" within the 3th chakra area and brought it to the sixth chakra. Together they reflected no impatience. The Old Indian was a wise......... wise soul. He was wise then and now. I think a lot of American Indian spiritual teachings have been lost - because they were not written in the first place.

I will share more from the book if others are interested in the morning.
 
What a great question!

Oh my gosh, Deborah, I've never thought of this...and it's so logical! I'm paraphrasing you: "How have your beliefs in prior lives - specifically Native American here - influenced your beliefs now? Did you know that many of them believed in rebirth?"

It has been easy for me to see how my Roman Catholic lifetimes influenced me, even though I was raised Protestant this lifetime (and flat out hated it).

But I have never really thought about how my beliefs in other former lives would make me uncomfortable with Christianity, the dominant religion, of my country today! I have always believed that religions came from basically the same source...but now I wonder.

Yes, I was a Native American but I don't have specific memories. I have very strong affinities and connections to Native American spirituality. I'm not surprised many of them believed in reincarnation. (Thank you for saying that! :thumbsup: ) Their belief in oneness is very strong with me.

I consider myself a Taoist, which is from ancient China. I have also been Hindu. The oneness in these religions resonates with me - and goes against the duality and judgment of Christianity.

The wise man who came to you, Deborah - What a gift. What we get in meditation can be so different than what we expect or think we need -- and yet you got just what you needed.

Here's a theory that could make some people mad ;) :

People who don't practice Christianity in America probably had:
a) other lifetimes with different beliefs that resonate stronger than Christianity

b) they've had negative experiences with Christianity (such as being burned at the stake or repressed and judged in a fundamantalist household).

One of my son's most recent lifetimes (which he remembers) was being raised by ultra strict, unloving, abusive and sadistic fundamentalists in the mid-West. That'll turn you off to religion!

The theory continues: Fundamentalist Christians have not had many lifetimes in other cultures (young soul) and do not, therefore, feel a conflict between what they've been taught in this lifetime and what they used to know...

Thanks, Deborah, for turning my brain in this direction. My Hindu, Taoist, and Native American lifetimes gave me reason to believe . :)
 
HI Mertzie :)

My personality today eminates my last three life times. I am a wondrous mixture of American Indian, black slave woman with the grit of a work horse, and a hot tempered Italian woman that would debate the color of the moon should the opportunity arise. ;o)!

The American Indian life was my reminder - of before :D
 
Hi Deborah...great thread. It resonates within me but I have no specific memories.

Where I live was once the summering grounds for several tribes. In fact a very sacred spring was only minutes across the fields. I say "was" because the spring was bulldozed over and a lake built over it. It is/was a sad commentary on the little regard held for sacred places. It was an ancient sight with much lore surrounding it.

Just two weeks ago I took some city friends to a summer-fallow wheat field where once stood a large Indian village. Ten to twenty lodges once stood there many years ago. Over the years archaeologists have combed the area as well as local historians. Many artifacts have been found. But this day as i walked the wide open field, on a knoll just yards from a large creek, I could feel the place somewhere deep inside of me. I found several chards of pottery and a beautiful piece of flint.

Last night I read in an old Kansas Historical Society Journal the account of an Indian raid that happened just minutes from where I now live. The article, written in the early 1900's, spoke of how the military received orders to reprise the savages. The calvary over five hundred seasoned fighters with "long knives" took a heavy toll on the natives. I wondered in my minds eye if this was the village that i had read about...if this was once the peaceful home ravaged by the calvary so many years ago. There is no way of knowing for sure...vague land descriptions fit, my instinct feels it, but there will never be a way of knowing.

It was this event that led to their eventual relocation to Oklahoma.. The Cheyenne and Arapaho who'd lived peacefully as neighbors were now forced from their sacred place. I live here now and I honor their place.

In my life as a settler here, I arrived in 1870, this battle had taken place 15 years earlier. I do feel a strong connection to all of this and I can't say why for sure.

Thanks for the book idea...I'll definitely be looking for it.

peace...Tman
 
Deborah - What a crack-up! I would love to see that hot-tempered Italian woman in action! :tongue:

Tman - You are so Native American. I really think you must have been. Let us know if the light shines on that for you and you find out about a particular life! :)
 
Thank You Tinkerman for sharing your experience/story. It is very sad what happened...in your story and in the many others that occured across our nation. It is interesting to me how many Americans who are not Indians now -resonate with American Indian spirituality.

Getting back to the book and reincarnation I found the following in the book very interesting:

The Kutchin term for a reborn person or a reincarnaiton is Natli. The term refers at one and the same time to (1) the deceased person who has been reborn; (2) the more recently born person who now embodies the personality of the deceased; (3) the process or phenomenon of reincarnation.

To the Kutchin there is no distinction between my senses (1) and (2) as they refer to one and the same personality.
Click to expand...

It is approached like a scientific journal and report. So those looking for solid research - I recommend it. Those looking or an interesting story...it won't be your cup of tea. ;)
 
Could people who feel guilt about possibly being on the "white side" of the situations with American Natives vs "white people" cause a resonation and respect for the culture and beliefs shared by Natives after leaving a life of being part of the extermination and corralling of Native people?
 
Aaron - I think there are so many different ways of looking at situation, ways to feel about a situation, consciously and unconsciously...so many different perspectives exist for a variety of reasons, that - sure, yes - persecutors of the Indians may well take up their cause now, to right karma, to assuage their consciences, to empathize, because they couldn't before.

We rarely hear people say, "I think I was a slave owner, or I think I was General George Custer." We want to be the good guy, and we want to relate to the underdog. But many of us may have, in fact, been persecutors in times past. Maybe it's just as well we don't remember. Maybe it's just as well we empathize with our "victims" today.

As a wise person recently noted on this forum: We agree to be the perpetrator and victim many times before we decide to hang up the pattern and move on to something else, a better vibration, a step "above." Somehow all of these experiences add to our learning and are necessary to growth. So if we know we were "bad" in another life, it is just as well to let it go - chalk it up to experience and be happy we are the people we are now.

Great question, Aaron. For sure, you are right.
 
Mertzie, I found your posts fascinating (as is this thread)! So glad for your son, that he no longer has to live with that "family" out West. Your explanation about fundamentalism makes a great deal of sense: I've always wondered why some people can just sink into the beliefs they were raised with without real questioning, especially when those beliefs are very constraining.

It's interesting: I've never read before that Native Americans had reincarnation beliefs, but finding out now that they do does not come as a surprise. It all seems quite natural; a complement to reverence for animals and the earth.
 
Volchitsa - Thanks for your kind words, and I can't do anything but agree. :) It really comes as no surprise that Native Americans knew we come back and that consciousness can be in more than one place. I'm glad Deborah showed us this.
 
Hi guys, great thread..!
I don't have any specific memories of an Indian life, but I wonder what might have been "bleeding through" when I was a child. I was annoyed that I was a girl right up until I had my first crush on a boy(!), and was convinced life was better as a male. In my mind, for quite a while, I Imagined myself as an indian boy, usually 12-ish, maybe young teenage. As I got older and I heard of Amazon warriors, being a girl didn't seem quite so bad though!

Until the age of about 11 I'd roam around our huge garden, (it was an old Victorian Station Master's house, complete with disused station and platform, with a couple of miles of overgrown railway track. Fantastic place, all gone now apart from the station, which has a road running over it now. :( ), I'd make bows and arrows from the trees, quivers for the arrows from plaited bark and such, and had an obsession with finding just the right kind of knife to do this kind of thing, most of all with keeping that knife sharp.

Although I had a huge urge to hunt birds and animals, I didn't because I wouldn't have been able to take them home and eat them ("Here Mum, Magpie stew for dinner?"...!) Also I hated wearing shoes, always have, and I had skin on my feet so leathery I could walk over broken glass, and did frequently, without feeling it! I'd sing to myself in nonsense words (as far as I know), but the words meant something to me, I didn't understand them, but they made me feel peaceful, if a little sad. I loved lighting fire (bonfires, not arson!), and watching the smoke and sparks rise into the night sky.

I refused to pray to the old man on a cloud which my mum was so fond of, and prayed to the moon, stars, planets, Earth and its elements and spirits instead. I was also COMPLETELY obsessed with horses, they were something almost sacred to me, I drew them and sculpted them with whatever I could find, and to this day the sight of a horse (or preferably a whole herd), galloping across open land with their manes and tails whipped by the wind, still brings tears to my eyes.

I don't know whether any of this means anything as far as past lives is concerned, but I've never liked Westerns, they always seemed ridiculous and offensive in some way.

God, I've gone off on one again, sorry, but does any of this mean anything to anyone? It seemed to fade away as I got past puberty, and I wonder whether, for instance, there was some test for young males which might have resulted in death around that age...?
ta ta
Dawnxx
 
Dawn - You've made your case with me! I can't see any reason not to believe your were an Indian boy. Wonderful details of your growing up! :)
 
Ta Mertzie,
I don't often get the chance to talk about these kinds of memories, I always thought maybe one day I could bore my kids with my childhood stories, but you need actual children for that!!

See, this site is therapy in so many good ways!
Dawnxx
 
Hi, Deborah and thanks for posting. :)

Does anyone have a clue as to Cherokee teachings on the subject? I am about an eighth to a quarter Cherokee and though raised white by an adopted family, I would like to know more about the spirituality of the "other side" of my people.
 
I am not Native American in this life but I do have a profound affinity with all things Native American. Once many years ago I was in the Great Lakes Area and had a flashback of being a young and strong Native American male rowing across the water with an older frail person in the boat with me. Just a flash but it was there. More recently I heard the recording of Rita coolidge and the singing group Walela. Some of the songs are in the Cherokee language.
I of course do not speak Cherokee but when I heard those songs my eyes went watery. It is such an incredibly musical and beautiful language.

But to answer Deborah's question if I did in fact live as a Native American that would explain my overwhelming desire to always live in harmony with nature and the environment.
 
Thank you so much for the information on the Walela singing group. Since I am part Cherokee, it would be wonderful to hear songs in Tsilagi! :)
 
HI Lights,

According to the book I posted about in the beginning of this thread - the Cherokee did believe in reincarnation. But it does not go into details about them specifically.

I was speaking with my mother last week, and she pointed out that my Uncle Bob - who is now deceased - did extensive research on the North American Indians. His research was so intensive that several of the Universities at the time asked permission to reference his work. He was very accurate and knew a lot from his grandmother and great grandfather who were Cherokee. He was a research buff and also did geneologies for our family back to 400 BC. Mom has the HUGE charts. It's amazing.

He also did geneologies for famous movies starts in the 40's. BUT, Uncle Bob would take no credit for his work. In fact he insisted that his name not be referenced. My point?

My cousin Robin has all his manuscripts, sitting in a closet in her house. Mom suggested I call her.............. I am trying to come out of the chicken coop to ask. It's been years since I have seen her. But - nothing ventured - nothing gained. My great Great Grandfather was Cheif John Ross of the Cherokee Nation. *S*S*S On that merit alone - I guess I need to call a family POW WOW.
 
Hi, Deborah,

I would love to know more about the Cherokee people and all, but when I was growing up, my adopted family felt that being part Indian was something to hide, so I never was able to find out much...in fact I just found out the part about my being part Indian a couple of years ago when I first found my biological sister.

It's odd though, even before I found this out, I had people at work asking me if I had Indian blood and several times I have had Indians on the bus addressing me as "Sister" (in the racial sense as far as I can tell). Go figure.

I guess I will just keep looking around..that is if this computer doesn't close windows every time I try to google something! :(
 
Interesting quotes

From Father to Son -- Religion, Tradition and Being

The American Indian is of the soil, whether it be the region of the forests, plains, pueblos, or mesas. He fits into the landscape, for the hand that fashioned the continent also fashioned the man for his surroundings. He once grew as naturally as the wild sunflowers, he belongs just as the buffalo belonged ... Luther Standing Bear (1863-1939): Oglala Sioux Chief

We were taught to believe that the Great Spirit sees and hears everything, and that he never forgets: that hereafter he will give every man a spirit-home according to his deserts ... This I believe, and all my people believe the same. Joseph (Hinmaton, Yalatkit) (1830-1904): Nez PercŽ Chief

All things in the world are two. In our mind we are two -- good and evil. With our eyes we see two things -- things that are fair and things that are ugly ... We have the right hand that strikes and makes for evil, and the left hand full of kindness, near the heart. One foot may lead us to an evil way, the other foot may lead us to good. So are all things two, all two.
Eagle Chief (Letakots-Lesa) (late 19th century): Pawnee

... I hope the Great Heavenly Father, who will look down upon us, will give all the tribes his blessing, that we may go forth in peace, and live in peace all our days, and that He will look down upon our childeren and finally lift us far above this earth: and that our Heavenly Father will look upon our childeren as His childeren, that all the tribes may be His childeren, and as we shake hands to-day upon this broad plain, we may forever live in peace.
Red Cloud (Marpiya-Luta) (late 19th century): Oglala Sioux Chief

We had no churches, no religious organization, no sabbath days, no holidays, and yet we worshiped. Sometimes the whole tribe would assemble and sing and pray: sometimes a smaller number, perhaps only two or three. The songs had a few words, but were not formal. The singer would occasionally put in such words as he wished instead of the usual tone sound.
Sometimes we prayed in silence; sometimes each prayed aloud; sometimes an aged person prayed for all of us. At other times one would rise and speak to us of our duties to each other and to Usen. Our services were short.
Geronimo (Goyathlay) (1829-1909): Chiricahua Apache Chief

In the beginning of all things wisdom and knowledge were with the animals, for Tirawa, the One Above, did not speak directly to man. He sent certain animals to tell men that he showed himself through the beasts, and that from them, and from the stars and the sun and the moon should man learn .... all things tell of Tirawa.
Eagle Chief (Letakots-Lesa) (late 19th century): Pawnee

......everything on the earth has a purpose, every disease an herb to cure it, and every person a mission. This is the Indian theory of existence.
Morning Dove (Christine Quintasket) (1888-1936): Salish
 
continued

From Wakan-Tanka, the Great Mystery, comes all power. It is from Wakan-Tanka that the holy man has wisdom and the power to heal and make holy charms. Man knows that all healing plants are give by Wakan-Tanka: therefore they are holy. So too is the buffalo holy, because it is the gift of Wakan-Tanka.
Flat-Iron (Maza Blaska) (late 19th century): Oglala Sioux Chief

The traditions of our people are banded down from father to son. The chief is considered to be the must learned, and the leader of the tribe. The doctor, however, is thought to have more inspiration. He is supposed to be in communication with spiritis ... He cures the sick by the laying on of hands, and prayers and incantations and heavenly songs. He infuses new life into the patient, and performs most wonderful feats of skill in his practise .... He clothes hmself in the skin of young, innocent animals, such as the fawn; and decorates himself with the plumage of harmless birds, such as the dove and humming-bird ....
Sarah Winnemucca (1844-1891): Paiute

The Great Spirit is in all things: he is in the air we breathe. The Great Spirit is our Father, but the earth is our mother. She nourishes us; that which we put into the ground she returns to us ....
Big Thunder (Bedagi) (late 19th century): Wabanaki Algonquin

The life of an Indian is like the wings of the air. That is why you notice the hawk knows how to get his prey. The Indian is like that. The hawk swoops down on its prey; so does the Indian. In his lament he is like an animal. For instance, the coyote is sly; so is the Indian. The eagle is the same. That is why the Indian is always feathered up: he is a relative to the wings of the air.
Black Elk (1863-1950): Oglala Sioux holy man

I am poor and naked, but I am the chief of the nation. We do not want riches but we do want to train our children right. Riches would do us no good. We could not take them with us to the other world. We do not want riches. We want peace and love.
Red Cloud (Makhipiya-luta) (late 19th century): Sioux Chief

Out of the Indian approach to life there came a great freedom -- an intense and absorbing love for nature; a respect for life; enriching faith in a Supreme Power; and principles of truth, honesty, generosity, equity, and brotherhood as a guide to mundane relations.
Luther Standing Bear (1868?-1939): Oglala Sioux Chief

O ye people, be ye healed;
Life anew I bring unto ye.
O ye people, be ye healed;
Life anew I bring unto ye.
Through the Father over all
Do I thus.
Life anew I bring onto ye.

Good Eagle (Wanbli-Waste) (late 19th century): Dakota Sioux holy man.
 
Deborah - Thanks SO much! I love these! :) :) :)

This spoke to me, about the way they worshipped:

"We had no churches, no religious organization, no sabbath days, no holidays, and yet we worshiped. Sometimes the whole tribe would assemble and sing and pray: sometimes a smaller number, perhaps only two or three. The songs had a few words, but were not formal. The singer would occasionally put in such words as he wished instead of the usual tone sound.
Sometimes we prayed in silence; sometimes each prayed aloud; sometimes an aged person prayed for all of us. At other times one would rise and speak to us of our duties to each other and to Usen. Our services were short."

This is so me and could explain why I have always hated (sorry to use such a strong word) church and the artificiality of weekly worship.

Thanks again - so very much. :thumbsup:
 
Yes. I believe the same thing. The purety of worship...raw, natural, free of the encumberance of man's self-righteous claim to all things...truely apart of the creation, not some special entity with entitlements. I feel it. It is a spiritual realm far from the buildings that hold the Sunday visitors. It is lived and as necessary as breathing, mostly surfacing under the great open sky...profound moments for sure.

Thanks Deb for the quotes...I loved them. Sometime look up or Google the "Prayer of Tecumsah"...never mind here it is:

"So live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart.
Trouble no one about their religion; respect others in their view, and
Demand that they respect yours. Love your life, perfect your life,
Beautify all things in your life. Seek to make your life long and
Its purpose in the service of your people.

Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide.
Always give a word or a sign of salute when meeting or passing a friend,
Even a stranger, when in a lonely place. Show respect to all people and
Bow to none. When you arise in the morning, give thanks for the food and
For the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks,
The fault lies only in yourself. Abuse no one and nothing,
For abuse turns the wise ones to fools and robs the spirit of its vision.

When it comes your time to die, be not like those whose hearts
Are filled with fear of death, so that when their time comes
They weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again
In a different way. Sing your death song and die like a hero going home."
Click to expand...
 
My Mother is full blood choctaw Indian & my father is white. So I am 1/2 choctaw. The choctaws were put one side of the arkansas river and cherokees on the other side to seperate them. My grandmother, who died when I was 5, spoke choctaw as did her mom and dad but her mom, who evidently was the boss lol did not let her teach her children how to speak the native tongue. I don;t really know why. I also have a friend that is full blood cherokee indian and her mother spoke cherokee tongue and that was it, she would not speak english. She also went to a medicine man for smoke when she was dying of cancer and it seemed to help her some too. Our tribe headquarters is around talihina oklahoma....which was the original place where when we first came here was our home. Its like out in the middle of know where on a big rocky hill. Its a shame that alot of traditions are non existant anymore, and that being native american means that you have a card for free medical services or our tribe owns alot of casinos. ITs like the new generation has nothing to pass down to the younger ones.
 
Thank you so much for your post Lisa41. Your input in greatly appreciated.

Do you research or ask questions of the elders in your community about traditional spiritual rituals, beliefs and customs? I am assuming you are 41 - from your user ID here.

Perhaps it's your generation that will have to record -and pass down to the next. I imagine that their generation will someday look back and wish they knew their own history.

I think in any culture, it doesn't hit a person until they are in their 40's that who they are and where they came from matters. At least that's been my experience. Do the Choctaw believe in reincarnation? I am curious.
 
Lisa I am very curious if the Choctaw believe in reincarnation. I am in the process of researching my past life memories regarding a life time in the late 1700's early 1800's. I have found evidence that what I experienced and who I believe I was with ---might match.

From my journal in the 1990's. "I later found myself at the burial sight of the little one who had just died. High above the ground on stilts, carefully wrapped was the little girl." Those of you that I have shared this with know it is from over ten years ago. I found a reference for it -better yet it is a tribe that walked the trail of tears which I also clearly remember.

The website states ---

"As soon as the breath departed from the body of a Choctaw, a high scaffold was erected, thirty-six feet from the dwelling where the deceased died. It consisted of four forks set in the ground, across which poles were laid, and then a floor made of boards or cypress bark.
Click to expand...

Do you - or anyone know of websites or references which state the burial rites of various tribes? I want to know how many practiced this type of burial and which ones specifically. I don't want to jump to conclusions without knowing how many and who or if this was specifically a Choctaw burial.
 
James A Michner's "Cenntennial" (the movie version) shows this practice for the plains indians, but I can't remember if it was all tribes or just Arapaho.

From the book "Jumping Snake decreed that Lame Beaver be given a chieftan's burial, and a high wooden platform was built in three cottonwood trees beside the Platte. There, well above ground, the shattered body was laid to rest."

According to Michner, different tribes had different customs, some similar and some very different.
 
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