Mortuary Practices and Afterlife of the Choctaw Essays -- Sociology, T

The Choctaws thrived in the fertile sandy, red-clay soil, rolling hills, and dense forests, located in the key Hills of the east-central region of Mississippi. The estimated population after early European wholesaler was between 15,000 and 20,000 and was the second largest group of Native Americans in the Southeast (Blitz 1988127).The Choctaws in the Southeast were a matrilineal society. Traditionally, women preformed tasks related to domestic life. Among these responsibilities were creating pottery and utensils, food for thought preparation, and planting and harvesting crops. The majority of their diet consisted of agricultural products such as corn, pumpkins, squash, and beans. Women would also accompany men on hunting excursions in baffle to provide food preparation. After the hunt, women were responsible for transporting the slain animal hind end to the village for processing of skins, bone, and meat (Carson 1995495-6). The greatest responsibilities of the Choctaw men w ere hunting and warfare. During the adjudicate and winter months, their primary food source was deer. Their accomplishments on hunting adventures forthwith reflected upon their social status and importance within the tribe (Carson 1995197).Although the Choctaw shared oft of their culture with many of the early(a) tribes in the Southeast, in the disposition of their dead, the antiquated Choctaws practiced a strange method different from any other Nation of people, perhaps, that ever existed (Swanton1931176).When a Choctaw tribal member became terminally ill, it was gross practice for the medicine man to inform the family of impending death (Swanton 1931170). The women cleansed the body, employ paint, daubed the face, and dressed him in his finest clothes. He was the... ...ld winds always blew. Every spirit encountered was an confrontation with no safe place to take refuge. Food was scarce, due to unimpregnated soil, lack of game, and hunger was constant. The bad hun ting grounds are unendingly lonely, with only the joyous sounds from the other side of the mountains. The doomed spirits evermore struggled to climb the treacherous mountains, but to no avail. They were eternally destined to an future of desolation (Campbell 1959149-52). The Choctaws possessed unique ceremonies in regards to their deceased as tumesce as a vivid explanation into their afterlife. Through many accounts, the acquaintance and custom of the Southeast tribe of the Choctaw will not be forgotten. Although these customs may not be practiced, the extensive documentation gives an extraordinary coup doeil into the lives of the natives of the southeast United States.