Edward H. Davis - Early Cremation Ceremonies of the Luiseño and Diegueño Indians of Southern California; Vol. 7 No. 3

EARLY CREMATION CEREMONIES OF THE LUISEO AND DIEGUEO INDIANS OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

BY
EDWARD H. DAVIS

Published by Left of Brain Books

Copyright 2021 Left of Brain Books

ISBN 978-1-396-31830-6

eBook Edition

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Table of Contents

So many of the customs and practices of the Indians are being discarded or forgotten that it seemed advisable to gather such data as yet remained in regard to one of the primitive customs of the Indians of southern California. To do this it was necessary to interview the oldest men and women of the Luiseo and Diegueo tribes, and for the contents of this paper I am indebted to the following:

Mr Landis, Government farmer at Martinez, Riverside county; Santiago Segundo, of the Los Coyotes Indians, San Diego county; Jos Antonio Morales, Luiseo of San Pasqual, San Diego county; Maria Luisa Sunot, of Mesa Grande, San Diego county; Manuel Banegas, also of Mesa Grande, San Diego county; Celso Callac, of La Joya, San Diego county; William Guassac, also of La Joya; Jos Osuna, of Manzanita, San Diego county.

To them I express my thanks for their valued aid in enabling me to perpetuate the knowledge of the cremation ceremonies of their people.

Edward H. Davis.

By Edward H. Davis

How long the practice of cremation existed among the Luiseo and Diegueo Indians of extreme southern California cannot now be known, but it has been definitely determined that it was a settled custom until the introduction of Christianity among these tribes in the eighteenth century.

Under the influence of the padres, the ceremony fell into disuse, no doubt owing to the fact that they informed the converted Indians that unless the bodies of their deceased relatives were buried in the campo santo , or holy ground, the souls would go to the land of evil spirits. For upward of a century the practice has fallen into disuse, and the writer of this paper, realizing that all knowledge or remembrance would soon be forgotten, determined to interview such of the Indians of advanced age as had any knowledge or recollection of the ceremonies. He was singularly fortunate in this attempt, for some of the old Indians related how they had witnessed the ceremonies when children, so that the following data may be considered as trust worthy.

In his search for information the writer visited the Luiseo Indians thirty miles north of Mesa Grande, and the Diegueos sixty miles south. The territory of these two tribes is separated by the San Luis Rey river in San Diego county. Only a few of the oldest Indians, perhaps a dozen, were interviewed, and with the exception of a few minor details the information given by them was practically identical.

On the death of an Indian, or when a death was imminent, a long, shallow pit was dug, about two feet deep and in the direction of north and south. The implements used in the digging were sticks of sycamore, sharpened at both ends and charred in fire to harden them. These, together with flat stones, were used to pick the earth loose, which was then scooped out with the hands and laid to one side. As soon as a person was dead, the ceremony was begun. The pit which had been prepared was filled with dried grass and brush, upon which dried logs were placed and built up about three feet. The body of the deceased was then carried out and laid upon the funeral pyre, head to the north and face upward. One man was appointed to superintend the burning of the body, while the members of the immediate family and other relatives sat near and wept and wailed. When the pyre was lighted and the flames reached the body, great muscular contraction resulted, so that the arms and legs drew up and the body writhed, even sometimes sitting up or turning over on hands and knees. The duty of the man appointed to superintend the burning was to keep the corpse in the hottest part of the fire until consumed. This he did standing to windward, using a long green pole with which he turned the body over and over, while the nearest relatives sat with backs to the fire and mourned. This often required twelve hours, the heart being the last part to be consumed. To hasten the burning of the heart it was punched full of holes. When the flesh had been consumed and only the calcined bones remained, the fire was allowed to die, then the bones were gathered by the relatives, the larger ones being broken, and (among the Diegueos only) placed in a small olla; the other ashes and charcoal were put in until the olla was filled, then a small, bowl-shaped vessel was placed over it as a cover, and the filled jar placed in the deepest part of the pit. The remaining ashes and charcoal were scraped into the pit, and the whole leveled with the ground, so that all traces of the cremation were obliterated. Sometimes a broken metate was inverted over the spot where the olla had been deposited, as a marker. It should here be mentioned that the custom of depositing the incinerated remains in ollas is confined to the Diegueosamong the Luiseos they were merely placed in the pit and covered.

The next day the father and mother, or other near relatives of the deceased, repaired to the spot and, while sitting over the place where the olla was buried, the women had their hair cut off even with the ears. This hair was saved for the Mono, or Image, ceremony, and was used to supply the front and back hair of the image of the dead.

The man who superintended the gathering of the bones went to the temescal, or tribal sweat-house, and took a sweat, followed by a bath before the final rites, thus purifying himself. Cremation so soon after the person was thought to be dead sometimes revealed the fact that life still remained. Several such instances were related by the older Indians. It is related by an old Indian of the desert that many years ago an Indian died, his body was placed on the funeral pyre, and the fire started. When the flames reached the body the man returned to consciousness. Those present became greatly frightened. They attacked the man with clubs and beat him to death, and then completed the cremation according to custom.

Mr Landis, the government farmer at Martinez, in 1917 repeated to the writer a story related to him by the Indians at Mojave. A supposed corpse had been prepared and laid on the pyre; when the flames reached the body the man recovered consciousness and climbed down from the burning mass. The relatives, in amazement, ran away, leaving the intended victim unharmed. The man lived for years after.

In cases where there was a village, there was one general location for cremations, corresponding to a cemetery. One such place lay a little north of the old rancheria of Los Coyotes, a Cahuilla settlement, where the wind sometimes blows the sand from the shallow graves, exposing the burned bones.