Here's how they do it in... Alaska
| 2.2 minutes reading time
Alaska has been the largest and 49th state in the United States since 1959. The state was bought from the Tsarist Russia in 1867 for $7.2 million and was an incorporated territory until 1959. So Alaska has a Siberian cultural background.
Shamanism
Early inhabitants of Siberia crossed over to the Americas by land and sea. First to the western part of the US, later also to the eastern part and to Canada. It is therefore logical that the cultures of the Siberians, the Indians and the Greenlandic Inuit (Eskimos) have similarities, especially in terms of their religion, shamanism. Within shamanism, it is assumed that the visible world and the lives of living people are influenced by invisible forces or spirits.
When Russian Orthodox settlers moved to Alaska in the mid-18th century to make their fortune from the fur trade, they stumbled upon the ancient cultures of the shamanic hunters. The indigenous people did not seem to be able to withstand the diseases that the settlers brought with them and the exploitation that accompanied their arrival. It was only when more and more mixed marriages came about that the relationship became more balanced.
The people of Alaska seemed to go along with the Russian Orthodox faith more and more, but when the country came into American hands, the population switched to the Eastern Orthodox Church because of its respect for the centuries-old culture of the shamans, including the rituals of death and burial.
At first, there were no priests in Alaska. However, a mission station was set up with monks from Finland and Russia. The most important monk was Herman of Alaska. The first Orthodox priest was called Ioann Veniaminov.
Spirit houses
The indigenous people cremated their dead before the arrival of the settlers. The ashes were placed in a basket on the bank of a river in preparation for the soul's journey to the afterlife. The Orthodox Church in Alaska then forbade the burning of the dead and so the so-called spirit houses were created.
Family of a deceased person puts stones and blankets over the freshly dug grave to keep the soul warm. After 40 days, the time it takes for a soul to travel to the afterlife, a spirit house is placed over the grave so that the soul cannot walk around haunting.
A spirit house bears the colors of the clan from which the deceased originates. All kinds of objects that the soul may need are placed at the grave. The spirit house is not maintained, everything must be able to return to nature.
Spirit houses are not only to be found in Alaska. Many North American Indian tribes also have this practice. Among the Indians, however, the spirit houses have little color and you don't see any orthodox crosses.
