How is death treated in mythology? Did the concept of death create the need for religion? An article by Gary R. Varner.

All things that live must die—to complete their path of existence and to move on into an unknown land. Those who believe in a continued existence after death often cite the scientific principle that energy cannot be destroyed, only changed. As we know all living things are, in fact, composed of energy. So what, we ask, happens after death? Do we continue in our present forms and conduct our lives as we have in this existence? Are we judged by a Higher Power which may award us with a continued existence in a land of peace, plenty and beauty or, conversely, send us on to a land of eternal punishment, pain and anguish? Some have even suggested that this world, the one we now occupy, is that land of punishment, pain and anguish and we are in it because we have finished our useful lives and are now being tormented for our transgressions. In this theory, we are now experiencing “hell.”

Most every culture, regardless how “primitive” or “modern” it may be, has an internal theological tradition concerning the subject. Most people have a concept of heaven and “hell” and how individuals are to behave to be rewarded with the one and avoid the other.

In general, most “religions” regard life as simply a test to see if we are ready to accept the consequences of our behavior, it is a training ground to prepare us for the eventuality of our own end time.

How is this event, at once feared and hoped for, treated in the folklore and mythology of the world’s cultures?
When we discuss the various myths and folklore here what we are really discussing are the sacred beliefs of a people. The traditions and beliefs that formed the religious concepts and rituals are all based in a mythic origin. As such, death has played an important part of these concepts for all humankind.

To the Celts, death was simply the obverse of life. All existence is based on a dual nature such as good and evil, war and peace, love and hate—life and death. As one writer would comment on the Celts, “life and the hereafter were expressions of one single world, which was at the same time visible and invisible. Death was therefore one part of the eternal circle of becoming and passing on. Fear of death was unnecessary because the soul was immortal.

“From this perspective, life appeared to be endless. There was no beginning and no end, just an eternal continuation.” (1) Those cultures that embrace reincarnation heartily agree. Most religions at one time did recognize reincarnation—including early Christianity.

It has been suggested that religions came into existence to account for death and to give hope that the spirit survives the end of the body’s existence. Barbara Walker wrote, “Religions owe their existence to the unique ability of the human animal to understand that it must die.” (2) Perhaps the origin of religions may be attributed to this human understanding but I doubt if anyone who has lived around large animals can doubt that they too recognize death and the end of the life cycle but are simply unable to vocalize this realization so that humans understand or otherwise record it.

The path from life to death and to that land beyond, be it called heaven or something else entirely, is a difficult one. While Christians believe in the “Pearly Gates” where the sins and good deeds of the soul are judged, other traditions also include a dangerous path where the souls of the good are allowed to pass but those of lesser people often fall into the yawning mouth of eternal death.

On the Melanesian island of Malekula tribal lore speaks of a female guardian sitting before the entrance to the Land of the Dead. When a soul had been carried across the waters of death, the guardian would require the soul to perfectly recreate a pattern made in the form of a labyrinth, which the guardian had drawn across the path. If the pattern was recreated perfectly, the soul was allowed to pass through to the land of the Dead. If the soul failed the task, the guardian simply ate it. Once the soul entered the Land of the Dead it would find a "great water," a lake containing the Water of Life.

Like the Samoan Otherworld, a tree also stood on the shores of the Water of Life in the Melanesian Land of the Dead. From the tree, the soul was able to dive into the subterranean sea of life. (3)

The afterworld of the Lakota Sioux is in the northern sky. Here the departed live on in peace and plenty free of illness and sorrow. They spent their eternity playing games, singing, dancing and hunting as they wished. It is said that “agreeable women and fine horses” (4) are also there to make the afterworld an even finer experience.

In Lakota myth, the spirits of cowards or mean spirited people are met by the Spirit of the North on a narrow trail on the path to the Otherworld. The Spirit of the North trips the soul so that it falls into the waters, which separate the land of the living and the land of the dead, the Spirit of Waters is allowed to do as it will with the fallen soul. (5) Another Lakota tradition says that after death the soul “must cross a river on a very narrow tree. If he is afraid to cross the river, he returns to the world and wanders about forever. If he crosses the river, he goes to the spirit world.”(6)

The theme of the soul crossing over an abyss by walking over a narrow ledge is a widespread one. In every case, the soul is threatened with monsters, guardians of the otherworld and other varied distractions, which attempt to pull the soul into swirling waters or into deep crevasses so that it is not able to reach the underworld where eternal life is waiting. The Australian Aborigines also have such a legend. According to William Ramsay Smith, “before a soul could find entrance into that Land of Perfect Bliss it must pass along a narrow ledge of rock. On one side of this ledge was a perpendicular wall, one thousand feet high, with a perfectly smooth face…On the other side of the ledge was a chasm—deep, dark, and unfathomable.” (7)

What awaited the successful traveler was “a wonderful and beautiful country…it had the appearance of a city surrounded by four white walls…the country within the walls was mountainous…In one mountain there was an underground reservoir with an outlet on the top. The clear, cool water spouted up through this opening and trickled down the side of the mountain into the valley…” (8)

Water has been a symbol of life and eternity for thousands of years and is reflective of the ever continuing life force that the spirit contains. While death has been accepted as inevitable, since ancient times humans have attempted to defeat it. Using a combination of ritual, spells, prayer, threats and folkways, humans have struggled to overcome this inevitability—unsure if, in fact, they will be allowed to continue to the Land of Peace, they try to circumvent their own demise so that they do not have to worry about the unknown.

The fact that Neanderthal man covered his dead with red ochre and placed flowers in their graves indicates how long humans have recognized death and the possibility of surviving it.

Native Americans believed in an existence after death, depending on how an individual lived and died. The Nahuatl believed that all persons continued to live eternally and that the soul was not affected by the personal behavior of the individual prior to death. The Aztecs, on the other hand, believed in the consequences of acts that were outside those normally accepted. While the Nahuatl believed in a “heaven” where the soul continued to live much as it had on earth, they also believed in the concept of multiple heavens of lesser degrees—somewhat similar to the Christian concept of purgatory.

Nearly all indigenous people believe in the soul, or some variation and most also developed concepts of the afterlife. The soul was regarded as the essence of a creature and the belief that all things in the world have life and a soul—even rocks, trees and other inanimate object. Animism was a fairly universal concept that is still much in existence today.

The Luiseño Indians in Southern California, according to Moriarty, “recognize that there was something within the body that did not die with the flesh.” (9)

The Luiseño believed that when one died the soul went to a heavenly place ruled by Chinigchinix, the god. The Luiseño conceived of this heaven as a place similar to the terrestrial world that they lived in but with a sense that sadness and work were no longer evident. Another belief was that the soul would travel to heaven and become a new star in the night sky. In those cases where an individual died away from their traditional lands it was felt that Chinigchinix would decide if the soul was worthy to live on in heaven or not.

The Algonquin held a broader view of the soul. This people living in the northeastern United States believed that every animal possessed a soul, which enabled even the birds and bears to have reasoning ability similar to man. The Creator imposed and limited this ability but the birds were thought to be able to see within the future and in this way, they were aware of the inner workings of the universe.

The Dakota believed that an individual possessed four souls. According to J.W. Lynd, a 19th century ethnologist, these four souls included “a spirit of the body, which dies with the body. The second is a spirit that always remains with or near the body. Another is the soul which accounts for the deeds of the body, and is supposed by some to go to the south, by others west, after the death of the body. The fourth always lingers with the small bundle of the hair of the deceased, kept by the relatives until thrown into the enemy’s country, where it becomes a roving spirit, bringing death and disease.” (10)

According to Dakota tradition, the third soul was immortal; however, this tribe did not have a defined idea as to where the soul eventually went to after death. On the other hand, perhaps it was not important.

The Mandan Indians of the plains believed that the soul returned to the subterranean world that was, according to mythology, the place of origin for the Mandan people.

The Assinniboin and Athapascan tribes believed that upon death the soul migrated toward the south where the climate was warm and the game abundant. The Assinniboin concept of hell was, naturally, the reverse of this. Hell was a land of perpetual ice and snow and a lack of everything desirable.

Hidatsa concepts of the afterlife were quite developed and were similar to the concepts of the ancient Greeks. Washington Matthews, a 19th century ethnologist, wrote in an 1877 study:
“When a Hidatsa dies his shade (soul) lingers four nights around the camp or village in which he died, and then goes to the lodge of his departed kindred in the village of the dead. When he arrives there he is rewarded for his valor, self denial, and ambition on earth by receiving the same regard in the one place as in the other; for there, as here, the brave man is honored and the coward despised.” (11)

Individuals who committed suicide also went to this afterworld but had to remain separated from the others—in a form of purgatory.

The Hidatsa concept of heaven is probably similar to the conceptions of other religions—life continues although somewhat altered. The souls of humans hunted and fed off the “shades” or souls of animals that had died on earth. A lifestyle exactly the same as the earthly one was maintained. This new world of the afterlife appeared little different except that the four seasons were reversed in their order.

In Virginia, the Sapona Indians believed in a supreme god and believed that upon death all souls were taken under guard to the “great road” where the good and evil souls traveled together until they reached a fork in the road. One lane of the road was level and clean, the other strewn with rocks, and mountainous. The good and bad souls eventually were separated by strikes of lightning. (12)

According to legend, the level road, the path on the right taken by the good souls lead to a “charming warm country” where time did not exist and the weather perpetually like May. The souls, upon reaching this land, lived much as they had on the earth with one exception: everything that was attempted was successfully accomplished. The animals were plentiful and fat. At the entryway to this land of plenty sat an old man who, like St. Peter, determined if the soul was worthy to enter.

The left path, covered with debris, lead to a land of perpetual hunger. A “bitter kind of potato” was the only source of food, which gave the soul-body great ulcers. The land was covered with another miserable thing—an eternal blanket of snow. According to Sapona legend, the women who resided in this hell were all ugly and attacked the men constantly with their unbridled passions. To make things worse they could only communicate in shrill tones. The ruler of this afterworld was an ancient, ugly woman with serpent-like hair. It was her only duty to determine the various degrees and period of torture with the type and amount of torture given out depending on the amount of sins accumulated by the soul. If, after the period of torture was completed, the soul had repented of its crimes it was allowed to travel on to “the regions of bliss.”

Like the Sapona, the Natchez also had a very defined concept of the afterlife. They believed so strongly in a heaven with abundant feasting, dancing women and pleasure that the men willingly went to their deaths in battle so that they would enter this afterworld sooner. The Natchez also believed in a hell in which the soul was left naked, exposed to mosquitoes, the world covered in water, and food limited to spoiled fish.

The Chippewa (13) and many other tribes believed in the duality of the soul. This, they thought, accounted for the actions of the mind in the dream world. They denoted the duality with the terms “inaindum” for the mind and “otchichuag” for the soul. The ghost or apparition sometimes seen after an individual dies is called the “jebi”. These parts of the self were separate and functioned individually. Some Indians, however, believed that an individual was composed of two souls, one which remained with the body as the other roamed freely in the dream world.

The belief in animal souls was common in both north and south American cultures. Because animals were believed to possess a soul certain proscribed steps had to be taken prior to hunting commencing. If an animal was killed in an “indecent manner,” it could report its death to other animals both living and dead since they shared a “common mind.” If the hunter had wronged the animal, no other animal would permit itself to be taken in this or the next world.
To the Aztecs all beasts and birds possessed souls. The souls of men killed in battle and those of women who died in childbirth were believed to ascend to heaven, to the House of the Sun, to reside with the Lord of Glory, living in happiness and ease. After four years, however, the souls returned to the earth in the forms of beautiful birds or as clouds. Those Aztecs not cremated, and thusly not receiving the final purification, had their souls confined to a “terrestrial paradise” (14) which was blissful but still separate from that in the House of the Sun.

The Tlascallan people had similar concepts of the soul’s survival except only the noble class would ever return to the earth in the form of beautiful, plumed birds. According to Tlascallan tradition, the common people could only return to the earth as insects. Tlascallan’s who died in disasters, of illness or accident were assured of an afterlife of “peace and pleasure” in the home of the god Haloc.

American Plains Indian concepts were a bit simpler. While an immortal soul was a given, concepts of awards or punishments in an afterworld were not entertained. The most common belief was that the soul would continue to exist in a world parallel to the earthly world.

The Pawnee’s belief system of an afterlife was included in their cosmological views. The Pawnee believed that some souls traveled to the heavens to become stars while other souls belong to those who died of illness or cowardice forever traveled the Milky Way from end to end. Of course, the chiefs, shamans and priests all ascended to a distant heavenly village.

To the Navajo, the individual had both good and bad spirits that inhabited the body. (15) Both spirits were said to leave the body at death but neither was considered the true “essence” of the personality. After death, the good spirit was thought to go on to a replica of its earthly existence in a subterranean world in the far north. While this existence was not particularly “heavenly”, it did provide for a continued existence in a comfortable environment.

The Hopi Indians of the American Southwest held similar beliefs. This tribe believed in the immortality of the soul and that an afterlife was lived in a parallel world to that experienced on the earth during their lives. The soul was believed to live, work and play in the same manner as the individual had on earth. However, the soul was also thought to have the ability to float in the clouds and to bring rain to the physical world.
But why do we die? Is it simply the end result of the body no longer being able to sustain itself, with the cells decaying to a point where continued animation is no longer possible? Or does death open new doorways for the soul?

The Druids taught that their God of Death, Donn, was also the source of life. This concept is fairly common among religions and it is not dissimilar to the Judeo-Christian belief that God causes both life and death, destruction and renewal. This duality exists throughout the universe. In writing about the Celts, writer Juliette Wood notes “Nature both gives and takes life, and these two opposites are completely interdependent: nothing can flourish or be healed without destruction.” (16)

In the West African rainforest, the Ewe believes that the soul is made of two halves, the life soul, which originates in the spirit world, and the death soul which originates in the underworld. According to the Ewe, the life soul always returns to the world of the spirit where it continues to reside in a world identical to the physical world in which the body previously lives. The death soul journeys onward to a place called the “house behind the river” where it reunites with the souls of its ancestors. There is no “hell” concept in Ewe tradition although famine can exist in the Ewe otherworld. Should this happen, the Ewe spirit may request food from the living, which is placed on the ground as an offering. (17)

“Hell” in its present form did not exist in pre-Christian times. In fact, during the early years of the development of Christianity only reference to “a world above” was made—a world that God and the angels called home. At this time, certain acts were believed to result in damnation, which was a separation from God but not equated with eternal torture.

The concept of Hell being a place of never-ending horror developed during the Middle Ages when it became useful to the Church to inspire conformity and to generate additional income to the Church by those wishing to buy indulgences.

However, while the concept of Hell was fleshed out in almost gleeful cruelty by the Church, it seemed not to care that equal time was not given concerning what actually happens to the soul at death.

According to Terhart, “Death is the dark grave to which the person concerned is brought—no Paradise, no Purgatory, but also no Hell. The only salvation lies in the prospect of a distant judgment after leading a Christian life that has been pleasing in the sight of God.” (18) The Christian myth of Purgatory was created by Pope Benedict XII in the 14th century. Purgatory was a place for souls not worthy of either heaven or Hell. The concept, however, is much older. Buddhism includes such a doctrine that was part of their tradition some five centuries prior to the advent of Christianity. This ancient tradition is found throughout the world.

Folklore is filled with stories and remedies concerning the avoidance of death as well as the various signs and portents that appear to foretell such an event.

The belief in the soul’s immortality continues to this day, however the amount of care that people take to bury their dead has certainly changed since humans were interred in megalithic tombs or under piles of rocks. Today expensive and unnecessary caskets take the place of dolmen burials, internment in long barrows and tree burials. The meaning that people place on these burials has certainly changed as well. In the past, the long barrows and other ancient tombs not only held the bones of the dead but also were centers of ritual and religious activity. They were created to satisfy the dead so that they would no longer wish to return to the land of the living and create harm. Elaborate offerings were often placed with the deceased so that the individual’s wealth, as little as that may be, remained with him or her into the afterlife.

Today cemeteries are simply depositories of the dead—a convenient place to leave them, seldom visited, never a part of the ongoing life and ritual of the community as they used to be. Even the once impressive carved-stone monuments of American cemeteries have been reduced to simple, unadorned slabs of metal.

While contemporary man espouses a philosophy of life (a philosophy in reality seldom put into action), by ignoring the dead and the process that death plays in the scheme of the Universe, he is ignoring his other half of existence because it makes him uncomfortable.

As J.C. Cooper wrote, “Death is…the change from one mode of being to another, the reunion of the body with the earth and the soul with the spirit.” (19) Death must occur to achieve spiritual rebirth and a continuation into an, as yet, unknown life or energy form.

Native Americans blame the necessity of death on the Trickster God Coyote. In the Paiute myth, “Why People Die” Coyote and Wolf argue about whether or not the elderly should be able to climb Bald Mountain to bathe in the sacred spring found at the top. By bathing in these waters, the elderly become young again and never die. Coyote believed that people should die when they reach old age but Wolf thought otherwise. Coyote became so angry “that he kicked Bald Mountain and it toppled over into the valley below”. (20) The magical waters were destroyed and people then had to face death. In the Apache myth, “…Coyote makes death inevitable for mankind by throwing a stone into the water and declaring that, if it sinks, living beings shall ultimately die.” (21)

Why we die cannot be so simply explained as part of Coyote’s mischief. Nevertheless, perhaps we do not need to know “why” but rather “how”. No one escapes it but few today have tried to travel the road to the Otherworld as the ancients did, walking hand in hand with our ancestors and welcoming the new experience waiting for us in the second half of our existence.

Unfortunately, many in today’s world haven’t any time to prepare to take the peaceful road to the otherworld as they are subjected to sudden and horrific deaths at the hands of governments, rival ethnic and religious groups or those who never understood the word “tolerance.” However, death will come for those as well. It is the ultimate equalizer.
Notes
1. Terhart, Franjo. Beyond Death: Life in the Hereafter. Bath: Paragon Books, Ltd., n/d, 26.
2. Walker, Barbara G. The Women’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets. Edison: Castle Books 1983, 213.
3. Campbell, Joseph. The Masks of God: Primitive Mythology. New York: The Viking Press 1959, 70
4. Walker, James R. Lakota: Belief and Ritual. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press 1991, 123
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid., 71.
7. Smith, William Ramsay. Aborigine Myths and Legends. London: Senate 1996, 175. A reprint of the 1930 edition, Myths & Legends of the Australian Aborigines published by George G. Harrap, London.
8. Ibid. 174.
9. Moriarty, James Robert. Chinigchinix: An Indigenous California Indian Religion. Los Angeles: Southwest Museum 1969, 50.
10. Lynd, J.W. Religion of the Dakotas. Minn. Hist. Soc. Collection., ca. 1857, vol. 2, pt. 2., 68, 80.
11. Matthews, Washington. Ethnological and Philol. Of Hidatsa Indians. Washington: U.S. Geological and Geographical Survey, Misc. Publications #7, 1877, 49.
12. Byrd, William. History of the Dividing Line, Vol. 1, 1792 (reprinted 1866), 106-108.
13. Schoolcraft, Henry R. History of the Indian Tribes of the United States. New York: J.B. Lippincott & Co. 1857, 638.
14. Sejourne, Laurette. Burning Water. Vanguard Press 1956, 101.
15. Ferm, Vergilius, ed. Ancient Religions: A Symposium. New York: Philosophical Library 1950, 360.
16. Wood, Juliette. The Celtic Book of Living and Dying. San Francisco: Chronicle Books LLC. 2000, 26.
17. Terhart, op cit., 25.
18. Op cit., 40.
19. Cooper, J.C. An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Traditional Symbols. London: Thames and Hudson Ltd. 1978, 50.
20. Riddell, Francis A. Honey Lake Paiute Ethnography. Carson City: Nevada State Museum Anthropological Papers #4 1960, 80
21. Opler, Morris Edward. An Apache Life-Way: The Economic, Social, and Religious Institutions of the Chiricahua Indians. Chicago: University of Chicago Press 1941, 197