Pit Burial- Pacific Northwest Haida

     Hye,let's move on to the third entry for world's unique burial. My third entry will story about pit burial on Pacific Northwest Haida. The Haida people (American northwest coast) do not believe in individual burial. People who have died are believed to be buried in a large open pit behind their village according to their tradition.

The picture shows a group of Haida People in Pacific Northwest Haida - courtesy of Google

     This large pit is opened for the commoners to be buried. But for the respected people such as shamans,chiefs or warriors, they will receive special treatment when they die. As Haida people have massive respect towards them, so that their burial will be a little more special compared to the commoners. These special burials require them to be preserved exclusively in a small wooden box.

 Small wooden box to bury shamans,chiefs or warriors - courtesy of Google

 Another example of small wooden box to bury shamans,chiefs or warriors - courtesy of Google

     This box is actually very small in size to keep an adult human body, so what the Haida people will do is they crush the remains body with clubs to fit in that small box. That sounds so ridiculous, isn't it? According to their tradition, the box will be placed with a totem pole in front of the longhouse of the man's tribe. The various icons are being displayed by the totem poles at the Haida's Longhouse. They will function as guardians of the dead body's spirit as it will make its way to the journey into the upcoming world after this. 

 Haida's Longhouse - courtesy of Google

Another example of Haida's Longhouse - courtesy of Google

Furthermore, Haida people believe that after death, a person's soul will be released and taken up by newborn members of the family. When the newborn babies have arrived in the family, their actions and features will be watched carefully by the family members to detect whose soul they had inherited. Their home will act as a protection to these souls until death and we can see that the cycle will repeat over and over again. Quite interesting, isn't? I love the carvings on the Haida Longhouse the most. It is extraordinary beautiful. Back to the main topic, this tradition makes me realize that not all cultures practice burying the dead body individually.  The tradition is also attractive to be known by people all around the world. So, that's all for this entry. Hope the readers will enjoy reading it!