A subject handled with restraint
Few areas of Apache life call for more care than death and mourning. Customs vary between nations, between communities and between families, and many people consider the details to be private. What follows is limited to what has been documented in published sources, mostly by outside anthropologists in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and to general points that are widely understood. It should not be read as a description of what any particular family does today.
The title speaks of “ancestral spirits”. That phrase is a convenient label, but beliefs about the dead differ, and the sources do not support a single account. Many Apache people today are Christian, some follow traditional beliefs, and some combine them. It is better to speak of how the dead are honored than to claim certainty about what anyone believes.
Avoiding the names of the dead
The custom most often mentioned in published sources is reluctance to speak the name of a person who has died. Ethnographers working among several Apache groups, including the Chiricahua and Mescalero (documented by Morris Opler) and the Western Apache, recorded that the names of the dead were generally not spoken, at least for a period and sometimes much longer. Where a reference was needed, people could use a descriptive phrase or a kinship term instead.
The reasons given in sources relate to respect and to the belief that speaking the name might call the attention of the dead and cause harm or distress to the living. Such explanations come through the interpretation of outside writers, and the way individual Apache people describe the custom today may differ. What can safely be said is that it was a recorded custom, that it reflected care for the dead and the bereaved, and that its observance has varied.
The same sources sometimes describe a related reluctance to name the dead in ordinary conversation, in stories, or in the naming of children. Communities have handled this differently. In some, the custom has relaxed. In others it remains important.
Burial, belongings and places
Published accounts describe a number of practices historically associated with death, again with variation by group and period.
- Prompt burial. Several sources describe burial taking place soon after death, often in a place chosen by the family, such as a rock crevice or other secluded site, away from settlements.
- Belongings. Some accounts say that a person’s possessions were buried with them, given away, or destroyed. The reasons were linked to avoiding reminders of the loss and to concern about contact with the dead.
- Places of death. Sources describe the abandonment or avoidance of the dwelling or place where a person died. This is one reason older Apache camps could be moved after a death.
- Mourning behavior. Relatives might cut their hair, avoid certain activities, or withdraw from social events for a period. Details varied.
None of this should be read as universal. Different Apache nations followed different customs, and by the reservation era changes were already underway. Churches, government rules about burial, health regulations and boarding schools all affected how families handled death. Burial in cemeteries became common, and cemeteries such as those at Fort Sill, where many Chiricahua prisoners of war and their descendants are buried, became places of memory. The Fort Sill Apache cemeteries are a reminder that remembrance can also be tied to a history of imprisonment and exile.
Grief, community and obligation
Published sources suggest a few themes that run through mourning. Grief was recognized as a danger to the health of the survivors, so communities supported the bereaved. Kin had specific duties. A death affected the extended family, which is a reminder of how central kinship was and is in Apache life. The clan system among the Western Apache, for example, shaped who took part and who helped.
Healers might also be involved in times of illness and loss, but ceremonial matters surrounding death are among those that communities generally do not discuss with the public, and this article does not attempt to.
Burial sites and the dead today
The dead are also part of an ongoing public conversation about land and museums. For decades, human remains and burial items were removed from Native graves and held in museum and university collections. Since 1990, federal law has required many institutions to consult with tribes and to return certain remains and objects, and that process is known as repatriation. The reburial of ancestors is treated by Native nations as a serious obligation. The return of sacred objects follows the same law and the same principle.
Because of these histories, visitors to Apache lands are asked to avoid disturbing graves and old camp sites, and to treat archaeological remains as protected.
Reading older sources carefully
Early ethnographies are useful but limited. They were usually written by outsiders, sometimes based on a few conversations, and they can present customs as fixed and timeless when they were changing. They sometimes use language like “taboo” or “superstition” that reflects the writers’ assumptions. When using them, notice who the author is, when and where the work was done, and which group is being described.
For current guidance, the cultural offices and official websites of the Apache nations are the right sources. Families who have lost someone will follow the practices that are right for them, and outsiders are best advised to follow the lead of their hosts, with respect and without questions.