This year has been like no other year has been. Over the course of the year we have had over 10 deaths hit our village (Scammon Bay). I think about how we have grieved for many deaths from our youths to elders. We had a number of deaths over this late winter and spring and it is the first time we never buried the dead this year.
Usually, we go through three to four feet of snow, start at the topsoil and then dig through the gravel with picks and hydraulic jacks. After about two or three feet, we get to the softer layer below. I don't know why but maybe we got tired of digging graves over the course of the year. I don't know how we get over the process of one death after another, comforting the families, then start over again not long after.
Some deaths are shocking, unexpected and others we knew would happen. It makes me think of how much Japan went through this year in their big earthquake and all they did after the tsunami to collect all the bodies. War, famines, great sicknesses, natural disasters have taken their toll on our societies since long ago. How much of a toll it must have put the Japanese through with all their rituals they go through in the mourning and grieving process.
When it happens in a village, time seems to stand still because many things we do for fun are shut down for a while. We saw one period where we had no open gym for a week or two. It's such a hard feeling waiting for a body after it has been sent to our largest city, Anchorage, for autopsy and embalming. It is probably the most tormented feeling anyone can ever feel because going through the ritual wears us down. I can feel the shock and it hurts so much when we are in the moment.
Some religions like Islam require a quick burial; maybe it's a practice done to shorten the grieving process. Sometimes we can mourn for a week out here or longer and it's so heavy. Maybe this practice of Islam has some good because there is so much bureaucracy in death. All the state paperwork needs to be done, proper documentation must be submitted to the funeral home to release the body. It all takes days and days that seem to drag on.
It's not the end either. No matter how hard a time we think we go through, it will happen time and time again. Without spirit, this process seems so empty. But most of the people out here have strong spirituality that fills the void created by the loss of a loved one. It's hard to explain the comfort that people bring, prayers bring through God.
Most of us are taught that death is not an end but another phase of our spiritual life. Yup'iks seem to believe in reincarnation as a part of closure and moving on. I have so many sons who have been born after my boy died. Chan here, Chan there, all making me feel good about people's hearts and compassion. This is a part of the belief system that parts of departed come out in the person named after them. As one year gets close to passing, I'm not sure how we'll feel or be at the moment. I hope and pray like all the masses that have died on Earth, that my son and others who went on will be in a better place than here.
This is the last remnant of hope we call faith. If our faith can save us, we hope it can help save others who have moved on to the second phase of life. People say our prayers here on Earth can help those who have died before us. They probably also pray for us up there. If they can see us, they are probably disgusted by all the sin we think about and do.
If 100 years of Earth life is what we consider life, we must have something completely wrong when there are hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years of living after this life. We do live most of our life after what we consider death. That is eternity of life and a different vision of what we can see.
Maybe God writes a newsletter that explains all the mysteries of this short Earth life to all the permanent people up there. They say there is no heartache, pain, suffering up there. We do have something to look forward to, so we may as well make the best of the 80 to 100 years we have here. Hunt, fish, buy things you need, love your kids, rejoice that we have each other, share, value each other. As Malibu's Most Wanted would say, "Don't be hatin'." We don't have time for it.
Harley Sundown is an educator and a member of the Calista Corp. board of directors.
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