Climbing the Trail to Heaven: traditional funerals and burial practices in Dane-zaa territory - an ethnographic account from North-eastern British Columbia

Abstract

ABSTRACT While performing fieldwork in Fort St. John (July 2019-August 2020), I attended two traditional funerals organised by Doig River First Nation, a Dane-zaa First Nation of North-eastern British Columbia. As per the Dane-zaa tradition, drumming, singing, and dancing around the fire were key components of both funerals. Nevertheless, there was an essential difference between the two ceremonies. The 2019 funeral celebrated for Janice Askoty was a blended ceremony where traditional practices were performed alongside a Christian liturgy. Such a ceremony underlined existing tensions between community members regarding faith and systems of beliefs. These tensions were absent in the 2020 funeral celebrated for Annie Oker, where there was no Christian liturgy. Drawing on my observations and using the concept of syncretism, in this paper, I highlight how indigenous cultural practices, symbols, and beliefs have been integrated with Christian practices to the point that new blended practices have been established. At the same time, I point out how some traditional practices (i.e. drumming, singing, and dancing around the fire) have not been modified by external influences, surviving until now. In conclusion, I describe how colonialism’s legacy still manifests itself during funerary celebrations and how community members perceive, face, and counter it.