Rite of Consolation (Native American culture)

Tribes affected: Iroquois Confederacy: Cayuga, Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Seneca

Significance: This religious, social, and political funeral ceremony functions to ease grief and restore leadership

The Rite of Consolation is a ceremonial event that takes place on the death of one of the principal chiefs of the Iroquois Confederacy. The members of the confederacy, in the persons of the assigned leaders, assemble. The bereaved nation is host and is visited by those called the “clearminded,” who come to offer consolation, advice, and support. The rite consists of a prescribed series of songs and orations. Taken together, these compose a long elegy; the songs and speeches—traditionally keyed to belts of wampum—offer spiritual insight into the meaning of life and rationalize death within a philosophical system.

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The rite offers more, however, than comfort for the loss of an individual. It reminds the participants of the founders and history of the league, in particular the heroic Hiawatha and his antagonist, Atotarho, making it an educational and patriotic event. Furthermore, the rite provides for the choice and installation of a successor to the late chief. The new leader is given the name of his predecessor, and in this way the names of the original leaders are preserved. The rite thus offers a symbolic death and rebirth, both of the individual leader and of the healed and restored community.