.
Death is a very powerful symbol and we cannot talk about it in an idle, or casual way, as it will bring "bad energy" around and people will become ill. In our Native ways, we are provided guidelines for dealing with death and loss--IN CEREMONY!.
We are told that when the ceremony is completed, that
we must "let go" so that the spirit can cross over. If we hold
on too much, or too long, we prevent the spirit from going to the "spirit world". It will hang around and may make us, or someone else in our family or community,
sick. .
Fenton points out that the Iroquois used various social controls (i.e., sayings) to express displeasure or, disapproval as a way of controlling (taboos such as suicide). One such story was clearly about the taking of one's own life. Fenton said that the Iroquois believed that we are given an allotted life span. This view of natural death, as the departure on the long trail leading westward to the spirit world, marshalled Seneca public opinion against suicides. "We have an allotted time and when it's time, you will go, no matter what"...and "if through violence (against self), the spirit will be earthbound".
My interest was piqued by the reference to the primary method used to commit suicide. Evidently it had become a tradition, a choice, to take their life by ingesting the root of the water hemlock. The death was quite painful. The story that accompanied the tradition was about a plant, with delicate white flowers (the water hemlock), that would "grow upon the grave" of those who committed suicide in this manner. Fenton indicated that the Iroquois believed that "hemlock compels the potential suicide to seek it and that the plant is said to call and show itself". This was contrary to "curing plants who reveal themselves to help people".
One powerful message for understanding about the psychology of suicide came when Fenton referred to an interview with an elder about the story of the white flower growing on the grave. The old man told him, "No, no! It grows in the head of its victim until he takes it, and then it comes up later from his grave!"
One difficulty in working with people that are depressed, or are suicidal, is that "their pain and/or hopelessness" does not seem rational to US -- to THEM it is no less painful or hopeless. The depression or suicidal ideation "grows in their head" and while WE may not feel the pain, or hear the "call of the hemlock", they DO. We must take ALL suicidal guestures seriously.
It would seem that there are also clues to possible therapy, prevention and intervention in these "teachings" We see them in almost all healing principles:
1. We have to "want" to become well (as in the curing plants who reveal themselves to help people) and willing to listen and be open to the possibility. 2. Both individuals and communities are subject to "being in their heads" when in crisis. It is a form of hysteria. Subsequently, in order to think straight, plan, and begin a healing process, it is critical to affect some radical shift of consciousness. Unfortunately, for many, this often means "hitting bottom" before they are ready to do something about it. Our responsibility, as a caring community is to be there for them and to help them choose healthy alternatives.
IDLE TALK ABOUT POWERFUL SYMBOLS:
I spent some time with an Navajo elder some years ago and he told me that his people did not talk about death. There had just been nine young people that had taken their lives on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming. I kept thinking, "How can you not talk about death when our young people are taking their lives?" Some friends and I were working with young Indian students at Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute in Albuquerque and we wanted to address this
problem. In our Native ways we are taught to respect elders and not question
them. It took some time to think about what he meant and when the understanding
came, it turned my life around.
IT GROWS INSIDE YOUR HEAD:
Last year, I was conducting some research at the Newberry Library in Chicago and I came across "Iroquois Suicide", by William Fenton (Anthropological Papers -- Vol.14, Smithsonian Institute; Bureau of Ethnology, 1941), a reference to Iroquois suicide in the mid-1800's.
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