Wendat Feast Of The Dead Summary

709 Words2 Pages

In 1625, Jean de Brebeuf a French Jesuit missionary along with other Jesuit missionaries and servants set out and traveled to present day Georgia Bay. The aim of this voyage was the convert the native people of this land known as the Wendat to Christianity. In order to do this, several Jesuit missions were built near the Georgian Bay. However, it was clear from the beginning that the Hurons or Wendat people would not easily accept Brebeuf’s religion of Christinanity. There were many challenges, which he face during his time in the Wendat society, but eventually he was able to convert a sizeable amount of people.
The main story told in the book “ The Huron-Wendat Feast of the Dead” is basically the time Jean de Brebeuf spent within the Wendat …show more content…

It was a time of both mourning and celebration for the Wyandot people. This custom involved the unearthing or removal of relatives who had passed away from their initial graves and reburying them in a final communal grave. Many Wendats stood at the edge of an enormous burial pit. As they stood there, they held the bones of their deceased friends and family members. The bones that they held had been scraped and cleaned of corpses that had decomposed on scaffolds. Before dropping the bones into the pit they waited the signal of the master of the ritual. After the signal has been giving they can finally place the bones of their loved ones in the pit and have a sense of peace for their loved …show more content…

Both of these groups of people believed and followed to religions that centered on the mysteries of death and the afterlife. They also both believed that the soul of a dead person embarked on a journey to the afterlife. The power and importance of human bones was a shared belief between the two groups. They also shared the belief that with careful preparation a corpse and the following of mortuary rituals helps ensure the safe passage of the soul the supernatural realm or afterlife.
However, it is the similarities and differences between beliefs that drives the two groups apart and also because of the contact French became increasingly important to the traditional customs of the Wendat and the spilt in the Wendat community caused by the conversion of Wendats to Christianity. And would in turn lead to the complete destruction of the traditional Wendat

More about Wendat Feast Of The Dead Summary

Open Document