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From: tim tingle <timtingle_at_hotmail.com>
Date: Fri, 21 Feb 2014 02:38:26 +0000
Would you tell us about the bone-pickers in How I Became a Ghost? These questions are bringing back the memories. In 1993, during my first trip to the Choctaw Nation of Mississippi, long before the Casino days, I sat with tribal historian Dr. Robert Fergusen in a small fried chicken restaurant. Fellow collectors of tribal folklore will recognize his role. He was the tribal gatekeeper. We talked of the new high school, Choctaw factories, then came the silence. Dr. Fergusen leaned forward and said, "There are empty coffins in the graveyards." He told me of the bone-pickers who lived in the deep woods and never left their home. Young Choctaws were assigned the honor of bringing food and supplies.
In the old days when a Choctaw died, the body was placed on a raised platform near the home of the bone-pickers. When the flesh was dried, the body was removed and the bone-pickers went to work, cleansing the bones and readying them for burial in a mound, with a small hole at one end for the coming and going of the spirit.
After two weeks in Mississippi, I returned home and began writing "Walking the Choctaw Road." The bone-cleansing appears in the short story, "Trail of Tears," and in the novel "HIBAG," I was able to give character and life to these elder Choctaw women who walk between two worlds. For a much better description of the bone-pickers, turn to Chapter 22,
"Buried With the Bones." This chapter is another example of humor in the most dire of circumstances, as the bone-pickers take advantage of the Nahullo fear of blood. The chapter ends with a bone-picker declaring, "The more blood the better!"
In a some-day-to-be-published YA novel, "Stone River Crossing," a follow-up to "Crossing Bok Chitto," the bone-pickers welcome Lil Mo into their quiet little abode during a rainstorm.
Date: Fri, 21 Feb 2014 02:38:26 +0000
Would you tell us about the bone-pickers in How I Became a Ghost? These questions are bringing back the memories. In 1993, during my first trip to the Choctaw Nation of Mississippi, long before the Casino days, I sat with tribal historian Dr. Robert Fergusen in a small fried chicken restaurant. Fellow collectors of tribal folklore will recognize his role. He was the tribal gatekeeper. We talked of the new high school, Choctaw factories, then came the silence. Dr. Fergusen leaned forward and said, "There are empty coffins in the graveyards." He told me of the bone-pickers who lived in the deep woods and never left their home. Young Choctaws were assigned the honor of bringing food and supplies.
In the old days when a Choctaw died, the body was placed on a raised platform near the home of the bone-pickers. When the flesh was dried, the body was removed and the bone-pickers went to work, cleansing the bones and readying them for burial in a mound, with a small hole at one end for the coming and going of the spirit.
After two weeks in Mississippi, I returned home and began writing "Walking the Choctaw Road." The bone-cleansing appears in the short story, "Trail of Tears," and in the novel "HIBAG," I was able to give character and life to these elder Choctaw women who walk between two worlds. For a much better description of the bone-pickers, turn to Chapter 22,
"Buried With the Bones." This chapter is another example of humor in the most dire of circumstances, as the bone-pickers take advantage of the Nahullo fear of blood. The chapter ends with a bone-picker declaring, "The more blood the better!"
In a some-day-to-be-published YA novel, "Stone River Crossing," a follow-up to "Crossing Bok Chitto," the bone-pickers welcome Lil Mo into their quiet little abode during a rainstorm.
---
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Received on Thu 20 Feb 2014 08:38:55 PM CST
