Bereaved Families Seek Consolation ‘By Grief’ of Covid-19


“We Native Americans need to be together, share food, share stories, pray for our deceased loved ones to reach their creator,” said Robert Gill, buffalo director and Sisseton resident of Buffalo, Minn. The Wahpeton Oyate tribe.

Mr Gill said he kept some of the bodies for months to give people a chance to hold a larger burial. When these gatherings finally take place, attendees are served “spirit plates” with ancestral favorite foods such as braised ribs, chokeberry jams, and roasted buffalo.

Many families use long planning periods to create detailed memories.

Frederick Harris, a Vietnam War veteran, loved Smirnoff vodka with grapefruit juice and Motown music, so his 34-year-old daughter, Nicole Elizabeth, will serve and play at his memorial in Hadley, Mass., later this year.

“Planning is daunting because I want to make it fun and be able to share memories with a lot of people,” he said. “But I hope it will bring me some peace because for most of us it’s just been this uncertainty.”

About 60 people were at church in June to honor Ms. Zimmerman-Selvidge’s father. Participants in the meeting shared their memories by passing a microphone over the benches.

Finally, it was her turn. Ms. Zimmerman-Selvidge sighed. “He loved us all very much,” he said, and then stopped.

His father’s samovar was on the table in front of him. In his bag was a letter that he forced himself to write after his death.

Sometimes it started with words that were too painful to speak out loud: “I miss you.”



Source link

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *