Introduction-E

Saullu: I will be buried facing north.
The one who was being buried was wrapped in caribou skin?
Saullu: Yes, they were wrapped in caribou skin, if there was no fabric available.
The body was then carried?
Saullu: Yes, or they were pulled on sleds or taken by dogteam if the person had wished
to be buried at a specific site on the land. They would be buried at the site they had
asked to be buried at. These are the only things I know. Some did not want to be buried
nearby, because they didn’t want their children and husbands going to the graves too
often. This is what I have heard and know.
If someone in your family died, did you go to visit the grave?
Saullu: Yes, we used to go and see the grave. Only on the third day, like when Jesus rose
from the dead.
You could only go and see the grave on the third day ?
Saullu: Yes, but we didn’t stop going to see them even after they were buried.
Pauloosie: Sometimes people even went to eat beside the grave.
Saullu: I used to go along when they went to eat beside the grave.
Pauloosie: It wasn’t a big feast, but they used to go there and eat in order to include that
person.
Saullu: The act of going to eat at the grave site was called tunillak. The people were said
to be tunillattut when they went to eat at the gravesite of the one who was once among
them. I used to go along.
Did they only go once to tunillak?
Saullu: No, they would do this now and then, isn’t that so?
Pauloosie: Yes.
Saullu: But not too often. Maybe they were following an old tradition.
Pauloosie: Yes. It’s an old tradition.
Saullu: Yes, maybe they were following old traditions. I only knew about this from old
women, not from those who have died recently. I knew about this when we still lived in
Life Stories – Pauloosie Angmarlik 113