Apache Views on Death

Apaches never recklessly threw away their lives or took unnecessary risk unless it was absolutely critical to stay alive to protect women, children and elderly from their enemies. Apaches had a deep aversion toward death and emphasized the importance of life, of survival, of longevity. When a person died like Cochise his name was never to be mentioned again as it would confuse the deceased spirit about the plane he/she was  on. In the “Spirit World” it was anticipated that relationships would be resumed there. This is the thought that Cochise left Tom Jeffords with, as he neared death in 1874, when Cochise insisted to the skeptical Jeffords that they would meet again, “up there”. In fact, Apaches believed that in the “Happy Place” their enjoyment would be magnified. Preparation for burial involved putting the body into a sitting position so that its ghost could not look back on the village accompanied by favorite possessions or weapons of deceased. Legend has it that Cochise was buried with his silver engraved shotgun and favorite horse in a hidden deep cave located in the Dragoon Mountains. His wives cut their hair, wailed, burned the wickiup with all his possessions, and covered their face with charcoal protecting themselves from dark spirits of night! As the burial concluded the Medicine Doctor would declare; “Goodbye, it’s finished. We shall speak his name no more.” The Apaches believed that to get to the “Happy Place” you had to go through a rite of passage protected by animal gatekeepers, two serpents, grizzlies and mountain lions, and upon successfully passing these challenges you found yourself in a beautiful green valley where there was plenty of game and the People. According to Jeffords, Cochise given his “Greatness” was mourned with deep lamentation for four days by his people. Paradoxically the Apache custom of burning all physical signs and never mentioning the Name of the decease again means that it becomes difficult to determine genealogy or relationship. For instance, Cochise’s mother’s name remains unknown. She was probably treacherously killed along with her husabnd Pisago Cabezon at Galeana in Sonora in 1845. There still remains uncertainty however about who Cochise's father was although circumstance suggests Pisago Cabezon.(Cf Aleshire, p.17 & 61-63.)