A variety of factors make it challenging to provide a brief overview of traditional death-related beliefs and practices among Indigenous peoples in the US and Canada. These factors include: the diversity among Indigenous peoples; the use of oral traditions to share histories and pass on knowledge; and the impact of colonization on traditional cultural and spiritual beliefs and ways of knowing.

Diversity

Indigenous peoples have inhabited what is known as North America and Canada for tens of thousands of years, long before colonization (Stolen Lives, 2015).

Today, within the geographic boundaries of the United States, there are over 570 federally recognized Indigenous tribes, each with its own unique cultural, spiritual, and linguistic traditions (U.S. Department of the Interior, 2023).

Arizona is home to 22 federally recognized tribes, including the Navajo Nation, the largest tribal landholding in the U.S., and the Tohono O’odham Nation, which spans both the U.S. and Mexico (Arizona Governor’s Office on Tribal Relations, 2023). These tribes reflect the broader diversity found across Indigenous peoples in the U.S., where beliefs, values, and practices vary significantly due to historical and geographic differences (Diné Policy Institute, 2016). See here for more information.

This diversity also extends to death-related beliefs and practices, with many Indigenous communities maintaining distinct traditions related to death, mourning, and the afterlife that have been passed down for generations (John, 2013; Lomawaima, 2004).

Oral Traditions & Knowledge Sharing

Traditional Indigenous knowledges, and cultural and spiritual practices are passed down orally from one generation to the next within each community via storytelling, dances, performances, songs, and art (AHS, 2016; United Nations, 2019; Indigenous Foundations, 2009). Oral traditions are the foundation of Indigenous societies, “connecting speaker with listener in communal experience and uniting past and present in memory” (Indigenous Foundations, 2009, para. 2). Despite the diversity among Indigenous peoples, there is a common traditional spirituality “rooted in their connection to nature, the earth, and one another” (Kinsella et al., n.d., p. 247) and in the recognition of death as part of the circle of life (Anderson & Woticky, 2018).

Colonization

Ever since the arrival of settlers from European nations and the colonization of North America, Indigenous peoples’ ways of life, their cultural and spiritual views and practices and their lives have been increasingly threatened through forced conversion to Christianity; genocide and cultural genocide that occurred in the Residential School system; the banning of traditional practices, and more (See Chapter on Genocide) (TRC, 2015). Efforts to force Christianity on Indigenous peoples to supplant their traditional spiritual beliefs and cultural practices, negatively impacted oral transmission of knowledge, while significantly altering spiritual belief systems (Hunter Crouse, 2020; Kinsella, et al., n.d; Muzyka, 2020). For some Indigenous peoples, forced Christianity has overwritten and almost completely replaced traditional cultural practices. For others, it has resulted in a combining of spiritual practices, “a fusion” of traditional Indigenous beliefs and Christianity (Murray, 2015). In other communities, there is a growing revitalization and embrace of traditional Indigenous beliefs and practices (Kinsella, et al., n.d.).

Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Dying

While colonization disrupted and suppressed many Indigenous practices, traditional ways of knowing about death and dying continue to offer guidance and healing. Anderson and Woticky (2018) describe how Indigenous knowledge systems—rooted in community, spirituality, and balance—can help reclaim dying as a time of connection rather than fear.

Across many Indigenous teachings, death is not viewed as a medical event but as a spiritual transition. The end of life is understood as a movement of the spirit within a larger cycle, offering what Anderson and Woticky call an auspicious opportunity for healing. Healing extends beyond the individual to include families, communities, and the relationships among all living beings.

The Medicine Wheel

The Medicine Wheel is a central symbol in many Indigenous worldviews, representing the interconnection of the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual aspects of life.
At the end of life, these four realms remain inseparable—attention to the body alone is insufficient without addressing spirit, emotion, and thought.
Healing through the Medicine Wheel involves restoring balance among these realms and between individuals, community, and the natural world. Ceremonies such as drumming, smudging, and prayer circles are often integral to this process, helping guide the spirit on its journey and support those who remain.

The Two Row Wampum

The Two Row Wampum (Kaswentha), a Haudenosaunee teaching, describes two vessels—a canoe (representing Indigenous ways) and a ship (representing Western ways)—traveling down the same river side by side. Each follows its own path, guided by peace, friendship, and respect, without steering the other’s course.
Applied to death and dying, this teaching reminds us that Indigenous and Western approaches can coexist, but genuine reconciliation requires dialogue and mutual respect. Anderson (2018) uses the Two Row Wampum to describe the “ethical space” between worldviews, where both can meet without one dominating the other.

Urban Indigenous Experiences

Most Indigenous people in the U.S. and Canada now live in urban areas, often far from their ancestral lands and traditional healers. This can make it difficult to access cultural or ceremonial supports at the end of life. Anderson and Woticky (2018) emphasize that creating culturally safe spaces in hospitals, hospices, and long-term care facilities—spaces where ceremony, community gathering, and spirit work are welcomed—is essential for healing. Even simple acts such as allowing family members to gather, sing, or smudge can affirm dignity and connection.

Restoring Balance and Spirit

Indigenous approaches to death remind us that “dying well” is part of living well.
When ceremony and community are honored, the end of life becomes a time for reconciliation, storytelling, gratitude, and release.
These ways of knowing invite both Indigenous and non-Indigenous learners to see death not as an ending, but as a continuation of relationship—a return to balance within the circle of life.