Reading Notes: Great Plains, Part A

Milky Way (Pixabay)

- The Forked Roads is a story of the Omaha that provides some information about what happens to the soul of a person after they die. It provides the explanation for one of their rituals as well. Apparently, long ago in their history, a man died and was forced to walk in the dark for four days until he was able to find the Milky Way. The Milky Way is the path in the stars that must be walked to reach the final sorting place of souls. This is why the Omaha people burn their funeral fires for four days. They provide the newly departed with light to help find the path of the Milky Way.
- After the spirit finds the Milky Way path and walks along it for a while he will come to a fork in the road. An old man sits in the middle and points to which path the spirit must take.
- Who is this old man and how does he determine the proper path of the spirit?
- It says that a short path leads to where good ghosts go and a long path leads to where ghosts go wailing. What determines if a ghost is good? What is the criteria? What makes a ghost wail?
- I think this story needs a Dante's Inferno type treatment in which someone explores the different areas of the afterlife and gets a description of what caused them to be in each specific area.


Bibliography: Myths and Legends of the Great Plains by Katharine Berry Judson. Web Source.