First Nation traditional grave boxes in a trees - early 1900s

Pre-contact with Europeans, and during early days of contact, First Nations in Northern Vancouver Island practiced a burial ritual that involved entombing the deceased in a cedar box or laying them on a plank, and placing them in the branches of a large tree. The boxes were not very big, and bodies were curled up in a fetal position to fit into them. Often symbols of wealth like rattles, beads or coppers would be placed in the box. When Europeans and Hawaiians came to the North Island in the mid 1800s they often did not know what to make of these trees filled with boxes. As Christian missionaries became more influential they urged First Nations communities to move away from placing their dead in caves or in trees, and to bury their dead in the ground. Many areas where traditional tree burial practices had been undertaken were desecrated in the early 1900s by looters.

Alert Bay
City of Vancouver Archives AM54-S4-: In P117.2

Tsawatenok Tree Burial 1914 - Edward Curtis
 http://curtis.library.northwestern.edu/curtis/viewPage.cgi?id=nai.10.book.00000088.p&volume=10&showp=1&size=3#nai.10.book.00000088.p

Alert Bay
BC Archives E-04649

At times, for ceremonial purposes, the mummified remains of ancestors would be further preserved by smoking, and then could be brought out on occasions in the community.