Bundling of Ancestors Completed

March 3, 2020 - Jessica Yann, with contribution from William Johnson

Tribal representatives from the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi-Gun Lake Tribe, the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan, and the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians along with several MSU faculty (Dylan Miner, Joe Hefner, Jessica Yann) came to Michigan State University to work on bundling the ancestors to make them more comfortable until they are repatriated. This monumental task has been the product of significant work over the course of several visits, but I am happy to report that all the ancestors from Michigan and unknown proveniences have all been bundled.

For those that aren't familiar with bundling, bundling is the process of using culturally appropriate cloth to cover and protect the physical remains of a person of Native American ancestry and associated funerary objects under NAGPRA. Bundling is important to Tribal Requestors and descendant communities with respect to honoring traditional beliefs and providing for the spiritual wellbeing of individual tribes until repatriation and reburial.