Teofolio Thesis

The tenderness and compassion that the members of this Native American community had shown Teofolio and his family following his death is indicative of a close bond that these people share. For instance, when Leon and his brother-in-law Ken found Teofolio dead under the cottonwood tree, they ritualistically tied a gray feather into the old man’s hair, sprinkled corn meal and pollen into the win and then painted his face with a traditional white steak across his forehead, a blue streak across his cheekbones, a yellow streak under his nose and a green one across his chin. Once this was completed, they wrapped the corpse in a blanket and drove it back to Teofolio’s home where they redressed it in a brown flannel shirt and a new pair of jeans. Once Ken had left to seek out gravediggers for the burial, neighbors and clanspeople brought sustenance to the home so that the gravediggers would have something to eat after they had performed their task. The neighbors were also there to show the family some support by embracing them in silence as a way to honor the deceased. When it was time to bury Teofolio, members of this Pueblo community including old men with candles and medicine bags, went to the funeral as a sign of respect to the dead and to say their goodbyes.

If the members of this Native American community were not a close-knit one, than Teofolio may have been left under the big cottonwood tree because no one would have went out to search for him following his disappearance and, if on the off-chance he was found, they would have not taken the time out of their day to make food for the gravediggers and personally deliver it to Teofolio’s family along with their