Ghost Supper

On 27 Oct 1909 Lucy Trotochaud Duvernay wrote from Pawkuska, Oklahoma to she sister-in-law, Louise Genereau, in Petoskey, Michigan. Lucy reminded Louise to have a Ghost Supper on All Saint's Day. 

"Ghost suppers are held eacy year during the first week of November by the Ottawas in the northern regions of the Lower Peninsla of Michigan. To mention a few places, there is Cross Village, Middle Village (the oldest Indian settlement in the region), Five Mile Creek, Harbor Springs, Petoskey and Burt Lake. 

At this time one or two families in the community will cook a large supper, to which is generally understood all the Indians are invited. The word just gets around that some family is getting up a supper commemoration the spirits of their departed, hence, the name Ghost Suppers. To expecially honor the memory of those who have gone to the "Happy Hunting Goung," the family will invite a few people approximately of the same age of the deceased. Tobacco will be given to them if the person they are supposed to represent was a tobacco user; if not, some gift will be presented. Children are given candies or some little gift. Custom requires that these few especially invited guests come early enough, if possible, so that they will be among the first served.

The Indians go from one supper to the other, until they have made the rounds. Etiquette requires that they eat at least a little of each kind of food offered. After the last guest has been served, the remaining food is left on the table until midnight, or in some cases until morning so that the spirits may come and eat.

Years ago, it was not uncommon for as many as six or eight households in a community to have these suppers during an evening. Today with the smaller Indian population, fewer suppers are held, and an effort is being made to spread them more evenly throughout the week. From fifty to seventyy-five and as many as a hundred guests are served in some homes. Because of the limited space in the average home, the guests are served in relays. The first table is set and ready around six o'clock, seating from twelve to sixteen people; when these have finished, a second table is set, and so on until the last have been served.

These feasts were not always held during the first week in November. They were held during the last spring and early summer and were accompanied with much dancing and singing and peace offerings. Groups of grown people and children would go from place to place saluting each other, saying, "We are going around in spirits." At each place they would feast, dance and sing, and throw food into the fire, believing that the spirits would come and eat the food as it was consumed by the fire.

The change in the time for these feasts from the early part of the year to the first week of November was brought through the influence of missionaries, who saw the feasibility of aligning this custom with the feast days of their church, All Souls Day and All Saints Day.

Fred Ettawageshik - 1943

"It's important for the Odawa that we still honor our ancestors with ceremonies today that we call Ghost Suppers...we still have them to this day. They're one of the hallmarks and foundations for our communities every fall, or families, if they so choose. A community feast where people come and eat, and it's not just a memorial of thinking about the dead, but we actually have the belieft that we are feeding the dead on the other side."

Eric Hemenway - 2021

"On Garden Island is located the burial ground. This area is known to our people as Nagokon. On the day of the Feast of the Dead, each family in the village would prepare a dinner in honor of their dead. This dinner wold be made up of the favorite foods of their departed. These dishes were carried to the burial ground and place on the offering tray at the head of the grave. The people would then return to the village, where each family would honor the dead of other families by visiting their homes and sharing in the feast they had prepared to honor their departed."

The Elders Speak by George A. Anthony - 2009