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Spirit Houses - Unique cemetery in Eklutna, Alaska

The old St. Nicholas church stands proud and is the center of the Alaska Native and Russian Orthodox Cultural Experience. The Eklutna cemetery, in use since 1650, is now a historical park and is probably the most photographed graveyard in Alaska.

Colorful spirit houses are a unique Athabaskan tradition. Spirit houses were built by the family after the person's death. According to Dana'ina beliefs, the spirit needs as many as 40 days to make that passage from the grave site and the houses provide shelter for the spirit. The graves of the Athabaskan people are marked not only with their traditional spirit houses, but also with an Orthodox Christian Cross.

This video was captured in July, 2002.

Music is "Pompeii" by Josh Woodward (http://joshwoodward.com.) Licensed under Creative Commons "Attribution 3.0" United States License.

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