They couldn't give Ahanu a funeral because of their travels and the need to carry the body around, which was highly impractical. So they had to speed up for the wake instead.
Blank was rather unfamiliar with burial practices of his tribe from being away for so long. But he does remember a few things.
"We don't have any tobacco anymore." He noticed gloomily. "But at least we have the pipe where he smoked it."
Tobacco was very important for native burials. It was almost regarded the same way as the Greeks putting coins on their dead as payment to Charon, the ferryman who will take them to the Underworld through the River Styx.
Blank told them that a proper wake and burial would have lasted for 4 days. There were certain traditions to follow, like how only women were allowed to bath and change the clothes of the dead. They would place moccasins at the dead's feet, and prepare meals to feed not just the village, but also the spirits.
