A working graveyard at the edge of birch and alder where the markers are bright, colorful houses instead of stark, grey stones. They appear amongst the forest clearing as a small village scaled for the dead, or a toy cemetery crafted by children.
Russian Orthodox missions first came to the area in the 1840s; and the melding of Orthodox Christianity and native practices was what resulted in the brightly colored spirit houses. The spirit is given a house for the forty days of wandering, then the house is allowed to decay, so what was taken from the earth can return. Unlike the pastel tombs of ChiChi Cemetery, the painted boxes of Eklutna are not maintained.
Old St. Nicholas, a log church moved here (built at Knik, mid-19th century), stands beside the tombs with the 1962 white church that still holds services.
The experience is enchanting and dreamlike, and not at all what you would expect to find in middle-of-nowhere Alaska.
Photo credits: “Eklutna Cemetery 05” by Amaury Laporte, CC BY 2.0 , “Eklutna Cemetery 08” by Amaury Laporte, CC BY 2.0 , “Eklutna Cemetery 07” by Amaury Laporte, CC BY 2.0 , “The Spirit Houses of Eklutna” by Amy Meredith, CC BY-ND 2.0 ,
