The Pashofa Pole is a modern story, not an adaptation of a traditional tale. There is no actual "pashofa pole" in traditional Choctaw culture, but the idea for this may be based on the "crying pole." Traditionally, when someone was buried, poles with long flying streamers were planted in the earth around the grave. During the period of mourning, one pole was pulled from the ground each day, and there would follow a feast. When all the poles were pulled, the grieving period was over.