Instructions for how to participate at home:
Ceremony for the Ancestors
​Saturday, October 31st / 7 PM Central Time 
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Picture
Czech Photographer Janek Sedlá
For this ceremony we will make a formal offering, sometimes called and offrenda (Spanish for "offering.") I am approaching this ceremony in a very simple manner, focusing on guiding you through a series of prayers, rather than on the physical elements like an altar or decorations. When  you do this ceremony  with the rest of us online, I recommend that you create a sacred space to work. All this means is to delineate some spot as a temporary sacred spot, where you'll be doing this prayer work. Decorate that spot anyway that you want. 

Making an altar. You don't need to make an altar for this ceremony, but below I offer some suggestions if you want to.  
  • You can make an altar inside by using a table, chair or even a carboard box and decorating it with whatever feels right. Pictures of the beloved recent dead are good, or objects that represent the beloved dead or your ancestral lines. Also see the six prayers we will do (below) to provide ideas for other decorations. Send out a prayer to your ancestors to ask if they have any suggestions. You're always free to accept, decline or modify their suggestions, because it's your life and your house. 
  • If you want to create an altar outside: The simplest altar you can make is a spot on the ground that seems right, and receptive to this ceremony. Ask the land you are on where to place this ritual spot by explaining what your intention is: to honor, feed, and bless the ancestors. Listen an it will tell you. 
  • The next level - and still simple - is to place a rock or a small circle of rocks  to delineate the outside altar. You can also use any dramatic thing in the landscape as the temporary altar (for example, a certain rock, tree, or flower bed). 
  • You are free to make this ceremony as elaborate as you wish, so you can make dramatic altar if you want. I tend toward simple acts in my work, but, who knows, maybe this year I'll do it differently! 
  • If you Google or search on YouTube for "How to make an offrenda," or "How to make an altar for the Day of the Dead" you will find many wonderful ideas. 
 
For this ceremony you'll need:
A container for the six rounds of prayers/offerings you'll make. 
  • Most simply, this can be a plate or a bowl
  • Next level: a thick napkin, cloth or piece of paper, at least 12" square and biodegradable.
 
Items for your offerings
We will do six rounds of prayers:
  1. For the "Primal ancestors" (pre-human, such as the elements, rocks, land, animals, plants, and fungi).
  2. For the ancestors of the land you are living on right now.
  3. For your "Milk" ancestors (real physical people you’ve known in this life, not related by blood, who have delivered the milk of human kindness and wisdom to you and who have passed over. Teachers, mentors, neighbors, friends, godparents, step parents, healers - all who formed you and inform you always, and are not blood relatives). 
  4. For your Soul or Spirit ancestors (historical figures, spiritual figures and masters, artists, poets, lineage (the teachers of my teachers' teachers, wisdom keepers of any land or tribe, or healers and visionaries of the past).
  5. For your Blood ancestors (the ones in your family DNA (parents, grandparents, on and on). 
  6. Final prayer asking for help, wisdom, and blessing.
 
The simplest approach you can take is to have six flowers or sprigs of herbs – one for each round of prayer. Each time we make the prayers, you can place that item into your container or bundle. You can also pluck the petals or leaves and sprinkle them into the container, rather than placing them in whole. 
  • Next level: in addition to (instead of) flowers or herbs, you can add in dried food (rice, beans, pasta, grains, etc.). Some kind of sweet is good as well (cookie, candy, etc.).
  • If you have specific ancestors in your DNA stream (blood ancestors) that you want to bless, you can add in food you think or know they would love. For example, I've put in a small bit of cottage cheese for my mom and slice of bacon for my dad. I use some whiskey for my line of Scottish ancestors, and fried potatoes or kielbasa for my German ancestors. You only need a tiny amount. 
  • If you want to, you can make a meal before the ceremony and eat the food in remembrance of them, reserving the first bites to be used in the offering after the meal (or you can eat the meal after the ceremony).
 
When the ceremony is complete, you can leave the offering (the plate, bowl, or the tied up bundle) overnight in a special place in your house (not where anyone sleeps) or (my recommendation) you can take it outside and leave it. If you use a cloth or paper "bundle," you can close it and tie it up, and leave it outside overnight. You can also bury it or burn it. Be aware that if you include chocolate in your offering, make sure no dogs will eat it because it can make them sick. After the 24 hours, you can put the offering in the compost, under a bush, or somewhere that it won't be found so it composts on its own.