Instructions for how to participate at home:
Ceremony for the Ancestors
Saturday, October 31st / 7 PM Central Time
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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.
For this ceremony you'll need: A container for the six rounds of prayers/offerings you'll make.
Items for your offerings We will do six rounds of prayers:
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.
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. |