Ancestor Veneration and Creating Your Own Altar at Home
Ancestor veneration has long been found in many cultures around the world, especially in the Indigenous communities of Latin America. Our ancestors root us in a history that becomes part of our identities. We know that death is not the end.
While some practices may have evolved over time, you can still find the core essence of working with and honoring ancestors. It’s now very popular to see media & stores promoting Día de los Muertos, and while the recognition of one aspect of our culture is great, the watering down of such a sacred practice can be concerning. In writing this article, I hope to shed some light on this practice and help those who are reconnecting as they decolonize.
What is an ancestral altar?
It is a space that honors loved ones who have passed. It can be a shelf or a small table that is kept in one’s living space. It doesn’t need to be extravagant but it does need to be maintained and cleaned. Dirty altars are not pleasant for spirits to inhabit and can attract negative spirits.
What is kept on it?
There’s usually pictures of a loved one, belongings of a dearly departed, or a symbol of someone that you are connected to. It is customary to give food and drink, and even add fresh flowers, crystals, or trinkets to it. Having a small candle and incense is another important feature of an ancestral altar. Depending on your culture, you can burn sage, copal, or palo santo as a way to cleanse the space to allow your ancestral spirits to come easily. The candle acts as a beacon to those spirits. Strive to have the four elements displayed on there — earth, air, water, and fire — for balance. Here are links to two vegan recipes for Pan Muerto and Chocolate and Amaranth Skulls that you can use for Día de Muertos.
What if you have ancestors with a difficult past/bad relations?
Rest assured that no family is perfect and there are always going to be problematic people. There are ways to work around this. One simple method is to specifically call forth ancestors of the highest good with the best intentions for you. Setting up protection in your home will help to keep away any beings that mean to harm you. It’s why smudging is so important. Adding protective crystals, like obsidian, to the altar will also help.
Sometimes, due to colonization, adoption, separation, or an incomplete family tree, you might not know where to start. Ancestors are beings you had a deep and sacred connection to, whether you are related to them by blood or not. Following your intuition, do your research with due diligence and respect to cultural practices before claiming them as part of your ancestral entourage. The last thing you want to do is misappropriate. Ancestral spirits should be sought out with reverence.
Ancestors are around us whether we call them forth or not. However, the act of calling them forward really pulls them into our world and helps us to communicate more easily with them. This can be important for when we want to receive messages from them. While we honor their memory around Día de Muertos, we can give them gratitude and work with them any day of the year.
As we heal from generational trauma and decolonize our way of living, empowering ourselves through reclamation of ancestral ways is a form of resistance that leads us to a greater sense of self that is divine.
For further information on working with ancestors, I highly suggest Erika Buenaflor’s latest book, Veneration Rites of Curanderismo: Invoking the Sacred Energy of Our Ancestors.
