Another question for Wiccans/Pagans?

Question

What role(s) do ancestors play in your personal practice? Do you have a special way to honor them or call up their presence in your life? Ancestor veneration has always been an important part of my religious life, but my grandmother just died recently and thoughts have turned to all of those who went before me.

Answer 1

We are who we are because of those who came before us, they shaped our lives before we were born. We do honor our ancestors. We don't try to contact them, but we do remember them, try to keep their stories alive through the year, remember them in our prayers and ask them to remember us in theirs.

Some of them we honor on their birthday or death day in particular, like my father.

When we celebrate Samhain, we celebrate from the 30th to Nov. 1st, and the first night we call Ancestor's Night, we set up the altar with their pictures or objects that were once theirs, or we put their names on decorations on the wall. We say prayers and hold a ritual in their honor, we leave them offerings-- such as part of our feast, drink, even some trick-or-treat candy we collected-- and light candles in their memory, and tell the children about them as best we can remember. We sing songs and chant. Sometimes we feel their presence strong in the house over those days, or they visit us in our dreams.

Answer 2

Samhain is a time to reflect on one's ancestors, their lives, and what they went through . It's a time when the dead and the other denizens of the Other World drop by and say hello. In Mexico its called Dias Los Muertos, The Day of the Dead.

This doesn't mean that they won't come to you in your dreams and possibly give you advise, etc. For those who don't like the spooky stuff - life after death may be thought of as the memories of living persons who knew the deceased; for as long as you're remembered, you're not really "dead".

Answer 3

I talk to my ancestors. One thing I do want to do is set up and ancestor altar.