Ancestors

In the past year or so I have really gotten into paying attention to and honoring both my ancestors and my heritage. It wasn't that I didn't care about my ancestors before, I had a bit of a problem with the semantics of it all. I think my problem was that I was too hung up on the the idea of ancestor worship. I found it odd and uncomfortable to worship my ancestors but I have found that I am perfectly fine honoring them. Part of the problem too is that I believe mostly in reincarnation,sure you might go to some place of resting between lives bu who knows how long some of my ancestors stuck around the afterlife before going on to the next? Its kind of like when you are talking to someone and they get distracted and walk into the next room mid conversation. I'm not sure when or why but something within me called me to pay more attention to those who came before me. Perhaps it was my ancestors themselves, or maybe it fulfills a need within me. I don't really know.

When honoring my ancestors I actually honor my ancestral heritage. Like most Americans my family is a family of immigrants. My people came primarily from Italy, but also from Poland, Germany, France and Russia. I also have adoptive Mexican ancestors who I count the same. Their cultural impact has been the same on me as anyone else's.

I only know the names of individuals in my family back to my great grandparents generation and there it starts getting fuzzy. I honor those that I know, for the rest a shared heritage will have to do. In honoring my ancestors I find that I honor a piece of myself and where I came from. In following certain traditions I even honor my still living family members.

Along with my own ancestors I honor the people I know who have passed but aren't blood relatives and those of my own generation, my little brother who died in infancy for example, or those who came after me, such as my own unborn children. I also choose to honor the ancestors and heritage of my boyfriend.

As a kitchen witch I find that through the food I cook I can honor my ancestors. I cook those old family recipes and feel connected to my great grandmother who did it decades before me. I know that in that moment my ancestor has transcended time and is reaching out through me. I try to keep the way I honor my ancestors as a daily part of my life.

I suppose I shouldn't be so surprised that my ancestors have become such a part of my life.  I am after all the girl who spoke to her dead baby brother as a child. In my childhood innocence I believed that his soul was out there somewhere and he could hear me. Part of me still thinks he can.