By Galina Krasskova
People ask me a lot what they can do to expand their ancestor practices. Hell, I ask myself the same question all the time! Once those connections start happening, it’s easy to become very enthusiastic for the overall process and this is a good thing. So it’s good and natural to wonder how you can expand what you’re doing.
I want to do a quick and dirty breakdown of ancestor practices.
1. firstly, there’s the personal, domestic cultus: making offerings, maintaining a shrine, cooking for the dead, maybe studying genealogy. Things like showing filial piety by visiting graves, telling stories to your kids about their ancestors, encouraging ancestor awareness – all practices that increase your connection to your own personal dead, and which help you to foster and further your connections there.
2. But then there’s this other, civic component, at least I think so, that isn’t so much about your own ancestors, but about caring for your community’s dead.