To build an Ancestor Altar, you must first understand what you are offering to your Ancestors and why. As Black people, we have planted cotton, sugar, coffee, and more. We also utilized these crops in our life, through consumption and other day to day habits. So innately, these will be the things that you will offer to your Ancestors.
The base of an Ancestor Altar consists of water, tobacco, alcohol, and coffee. Water acts as a catalyst for Spirit to travel. Tobacco attracts your ancestors for assistance and protection - it is also like an incense that purifies. Alcohol is a Spirit; and as we have planted cane sugar, we used the sugar, and also fermented it to create alcohol. Coffee represents your Ancestors, and has been consumed by them for centuries.
You may start with these as a base, but as you sit with yourself and reflect upon the things that your Ancestors used to enjoy - such as a particular alcohol that they loved to drink, a brand of cigarettes they smoked, and foods they ate - you may also begin to offer those things.
Remember, calling on your Ancestors and saying their names keeps them around you. Through life's struggles, you have the strength of the Spirits who are always there to assist you and get you through. But you must first begin to cultivate that relationship through consistency, and building that connection with yourself.
We encourage discussion on how you understand our daily offering of Spiritual Knowledge.
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