Honoring the Ancestors
By Patricia Lafayllve
One of the largest portions of modern Heathenry, honoring the ancestors has become a practice filled with delightful variability. Ancestor worship it may or may not be – some choose to merely “remember” their ancestors in sumble, others blot to the ancestors regularly – but a growing number of Asatruar/Heathens relate strongly to their ancestors, male and female, as their literal and spiritual progenitors. While definitions of this vary (some choose to only honor their heathen ancestors, others honor any ancestor they had a special bond with or admiration for, regardless of religious focus), several common means have been developed and incorporated into modern practice. Some of the main ways of honoring one’s ancestors are:
- Toasting at sumbel – This is the most common practice, held during the ancestor/hero round of sumbel (typically the second round). The main idea here is that this be an actual blood relative of the person speaking. Those who are not blood relatives can be toasted as well, as “heroes,” but they are not considered ancestors, per se. Some will speak of a specific alf or dis, some will just hail the alfar/disir generally.
- Winternights – this celebration in October is often used to blot to the Disir, but some also honor the Alfar at this time. While blot construction varies from group to group, often people will be asked to bring something that reminds them of the disir/alfar of their family – perhaps an heirloom item, or even a favorite food to share at the feast. Some also hold Disablot in February and Alfablot on Memorial Day/Armstice Day.
- Private Practice – Again, this can be in the form of blots specific to the ancestors, or sumbels where all three rounds are dedicated to the ancestors. Still more individualized practices can also occur. This author has known many who will leave an “ancestor plate” out at a feast, which is filled with food to be given to the ancestors. While not specifically heathen as a tradition, it has been borrowed to good effect. Still others, including this author, will have “tea” with their ancestors. In this, a drink (usually favored by the ancestors in question) is left out and/or shared as a way of maintaining the relationship.
There are those who choose not to honor their ancestors in any way. This should be seen as a normal variant of practice – in other words not all heathens are ancestor worshippers. Some will choose to honor some ancestors over others – typically those who led good lives, did right by others, etc. are honored where more negative people are best left forgotten. The implications for this are seen in the Havamal (Verse 77) – “cattle die, kinsmen die, the self must also die; I know one thing which never dies: the reputation of each dead man.” (Larrington translation). Immortality, then, rests on one’s good name. Remembering the ancestors allows them to become immortal, and one hopes that when one is gone, he/she shall also be remembered, and therefore become immortal.
-TRK-
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