The funeral rite among the Slavs before the Christian era is as follows: “If someone dies, they make a slaughter over him, and therefore I steal a great deal” special fire, "steal" laid out in the form of a rectangle, the height of a person's shoulders. Firewood must be oak or birch. From them, more heat and faster everything burns out. Domovina is made in the form of a boat, a boat, etc. Moreover, the nose of the boat is set at sunset. The most suitable day for a funeral is Friday - the day of Mokosh. The deceased is dressed in all white, covered with a white veil, they put nice gifts and funeral food in the house. The pot is placed at the feet of the deceased. The deceased should lie with his head to the west, “and lay down and burn the dead man on theft”. The elder, or the priest, sets fire, undressing to the waist and standing with his back to the steal. Theft is set on fire during the day, at sunset, so that the deceased "saw" light and "went" following the setting sun. The inside of the steal is stuffed with flammable straw and branches. After the fire flares up, the funeral prayer is read:

Se swa one yde
And there the gates of onia grow out.
And veideshi in it - then more beautiful Iriy,
And tamo Ra-river tenze,
Yakov is dressed up by Sverga and Java.
And Chanslobog is a scholar of our day
And the bogovi chensla sva is cracking.
And be a squabbler for the day
Stay lower for the night.
And you truncate
Bo se ese - Java.
And these are in the day of God,
And there is no one in the nose,
Sometimes the god Did-Dub-Sheaf is ours ...

At the end of the prayer, everyone falls silent until a huge pillar of flame rises to the sky - a sign that the deceased has risen to Svarga. Among the Northerners, for example, it was customary not to collect bones, but to pour a small hill on top, on which a feast was arranged. Throwing weapons and milodars from above, the participants of the trizna dispersed to collect land and build a large burial mound. In some places it was customary to collect the ashes and bury them under a tree, or “I will put it in a small vessel and put it on a pillar on the way, to create Vyatichi even now” the custom of setting up huts "on chicken legs" over the grave was preserved in the Kaluga region until the 30s of the XX century.

Rites in honor of the dead - in many Slavic lands traces of holidays in honor of the dead are still preserved. The dead are often commemorated: on calendar days and always, "as it comes to mind, let the heart remember". People go to the burial grounds, and there they offer sacrifices to the dead. In general, any rite in honor of the dead has its own name - Trizna. Trizna for the dead is a feast dedicated in their honor. Over time, the Slavic Trizna was changed into a commemoration. Trizna used to be a whole ritual: cakes, pies, colored eggs, wine are brought to the burial ground, and the dead are commemorated. At the same time, usually women and girls lament. Lamentation is generally called crying for the dead, but not a silent, not a simple hysterical fit, allowing the loss of tears, often without a sound, or accompanied by sobs and temporary groans. No, this is a sad song of loss, deprivation, which the author himself suffered or suffered deprivation. The author of such lamentations, shedding bitter tears about a deceased relative, and being unable to harbor spiritual anxiety, falls on the burial ground where the ashes are hidden, or hitting her chest, crying, expressing in a chant in the form of folk songs, the word she said from all soul, from the heart, often deeply felt, sometimes even bearing a deep imprint of folk legend. Below are examples of such songs:

Crying for mother

My mother flew away
Left me to live in a gorushka!
How will I live without you
I'm still young
I have a twin mind
In orphanage life is bitter,
I don't have a mother
And all around I am a bitter orphan!
Warm summer will come
A kokushek will coddle in the field,
I'll get tanned, bitter little orphan,
Without my own mother,
It's hard for me, it's hard
No one will warm me
Except the sun, except the red,
No one will kiss me
Nobody caresses me
Except for my dear mother!
Would my mother
Would talk to me, dilute
From melancholy something from kruchinushka,
From great adversity!
Wherever I go
Wherever I go
No, my mother!
I will fall down to my mother - damp earth,
I am to this, victorious, to the ant grass,
I will exclaim, grief-stricken, touchingly.

Cry for father

From the east side
Violent winds were rising
With thunders and rattlesnakes,
With prayers and with burning ones;
Fell, a star fell from heaven
All to the father's grave ...
Crush you, Thunder Arrow,
Another mother and mother-cheese earth!
You fell apart, mother earth,
That on all four sides!
Hide, yes, the coffin board,
Open up your white shrouds?
Fall off and white hands
From zeal from the heart.
Unclench your lips, sugar lips!
Turn around, yes, my dear father
Migratory you, but a clear falcon,
You fly away and on the blue sea,
On the blue sea, yes Khvalynskoe,
You wash it, my dear father,
Rust from a white face;
Come to you, my father,
On your own and on a high tower,
Everything is under the skin and under the window,
You listen, dear father,
Woe to our bitter songs.

Cry mother for child

You say goodbye, my child is born,
With a good mansion builder,
You are your sleepy beloved gorenka,
With these lovely friends
With this daring you are great!
Forgive me, compassionate dear relatives,
Forgive me, goodbye, noble breed!
Co. white face apply,
To sugar lips irilaga-ko! ..
Forgive me, tko, grain-growing fields,
You hay-meadows rakoists!
The last day is passing by in the evening,
The red sun is moving towards the west,
Everything is lost behind a walking cloud,
My child is going to the loot track!,.
Somehow to me, goryushechka,
Will he live without you?
All winds will blow
All people will be engaged
Let me be guarded!
Snemozhne a little to me, goryushechka,
Walk on damp ground
From such a great grief "
From sadness, from grief!
Where should I rush?
Ali in the dark forests -
In the dark forests - I will get lost,
I'm staggering in the forest!
And it’s impossible for a youngster
Walk on damp ground
Look at the red sun!
You chilled, nurse,
Without frost without fierce,
Chilled, parent mother
Without a blizzard, without a blizzard!

Wife cry for her husband

The red sun has fallen
For the mountains it is for the high,
For the woods it is yes for the dense,
For clouds it is yes for walking,
For frequent stars and sub-eastern!
Leave me, victorious little head,
With a flock, it is with a child,
They will leave me, I burn bitterly,
For ever and ever!
Well, how to raise - then orphans to me - like kids!
They will be around the world, but they will wander
On the windowsill they are crowded,
There will be a street to walk but not wide,
The path is a path, so they are not torn
Without your parent, without a father
The windmills will curl up on them,
And people get kind enough about them,
What, after all, free children are unrepentant,
Not brave, but sons grow without a father,
They are not reputed to be red, mother's daughters
Foolishly made orphans little kids,
We fooled the parental desire,
They let this ambulance die,
We have not locked up the new slatted vestibule,
Do not zadvdiuli glassy knees,
At the gate, yes, we did not put a privorotchichkon,
At oak doors and watchmen,
We did not sit at a difficult bed,
I have a heavy, steep folding buttock,
We did not look in reserve at the parent, at the father,
How the soul came out of white breasts,
Clear eyes with white light said goodbye;
Approached here; quick death,
She stealthily walked the villain - the murderer
Is she on the porch and a young wife,
Whether she walked along the new hallways and a red girl,
Al cripple, she walked and crossed;
From the blue of the sea, everything was hungry,
From the number of the field it was cold,
Do not knock at oak doors,
At the window, after all, death was not given,
Slowly she approached
And a black crow flew into the window ...

Look at it, my darling
On me and on the victorious!
Not a birch tree is staggering,
Not curly curly
How it wobbles
Yours is a young wife.
I came, goryusha-bitter,
To the love grave
Tell your twist.
Oh, don't, oh my god
To live offensively in orphanhood;
In grief-bitter widowhood!..

An old woman's cry for an old man

On whom are you, my dear, hoping?
And who did you rely on?
You leave me, bitter grief,
Without heat, your nest! ...
Not from someone bitter grief.
I don't have a sweet word
No, I have a word of welcome.
I don’t have it, bitter grief,
Neither clan, nor tribe,
No waterer for me, no breadwinner...
I remain, bitter grief,
I'm old, old lady,
Alone, alone.
To work for me - there is no opportunity.
No - then I have a kind-tribe;
I have no one to think with,
No one to say a word to me:
I don't have a sweetheart.

After the lamentations, a feast was held. There are also folk funeral feasts, during which the whole nation remembers. In modern times, people perform such a feast on Radunitsa or Great Day (Easter). Songs, dishes, and lamentations bring joy to the souls of the dead, and for this they inspire the living with a useful thought or advice.

Soon many of our fellow citizens will be drawn to the cemeteries in an endless line. Unfortunately, in our country of Belarus, the holiday of commemoration of the dead, Radunitsa, has been elevated to the rank of a public holiday. On this day, buses are organized to travel to cemeteries, and the business of selling artificial flowers and other supplies to celebrate this holiday is already flourishing in advance.

And everything seems to be fine, everyone was pleased: the people, and businessmen, and officials, and religious leaders, everything suits everyone, but does this holiday suit God? God in whom, according to statistics, the majority of our population believes, calling themselves Orthodox Christians. And unfortunately, whose commandments, few people know and observe for real ...

So what is this holiday Radunitsa? And why should real Christians who believe in a real God not participate in it?

Here's a little research on the subject:

Radunitsa (Radunitsa) - spring pagan holiday Eastern Slavs associated with the cult of ancestors. After baptism, they began to celebrate it on St. Thomas' week - on the 1st Sunday after Easter, or on the following Monday or Tuesday (the latter is especially common). Radunitsa is one of ancient holidays when wine and food are brought to the graves of great-grandfathers, they arrange lamentations and games (games, songs and dances).

The origins of this holiday are in the ancient ideas of farmers that the dead ancestors buried in the ground are associated with its wealth and opportunities and can affect the future harvest.

On this day, in a festively decorated house, the hostess prepared food for remembrance at the cemetery. In this case, the number of dishes should have been odd. Everything was folded into a large linen scarf. Sacred eggs or cheese were added.

In the morning they went to the church, where they commemorated their loved ones, and in the afternoon they went to the cemetery, each family to their graves. The women were wailing, the men were untying the headscarf and, taking out the holy egg, rolled it on the grave with the words “Christ is risen”. Then they silently sat around the grave, where the hostess set out numerous dishes on a white tablecloth.

The solemn meal began with the invitation of the deceased. They usually said: “Holy rodzitsely, eat bread and salt to us!” At the end of the commemoration, they said: “My parents, get out, don’t worry, the more the hut is rich, the more glad it is.” Some food and vodka were left for the dead. The rest of the food was distributed to the poor, and the day ended at the taverns with songs and dances.

On this day, it was undesirable to sow or plant anything.

Currently, Radunitsa is an official non-working day (according to the calendar of the Orthodox denomination). The customs have largely remained the same, although the church has a negative attitude towards the arrangement of a meal on the graves.

Radonitsa is a special day for commemorating the dead and visiting cemeteries, the first after the Easter holiday. It takes place on the ninth day from Easter.

This is a pan-Slavic tradition, accepted and supported by the Russian Church (among the ancient Slavs, this holiday of commemoration of the dead was called Radovnitsa, Radoshnitsa, Radunitsa, Rodonitsa, Navi day, Graves, Coffins, Trizny). It is absent in the Orthodox Churches of the Middle East and Greece. Etymologically, the word "radonitsa" goes back to the root "rad-" (joy, joy

Significance in Christianity

Celebration of the Radonitsa

In Belarus, on the rainbow in the afternoon, the whole family went to the cemetery to the graves of their loved ones, where they rolled eggs painted in husks over the grave, poured vodka on the graves. The eggs were given to the poor, and they themselves covered the graves with towels, on which they put different food. Dishes should be an odd number, and all dry. At first they said: "Holy parents, come to us to eat bread and salt." Then they sat down, drank and ate. Getting up, they said: “My parents, forgive me, don’t be angry, the more the hut is rich, the more glad it is.” As the Belarusian proverb says, “they plow on the rainbow before lunch, cry in the afternoon, and jump in the evening.”

The Belarusian traditions of commemorating ancestors on this day have been largely preserved from pagan times. Radonitsa largely adopted the features of pagan holidays of the change of ancestors - Grandfathers.

Grandfathers (Belarusian Dzyady) - in Slavic mythology- the souls of ancestors who died 9 or more years ago, flew to Iriy.

Also, Grandfathers are regularly held Slavic pagan rites of remembrance of deceased relatives.

Rites of remembrance are held several times a year. For each ceremony, a period of time of 10-14 days is set, during which it should be carried out. But at the same time, the ceremony is always held on Saturday. With the Christianization of the Slavic peoples, these rites were transformed into parental Saturdays and still exist in this form. Because of this, it is difficult to determine the origin of certain ritual actions from the Christian or pagan tradition.

In some cases, Baba (rites of remembrance of deceased female ancestors) and Children (rites of remembrance of relatives who died before reaching adulthood) are also performed. "Baby" is always held on Friday, and "Children" - on the Thursday preceding the corresponding date of "Grandfathers"

Usually on the days of "grandfathers" people go to the graves of their relatives to honor their memory. Funeral food is served, which must be hot (so that the spirits can inhale the rising steam from the food prepared in their honor). In addition, more spoons are placed on the table - for the Ancestors. Each deceased ancestor is called by name.

In general, throughout the year, commemoration rites follow a similar scenario, although there are features for each such rite (the need for special dishes on the table, the need for a certain number of dishes, the performance of certain ritual actions, etc.)

In Belarus and Ukraine, we especially revere the rite held on Saturday, close to October 21st.

RAINBOW: NATIONAL TRADITION OR DANGEROUS RITE?

Big encyclopedic dictionary:

RADUNITSA is a spring pagan holiday among the Eastern Slavs, associated with the commemoration of ancestors.

Explanatory dictionary of the Russian language, ed. D.N. Ushakova:

RADUNITSA (radonitsa) is a religious custom of commemorating the dead on the graves in the post-Easter week, preserved as a relic of the ancient cult of the dead.

Many people on the ninth day after the celebration Orthodox Easter go to cemeteries to celebrate the day of remembrance of the dead. On this day, one can observe approximately the same picture everywhere: people sit around the graves, eat, drink alcohol ... and communicate with deceased relatives. If this action had not turned into a mass one, then a single grave with eggs, sausages and other food laid out on it would seem strange. But the action, in which a very large part of the population of the country is immersed, begins to seem something right, ancient and traditional for Belarus precisely because of the mass character of this phenomenon.

Indeed, researchers suggest that the cult of ancestors originates precisely on Belarusian soil and that the term “Eastern Slavs” is inappropriate, because initially only Western Litvins (Western Belarusians) celebrated this holiday.

In Russia, this holiday, along with Ivan (Yan) Kupala, appeared, by historical standards, quite recently: only after the war between Muscovy and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1654-67, when Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich attacked the Commonwealth and took out about 300,000 captive Litvinians (Belarusians) as slaves to Muscovy. It was from these enslaved Belarusians that the local Finnish peoples of Muscovy adopted the celebration of Radunitsa and Ivan Kupala.

The appearance of these holidays in Russia in the 17th-18th centuries was traced by the famous collector of Russian folklore I.P. Sakharov (1807-1863): “Lithuanians go out on Tuesdays to the graves of their parents, at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, to dine and commemorate them for their repose. First, riding on the graves of red eggs begins, then dousing the graves with honey and wine. The eggs are given to the poor. The graves are covered with a white countertop, and food is set. According to old signs, food should consist of odd dishes and dry ones. The rich give food to the poor for their parents' meals. After this, they greet the parents: “Holy rodzitseli, eat bread and salt to us!” - And they sit on the graves to commemorate them. At the end of the commemoration, they say: “My rodzitsels, spit out, don’t dzivice, the richer the hut is, the more glad it is.” The rest of the food is distributed to the poor, and the day ends at the taverns with songs and dances. It goes without saying that by "Lithuanians" Sakharov meant precisely the current Belarusians, which is evident from the given linguistic examples. (“Tales of the Russian people”, edition of 1836

The cult of ancestors originated in pagan culture and could be celebrated only in a small part of Europe: in Central and Western Belarus (Lithuania, Yatvyagiya, Dainova) and Mazovia (now Poland), as well as among the Prussians, that is, among the western Balts. The rest of the peoples of Eurasia could not carry out this custom for simple reasons: the dead people were burned there or buried in the ground with a ban on returning to the graves.

The meaning of this holiday among the ancient farmers was that the deceased ancestors, buried in the earth, are associated with its wealth and opportunities. It is they who can affect the future harvest. In fact, people turned to deceased relatives for help through offering them food and through communication with them.

Today, Radunitsa is not at all “Slavic” in nature: it is actively celebrated in deeply non-Slavic, but Orthodox regions - in Bashkiria, Perm, Buryatia, Altai, including even the Chukchi who converted to Orthodoxy celebrate it. To date, the holiday Radunitsa is interpreted as "part of Orthodoxy."

But even disguised as Orthodox holiday, the cult of ancestors was and remains a pagan rite. Participation in pagan rites was not only not welcomed by God, but was severely punished by Him. The Jewish people, set apart by God for Himself, could not follow pagan traditions or customs that involve the worship of idols or other deities.

“When you enter the land that the Lord your God is giving you, then do not learn to do the abominations that these nations have done. You should not have a soothsayer, a fortuneteller, a soothsayer, a sorcerer, a charmer, summoning spirits, a magician and questioning the dead, leading his son or daughter through fire. For every one who does this is abominable before the Lord, and for these abominations the Lord your God casts them out from before your face. Be blameless before the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 18:9-14).

Whatever faith you consider yourself to be - Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant - if you believe in God, if you worship Jesus Christ, then you cannot be a member of pagan cults. All of you are children of God and set apart by Him for Him.

“You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; You cannot be partakers in the table of the Lord and in the table of demons” (1 Corinthians 10:21).

Some may ask: is it really impossible to go to the graves of relatives? You can, but only in order to clean the grave, put flowers, but in no case have a meal or talk with the dead.

"Concerning folk custom“remembrance” in cemeteries with alcohol and food, then it does not come from the Church. A drunken feast is categorically not allowed on the graves, when people begin to forget why and to whom they came. In addition, nothing edible should be left on the graves,” Archpriest Igor Korostylev comments on the holiday.

If you ask a question to people who are at this time in the cemetery, what this action means for them, few will answer something intelligibly. The most common answer is: "Everyone does it - and I do it." But ignorance does not exempt from punishment. The sin that a person commits has the power to drag a curse along with it. That's why God says, "Be blameless before the Lord your God!"

Perhaps, for the sake of your future and the future of your children, it is worth breaking the strange tradition and starting to do what pleases before your God - Jesus Christ, since He "is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living."

In the Vedic tradition, the day of remembrance of the ancestors, in addition to some specific days of the calendar, is considered Saturday. Today is Saturday (while researching - Sunday has come). Not the point, for some reason today I wanted to remember this.

Before turning to this topic, I would like to say that our family, even those who have left this world, at least up to the 7th generation, stand behind us and support us. Well, at least that's how it should be...

It is not for nothing that in the old days our ancestors kept the memory of their kind. After all, not only aristocrats and royal families had the concept of a family tree. If you recall, then in old Russia, even among ordinary peasants, the surname of the clan was often transmitted from the progenitor by his name. Therefore, we have so many Ivanovs (Ivan), Sidorovs (Sidor), Prokhorovs, Matveevs, Ilyins ... Or it was a surname associated with the occupation of their ancestors - the Kuznetsovs, Kuznetsovs, Sapozhnikovs, Portnovs. And people remembered their family, stories about their ancestors were passed down from father to son, from son to son… It was hardly just a whim. People had this knowledge that the genus is its protection.

Of course, things have changed now. No wonder there is a proverb: "Ivan, who does not remember kinship". When the foundations of our state were collapsing, it was beneficial for the Bolsheviks that a person forgot his clan, family, and fought only for an idea. And in principle, they succeeded in many ways. How many people now remember at least the name of his great-grandfathers? And we need to remember, if only because without them there would be no us.

There is such a thing as tribal karma. And for us now it is rather negative karma, but not because the family is cursed or someone in the family has sinned. How can our ancestors help us if we do not remember them? If we don't pray for their souls, if they made mistakes? Don't give thanks for your life? Many now simply don’t even have time - we are constantly participating in the race for survival - how to become more successful, how not to be late here, how to earn even more, how not to lose. And in principle, we have already lost a lot. And, perhaps, the help of our kind will be more effective for solving any of our problems than relying only on ourselves "mighty" ...

Of course, for many now it is almost impossible to restore the lost family ties. But it is believed that if you turn to an ancestor, even without knowing his name, his soul still understands that it is about her. And it does not matter that perhaps this soul lives in another incarnation. We are all connected by thin invisible threads. Like God, he is both one and many at the same time.

Sometimes the question is asked: how can one remove the contradiction between the doctrine of reincarnation and the doctrine of the need to honor ancestors? Indeed, at first glance, it seems that if the soul of a person has incarnated in a new body, then honoring him as an ancestor does not make sense (how can he accept honor if he is already in another body?). Different spiritual people give different answers to this question.

First, the soul does not necessarily reincarnate immediately after death. It may take quite a long time before the soul accepts a new body.

They also point to the existence of the concepts of "collective memory", "celestial twin", "parallel self", which remains in the energy field when the soul reincarnates. Sometimes this is interpreted in such a way that it is not a literal entity. It is our actions in our past lives that live like shadows of the past or as our memories and the memories of other people.

Remember and honor your kind and over time you will feel inexplicable support, strength, confidence, wisdom that came from nowhere, answers to questions that pop up from nowhere, as if you just knew about it before. Try it, don't skimp on love!!!

Words in words, but how to do it if we are untrained? I tried to find information from different sources. Everyone subconsciously chooses for himself what suits his soul. Any tradition has the right to be. In any case, only those who need this information will read this article. I myself, quite recently, well, just out of the blue, the question of my kind arose. It literally grew out of the blue.

When I started to be interested in this, I thought, well, what can I find? Who in our time thinks especially about the ancestors? There were and were. It turns out I was wrong, it has always been an important component in all cultures. Here are just a few examples, and there are also China, Japan, Egypt, etc.

• Slavic Vedas.

On the Days of Remembrance of the Ancestors and Parental Days, which you can find in the Calendar (other Russian), you can commemorate the Ancestors.

To do this, place bloodless (non-animal) food on the Altar at home - trebs and gifts - pancakes, pancakes, cookies, fruits, nuts, sweets, honey, jam, etc. It’s very good if you yourself prepared the trebs with your own hands.

For example, baking pancakes - the first pancake - to God on the altar, and the second to the Ancestors. The rest - for the elderly and children, then for themselves. Since, when preparing food personally, you invest "your Soul", your energy, therefore, remembering the Ancestors with such food, you exchange energies with them and give them your strength so that the communication channel does not dry out, and so that they have energy, so that you help.

Trebs are placed on the Altar with the following words: "The Heavenly Family, Ancestor! You, the Patron of all the Clans! Remember all my Ancestors! Who are in Your Light Svarga! Now and ever and from Circle to Circle! Taco be, taco be, taco be!"

The altar is arranged in the far left corner of the room from the entrance. (In one of the articles, I read that an altar for remembrance of ancestors (well, or just a place for remembrance) is installed in the southern part of the room, which is very similar to the Indian Vedas, because in their tradition, the South is ruled by Yamaraj - the God of death.)

• Orthodox Church.(note, where I started - in Orthodoxy, parental day is also Saturday !!!)

The Church has established days of solemn, general, ecumenical commemoration. The requiems performed at the same time are called ecumenical, and the days on which the commemoration is performed are called ecumenical parental Saturdays. In the circle of the liturgical year, such days of general commemoration are: meat-fare Saturday; Saturday Trinity; Parental Saturdays of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th weeks of Holy Forty Days; Radunitsa; Dmitrievskaya Saturday; Day of the beheading of John the Baptist; Victory Day in the Great Patriotic war. These days it was supposed to visit the deceased relatives at the cemetery, invite them to a festive feast. They believed that the dead, having received an invitation, came to houses, sat down at the tables, ate and drank together with the living, stood in the church at the festive liturgy.

• Indian Vedas.

On honoring ancestors great amount information. Pinda, Shraddha... You can find it yourself on the Internet. For me, the most concise, simple and real at home at one time was the information thrown to me by one wonderful girl Lena Gufranova, which I am now sharing with you.

Practice at home.

For the practice you will need: a church candle, a pack of rice, spices, two new plates. You can't eat from these plates. Mark them - one will be for offering food to God, the second - for the Ancestors. Keep them separate for later.

• Get up in the morning, take a bath and put on clean clothes. The kitchen should also be clean.

• Put the rice to boil and while it is cooking, read prayers over it. Rice is not to be tasted. When it is cooked, add ghee, black sesame seeds (you can use poppy seeds, caraway seeds or other black spices), a little salt and sugar. Let the rice cool down.

• Then shape the rice into balls the size of a walnut and put them on a clean plate, which must be placed for 15-20 minutes in front of the image of God.

• Offer food to God.

Here are the prayer options:

• Prayer for offering food in the Christian tradition:

"Lord Jesus Christ, our God, bless our food and drink with prayers. Thy Most Pure Mother and all Thy Saints, as blessed be Thou forever. Amen". (And cross the food 3 times).

• Vedic mantra for offering food:

"Namo Om Vishnu padaya

krishna prestaya bhutale

Shrimate bhaktivedanta

Swamin ichi namine

Namaste sarasvati deve

Gaura Vani Pracharine

Nirvisesa-shunyavadi

Pashchatya desha tarine

Nama maha vadanyayya

Krishna prema pradaya te

Krishnaya Krishna Chaitanya

Namne gaura-tvishe namah

Namo brahmanya-devaya

Go-brahmanya-hitaya cha

Jagad-dhitaya krishnaya

Govindaya namo namah."

Wait 15-20 minutes for the Lord to bless your food.

• Then put the rice balls on another new plate to offer to the Ancestors. Put it in another place, light a candle and say: "I invite members of my kind to come and take this food". At the same time, it is advisable for you to stay in the room and just sit and pray in your spiritual tradition for 20-30 minutes.

• Then thank your kind: "I thank you for taking this food. I want to thank you for my life! I am a part of you! I want to show you respect and reverence by asking your blessings and asking for help (say what you are asking for). May these prayers express our gratitude and reverence!" Then bow. Let your appeal to the ancestors express your gratitude and respect!

• Attention! Then, before sunset, you need to feed the fish or black crows with these rice balls. Cooked food should not be eaten by living people, nor should it be thrown away.

This will complete the practice.

Important notes:

• Do your practice with maximum concentration!
• On critical days, the practice cannot be done.
• The practice has great power if it is done by several women of the Family, for example, you are with your mother or with your sister, or with your daughter.
• You can cook a little rice, or you can cook the whole pack. The more you feed the animals, the better.
• Pregnant women can do this practice.
• Please remember you are a woman - a mystical creation of God! In your hands is the opportunity to create a strong strong family, which will be a reliable rear for you, your children and grandchildren!

This is a deep practice, it is advisable to do it several times. Many of our families have inspired us to become who we are today. By positive or negative deeds, our families have created our lives, just as we are creating it now for ourselves and for those who will come after us!

• Catholic traditions.

All Souls' Day is traditionally celebrated in the Roman Catholic Church on November 2, following All Saints' Day (November 1). On this day, in many countries of the world, it is customary to go to the cemetery, light candles, decorate graves with greenery and flowers, and have a common family meal (at home, since eating in cemeteries is strictly prohibited).

• African traditions (the text is given with abbreviations and I have not tested it in practice).

The souls of the dead in African traditions are called differently. There are different types. Usually, Eguns are considered the Spirit of the Ancestor (regardless - a relative or not, because we may not know who our relatives were in past lives or who we were and where we lived). Eguns are blood and religious relatives.

In this tradition, there is such a thing as the Shrine of the Ancestors (Spiritual Altar, Corner of Eguns).

The procedure for honoring the Ancestors can be represented as four main stages:

• Preparation of the Shrine of the Ancestors.
• Preparing for worship.
• veneration procedure.
• End of the ritual.

Preparing the Ancestral Shrine

First of all, you need to install a table (or other "foundation" of the altar - a shelf, cabinet, etc.). Cover it with a white cloth. He recommends washing it with a little vinegar, then drying it in the sun and lining the altar, sprinkling the fabric with your favorite perfume. Tradition advises to find four stones near the house, clean them with salt, wash them thoroughly and place them in the corners of the altar.

Next, you should place on your altar, or near it (for example, on the wall behind the altar), photographs or portraits of the Ancestors. You can drape the wall behind the altar to make it easier to attach the images. It is generally accepted that you should not have any photographs of living people on your altar.

You can place on the altar the objects of worship of those religions that your Ancestors followed (Holy Scriptures, images of Deities, etc.). Place a white candle on the altar. It is recommended to put a little earth taken near the house and a few grains of salt in a glass candlestick, wipe the white candle clean vegetable oil from the middle to the top, and then, from the middle to the base, and, having strengthened the candle in the candlestick, set it in front of a glass of clean water. Fresh flower petals can be added to the glass.

Honoring the Ancestors requires regularity. It doesn't have to be done every day. You can make a commitment to honor your Ancestors once a week, for example. If you have set the frequency of your rituals, you must strictly adhere to your commitment.

It is necessary to keep your Shrine in perfect cleanliness. Do not let the water that you offer to the Ancestors evaporate. Do not allow spoiled food to be on the altar. Regularly wipe the dust from the images of the Ancestors and other items on the altar.

Note:

Even if you don't have an Ancestral Shrine, you still have the ability to honor the Eguns. By placing a food offering on a plate and dedicating it to the Ancestors, you can be sure that the Ancestors will receive this offering. You can pour some water directly on the ground and this will also be accepted by the Eguns.

Preparation for veneration

Purification of oneself and the Sacred Space.

Purification is a necessary step in preparing for the veneration of the Ancestors. The importance of this stage is due to the fact that impurity, firstly, offends the Spirits, and secondly, it can contribute to the penetration of malevolent Forces.

Identify yourself and pay tribute to the Spirit of the Ancestors: (your name) and (your Ancestors are mentioned, starting from parents, etc.).

Bless the leaves prepared for fumigation, paying homage to their Spirit.

Ask for peace, stability and wisdom.

Give thanks.

Your emotional condition should not include negative emotions (anger, hatred, etc.). At any stage of the contact procedure, from fumigation, etc., you should be focused on the activity being carried out and the ultimate goal of your actions.

Thoroughly fumigate the entire area. Make sure that the smoke of smoking gets into every part of the room where the Shrine of the Ancestors is located. Smoke yourself, first from the front (from head to toe) and then from behind (from head to toe).

Take a glass of clean water. Add some of the perfume you use, as well as some of your saliva. Say:

"I pay tribute to the Spirit of the Ancestors."

((your name) and (your Ancestors are mentioned, starting with parents, etc.))

I am (your name) a child of (origin).

Bless the water.

With the help of your left hand, sprinkle the entire room with this water, concentrating on this consecration of the space. Before sprinkling, name the names of those Ancestors with whom contact is undesirable, and the reasons for their exclusion from this ritual. If you do not know the names of all your Ancestors, just mention that you remove from your sacred space the Spirits of all Ancestors who died violent deaths, suicides, criminals, alcoholics, drug addicts, etc., and do not allow them to invade this space.

Before the beginning of the ritual and after its completion, it is recommended to take a bath, or at least sprinkle yourself with water from a large bowl, which should be installed near the altar.

Veneration procedure

• Calling Ancestors.

AT At the beginning of the ceremony, you can ring the bell or shake the maracas. She also advises lighting a candle and, if possible, vanilla or coconut incense.

Various texts can be used to invoke the Spirits of the Ancestors. Perhaps some of your Ancestors will want to hear appeals from the Holy Scriptures of the religion they professed (the Bible, the Koran, the Torah, the Vedas).

Here it is appropriate to make a libation of water. The liquid can be sprayed directly from the mouth onto the Shrine of the Ancestors, or a finger can be dipped into the liquid and allowed to drip onto the ground. After the invocation, you should name all your Ancestors known to you (starting from the recently deceased, etc.): (name of the Ancestor), after the name, you can add the life achievements of your Ancestor.

By calling on the Ancestors, you not only invite them to your Shrine, but also honor their memory in this way. After the invocation, you can sing songs in honor of the Ancestors (you can use the texts of the Psalms, verses of the Koran, mantras, etc.). You can dance (without crossing your legs).

Now you can make offerings.

• Offerings to Ancestors.

Offerings to the Ancestors may include any food that you yourself eat. Each time you eat, before you eat yourself, you can offer some of the food to the Ancestors, placing it in a plate (cracked plates are often used) on the floor in front of the altar, or directly on the altar (all food offered to the Ancestors must be without salt!) . It advises to place food in the form of a circle, and put a candle and liquid food in the center. She recommends touching the plate to your forehead, heart, and perineum and breathing on your food.

Offerings also include drinks. When offering drinks, place a few drops on the ground.

Fresh flowers may be used as offerings. When you learn to get in touch with the Souls, your Ancestors themselves will tell you about their desires, which, of course, should not be ignored.

Water, candles, and other non-perishable offerings are usually changed once a week (often on a Friday or Monday evening).

The traditional Egunam offering includes nine small pieces of coconut with palm oil and guinea pepper on each piece placed on a small plate around roasted corn, dried fish and jutia. Pour honey on top.

• Dialogue with the Ancestors.

After making an offering, thank the Ancestors for the blessings you have received. Here, as at any other stage of communication with Souls, you can use either your native language or the language spoken by the Ancestors.

After calling the Ancestors, ask if any of them have come and if they have a desire to speak. If the answer is yes, find out the name of the Ancestor by listing them in turn. If the Spirit refuses to answer (and in all other cases when you lose control of the ceremony), you must end the session, extinguish the candle and take a bath.

Having found out the name, you can start the dialogue. Ask for blessings first, in your own language.

Ask about the wishes of the Ancestor. He may want you to make some kind of offering (not necessarily food). If it is within your power, satisfy the desires of the Spirit immediately. If it's in this moment impossible, but realistic in the future, promise the Spirit to fulfill the request in a specific time frame.

After that, you can present your pressing problems to the Spirit and ask him for help in resolving them. Try to ask questions in a way that Spirit can answer "yes" or "no". Keep in mind that not all Ancestors are advanced enough to offer good advice. If Spirit cannot help you, or if his advice is objectively impossible to implement, thank him for his help and try to find advice from another Spirit.

When dealing with Spirits, care must be taken. If your sessions are constantly infiltrated by malevolent Spirits, or if you are experiencing cases of possession, it is better to stop the sessions of invoking Spirits, and start using your altar simply as a place of reflection, meditation.

• Completion of the ritual.

When you have finished sprinkling at the end of the ritual, pay tribute to the wisdom of the Ancestors three times.

Finishing the ceremony of veneration, it is necessary for some time to indulge in reflections on the strength and wisdom of your Ancestors, their life and meaning (you can sort out the rosary at this time), after which, thank them for their wisdom.

After that, extinguish the candle with your fingers or a special device for extinguishing candles. Pour the water from the bowl used for sprinkling away from the house.

Leftover food the next morning can be left at the foot of a large tree. Do not mix leftover offerings with your household waste. Plates, cups, etc. must be cleaned with salt and removed until the next time. You can not use them, like any other items of the altar, for any other purpose, except for the veneration of the Ancestors. Over the next few days, watch your intuition yourself. Ancestors can give you their guidance through them.

• Muslim traditions.

I have been looking for information for a long time. All references are only to the worship of Allah. Then I found an article ... An excerpt from it: "There is no doubt that our ancestors were from among the righteous people. It was they who, having accepted Islam, took upon themselves the heavy burden of calling for this religion in our lands and spreading its light. Many historical facts testify to their piety, courage and greatness. That is why they have numerous rights over us. We are obliged to follow their example in what corresponds to the most pure religion of monotheism and ask Allah for forgiveness for them. They achieved greatness and power only because they strictly followed the canons of this religion, adhering to monotheism and the Sunnah. They were far from polytheism and innovations, as well as everything that, at least in the distant future, could lead to it.

One of the most important and big reasons leading to polytheism is excessive veneration of ancestors. Moreover, this phenomenon was the main reason for the appearance of the very first polytheism on earth.

One of the imams of the Hanafi madhhab - Shukri al-Alusi (1342 / x) said: " Excess in honoring and exalting any of the creatures is the greatest reason leading to the worship of idols and the righteous. It was the excessive exaltation of the righteous that caused the people to worship Nasr, Sua "u, Yagus and others among the people of the prophet Nuh (Noah). Also, Christians began to worship" Isa (Jesus) precisely for this reason". See "Masail Jahiliya" p.71-72."

But I didn't stop there. Don't they respect it??? I have girlfriends in the Muslim faith, and they gave me the answer: " In the Muslim faith, sadaqah (alms) is served and prayers are given for the souls of the departed."

Therefore, wherever you look, in any tradition, apparently in the subconscious of a person, this ancestral memory still lies ... It's time for us, Ivans, who do not remember kinship, to learn to pay this tribute of veneration, and someday in our hour they will remember us too, and we We will also help our family at a completely different level of consciousness...

I wish peace, prosperity and goodness to your family!!! With love!!!

rite of remembrance of ancestors Reader! Remember your Ancestors according to Russian custom. Not by a candle in the church "for the repose of the soul", not by ordering a prayer service from a fat-bellied priest - almost Them, as they did in the old days. In Russian. GLORY TO THE ANCESTORS! Grandfathers are the souls (spirits) of the Ancestors who flew to Iriy. It was said about the deceased that he "went to Grandfathers" or "walks with Grandfathers." The souls of the ancestors on certain days of the year fly from Iriy to visit living relatives, who are obliged to properly meet and treat them. Failure to observe the custom to commemorate and leave food for the Grandfathers, who are considered the guardians of the family, can cause discontent and all sorts of troubles. “It is impossible not to celebrate grandfathers,” our ancestors said, “you won’t celebrate once - and your cattle is already dead.” Days of commemoration of their relatives, our common Slavic Ancestors, Ancestors in Russian Tradition: Winter Christmas time: from Kolyada (December 25) to Vodokres (January 6). Spring Grandfathers: a week before Spring Makosh (May 9). Autumn Grandfathers: the week before Autumn Makosh: celebrated on Saturday (sixth), close to October 21, on the 27th day after Radogoshch and 7 days before Mokosh. _________________ Autumn Makosh is celebrated on the last Friday before November 1st. These are the most important dates; there are other holy days during which rituals of commemoration of the Ancestors are performed (for example, the holiday of Komoyeditsy, celebrated on March 25). It is absolutely not necessary to honor deceased relatives strictly according to the calendar - the commemoration of the Ancestors is appropriate at any time. In some cases, Baba (rites of remembrance of deceased female ancestors) and Children (rites of remembrance of relatives who died before reaching adulthood) are also performed. "Baby" is always held on Friday, and "Children" - on the Thursday preceding the corresponding date of "Grandfathers". Before the Grandfathers, they cleaned cleanly, washed in the bath, where they left a bucket of clean water and a new broom for the souls of their ancestors. Women prepared various dishes, the presence of meat dishes on the table, as well as hot ones, “so that the steam would go”, was considered obligatory. Before dinner, all the doors in the house were opened so that the souls of the ancestors could freely enter and sit at the table. The owner would light a candle and invite all the ancestors to dinner. The number of dishes on the table could be different, but always odd and not less than five. There should not be any piercing and cutting objects on the table - they ate with spoons, which were left on the table from time to time so that the Ancestors could use them. Each dish was served in pairs (if 7 dishes, then on 14 plates). Thus, the situation was balanced when neither the living nor the dead should be offended. The funeral table usually began with ritual porridge, and before proceeding to the next dish, part of it was set aside on a special plate for spirits, which was usually placed on the windowsill. The solemn memorial dinner lasted quite a long time, everyone behaved with restraint. They remembered the best in their dead relatives, those deeds that more than one generation of this kind can be proud of. During gala dinner it was allowed to talk only about grandfathers - their lives, individual cases and character traits, their words and instructions, wise advice and good deeds were remembered. This conversation began with a story about the oldest and most famous ancestor, and ended with a memory of the dead recently. This was done every year, gradually passing all the information to children and grandchildren. Usually the Ancestors are commemorated either on their graves or at home. You can do it in any other suitable place, in the form of a ceremony - the main thing is that no one and nothing interfere with the ceremony. For the ceremony you need: A candle, a saucer for the treba, a treba (pancake, a piece of bread, a cookie, etc.). Desirable - ritual Strava (food): pancakes, kutya, jelly. The course of the rite: First of all, take precautions (especially if you are at home, and not in a cemetery), since contact with the Other World is dangerous and can entail not only positive, but also negative consequences. To do this, say protective words. For example: Chur-churila, old-prestar You go-go walk around You drive-drive show respect You look-look look at all evil from me Chur, chur, chur! Goy! This is an appeal to Chur (ancestor). Modern Rodnovers under the word "Chur" understand either the Ancestor or the God of protection and boundaries. After that, speech and some kind of protective conspiracy are not bad. For example, this: Black-in-black, black-dirty Disappear as if you weren’t at all Turned around as if you weren’t reversible Thing the word of rivers was a talisman! Another word rok kolo guarded! Another word rok kolo guarded! Goy! Light the candles, accompanying the kindling of the Fire with the appropriate words. For example: Fire Svarozhich, reunite Heaven, son of Heaven! Goy! Then - call on the dead relatives: you can invite both specific Ancestors (calling them by name), and all Ancestors in general. Here is a traditional appeal to Grandfathers: Holy Grandfathers, we call you! Holy Grandfathers, fly to us! Consecrate the requirement (by holding it over the Fire). Bring it as a gift to the Ancestors (putting it on a dish). Now you can start the memorial meal. During (and after) eating, you can talk with the Ancestors, tell them about your life, ask for advice. They will hear. And, perhaps, you will even hear their answer: At the end of the rite, turn to the Grandfathers with a request to go back to the Other World. Holy Grandfathers, you flew here, drank and ate, now fly to your place! Extinguish the candles (preferably with your fingers, as a sign of respect for the Fire). If you are at home, take the dish with the request outside and leave it there; if in a cemetery, leave it on the grave. ________________________________________ These days, according to the Russian folk tradition, the "clean" dead are commemorated. The dead "mortgaged" (which include all who died prematurely unnatural death: both suicides and murdered) were honored on the day of Yarila Wet (June 4). In the old days, if the “mortgage” was commemorated at home at the same time as the “clean”, sacrificial food for him was placed under the table (and not on the table, as for other Ancestors), and they sacrificed less to him than to the “clean” Ancestors. The words "chur", "shur" mean "ancestor". The expressions "chur, chur, chur!" or "fuck me!" - this is a call to the Ancestors with a request for protection. With Christianization, the rites of commemoration of the Ancestors turned into parental Saturdays (up to six times a year) and still exist in this form. Dmitrievskaya Saturday - celebrated on the third week after the Intercession. Rites of remembrance are held several times a year. For each ceremony, a period of 10-14 days is set during which it should be performed, but the ceremony is always held on Saturday.

Tradition to treat living and dead relatives with respect has been preserved among the Slavs to this day. Only it has some features that are different from other peoples. Today, traditions in a full form are being revived only in some communities. The Slavic cult of ancestors from time immemorial had a connection with God Rod and Women in Childbirth. Trebs were brought to these founders of the clans of the great Slavic race (special non-blood offerings - cheese, honey, bread, flowers, herbs). They were prayed to, their names were glorified in songs and praises.

From ancient times, the Slavic peoples tried not only to glorify their ancestors who had gone to the world of Navi (to the World of the Dead), but also to call for help in difficult times, to appease them. The deceased relatives were presented as messengers between the Explicit World and the world of Navi. So, the Slavs marked the division into “That Light” (the world of the afterlife) and “This Light” (the world of living people).

The Slavs believed that their ancestors could either help or harm living descendants. They also understood that if they turn to their ancestors for help, they can even stand up for their living relatives before the gods. Such rites protect the clan, tribe, help to pass to the other world for recently deceased relatives. Death was not associated with people in those days with grief, fear, or something hopeless. After all, the veneration of ancestors made it possible to maintain a connection between living people and those who left this world to live next to the gods.

The cult of ancestors among the Slavs

All people go to the "That Light" in different ways - someone dies "their own" (natural) death, someone from illness, accident or death in the battle for the Motherland. If a person passes away at the appointed hour due to old age, then they did not worry about him, believing that he was destined for the best place in Navi World. But when a person died on his own (suicide), or drowned, was attacked by murderers, and so on, then he might not have been buried according to traditional custom- he was considered a "mortgage dead", representing a danger even to his relatives. In this case, it was believed that his spirit wanders, has no rest, is rebellious and can harm those living on earth.

The Slavs continue to perform the cult of their ancestors to this day. It is common today to make memorial days- the time when it is required to remember the already deceased parents, grandfathers, grandmothers, other relatives. Ritualism is very different from the foundations of bygone times, but something has been preserved.

In ancient times, as well as today in old villages, a memorial meal could take place right at the house, because earlier burials were made near houses. So they said goodbye to their ancestors after the time of krodirovanie (ritual burning of the dead).