Veneration Rites of Curanderismo by Erika Buenaflor

Author:Erika Buenaflor
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Inner Traditions/Bear & Company

Fig. 3.4. An ancestor honored with a bounty of fruit and flowers surrounding La Virgen de Guadalupe up to Jesus on the cross on October 30, 2021, at Día de los Muertos, Altar Exhibition at Hollywood Forever. (See also color plate 5.)

Photography by Erika Buenaflor.

Trance Dancing, Singing, and Spoken Word

Invite your ancestors to dance or sing with or through you. Personally, I find using or listening to some kind of percussion very helpful to flow in the pure energy of a dance or song. If I am dancing, I will engage in gazing by having my eyes one-tenth open, which is conducive for trance or meditative states. I may also wear white or lighter colors or clothes that help me to feel lighter or more conducive to trance dancing. When I am singing, different auditory sounds may come out, pitches and tones that sound nothing like my usual voice, and I just allow them to come forth.

The spoken word has also been traditionally understood by our Mesoamerican ancestors as an ofrenda. Take space and time to write a poem, story, or spoken word for your ancestor. When it is completed, light a charcoal tablet, place some copal on it, invite your ancestor, and share your spoken word with them. The very act of engaging in creative writing ventures for or with our ancestors moves us deeper in those trance creative spaces, spaces of consciousness that intersect with other realms, the spaces where we connect with our ancestors.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.