HONORING ANCESTORS - A HEALING PROCESS

Spiritual healer (Buyei) leading the Garifuna Dugu celebration

When the Garinagu of Central America conduct a Dugu (the Feasting of the Dead), it would often be because someone became ill and no doctor could determine what was the problem. The family would then take the ailing person to the spiritual healer and in that consultation would find out that an Ancestor wanted a feast. The family and by extension the community would then engage in preparations that usually would take a year.

When the celebration itself actually occurs, the ailing person becomes better as if nothing had ever happened to that person. There would be numerous instances throughout the week that the Dugu would be taking place when some kind of healing or the other would occur. It would not be strange for someone to become possessed and while in trance would go and massage an elder with aching knees or would give instructions to family members of some herbal remedy that should be prepared to help someone who was ill. So, while this major event in honor of Ancestors in the tradition of the Garinagu would be about feasting and celebration, it would also be about healing.

Sangoma: healers in Xhosa tradition. Photo by Zilba Raubach

 African traditions believe in the power of Ancestors to bring healing to the individual, the family and the community. They have faith that Ancestors can see what troubles us physically, mentally and emotionally. They trust in the Ancestors' ability to help solve the problems that the living face. Celebrations in honor of Ancestors, then, create the environment for healing. Whether it is physical illness or lack of unity within a family or community, the Ancestors bring people together to feel better, do better, be better.  A celebration of Ancestors is inevitably a celebration of healing.

Join us at our Annual Ancestor Celebration on Sunday, June 16th, 2013 (Juneteenth) where as we celebrate we also heal. It's all happening at the Omenala Griot Museum, 337 Dargan Place SW, Atlanta, GA 30310. Take advantage of this opportunity to experience the healing power of our Ancestors.