How to Plan an Ancestor Holiday
by Shenley Puterbaugh
I really admire the Mexican culture in their celebration of Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). It is traditionally celebrated November 1st and 2nd each year and commemorates a family’s ancestors. My family has created our own family holiday to celebrate our ancestors. It is similar to an ancestor celebration but it is more general because instead of focusing on a specific individual, family or country, we celebrate all of our ancestors. Your Ancestor Holiday can be celebrated on any day your family chooses and can be a yearly tradition or something done whenever your family desires. Our Ancestor Holiday is done by making a special meal, having an ancestor display and doing an activity.
DINNER
For our ancestor celebration dinner, we each choose an ancestor’s recipe from our family cookbook or popular recipe from a place and time that an ancestor lived. During the day we spend time together preparing the food and talking about the ancestor that the recipe is associated with. We discuss where and when they lived, when they would have made the recipe and what they may have been thinking or feeling as they made it. By thinking and talking about our ancestors while cooking something they cooked or eating something they ate, we begin to see them as not merely a name of a person who lived long ago but a family member who lived like we are living now!
DISPLAY
Our display consists of:
Setting out a picture of each direct ancestor whom we have a picture of.
Laying out books that were written by or about our ancestors (from our own family history library).
Displaying heirlooms (or photos of heirlooms) from various ancestors.
Displaying projects you or your children have made about ancestors, like maps, drawings, poems, timelines, lego creations, etc.
We arrange all of these items nicely on a table, putting ancestors’ pictures next to the heirlooms, books or projects that are associated with them. Our kids present the display. They share what they know about each ancestor represented, explaining the projects they have created and describing the significance of each heirloom. It is really neat to see what they know and remember about their ancestors. The display can be explained by another family member if it seems more appropriate.
ACTIVITIES
GAMES: We really enjoy getting to know our ancestors by playing games as a family! These are our favorites — Family Heirloom Scavenger Hunt, Ancestor Memory, Ancestor Go Fish, Scavenger Hunt, Bingo, Item Box, Trivia Games, Globe Toss, Geneopardy, Wheel of Family Fortune.
SKIT: For the skit, we choose a family story of an event or experience that one of our ancestors went through. We write a script, assign roles, plan costumes and props and PRACTICE! This can be done VERY simply (in less than an hour) or more elaborately (over a few weeks). We like to keep the script or a video recording of the performance so the skit can be performed again or rewatched. When we put ourselves in our ancestors shoes, their stories will be solidified in our memory.