Creating festivals of ancestry has great value for intergenerational family life. It is important to create spaces for the stories of the old to be told in new ways. For children, a story of a beloved ancestor can be told year after year until they are finishing the sentences of it themselves, becoming the narrator.
Inspired by diverse traditions, the Happy Bones Festival is an invented ritual upon which to build. In community gatherings, each family brings one ancestor’s picture and story to the circle to introduce to the group of families who have gathered. In the timeless zone of story sharing, that ancestor is smiled upon by the group. Letting those who have died become stories is one way we infuse death with our own vitality.
As we hold honor for life itself, it is important to hold the future always in mind as an integral part of the past and the present – not as an abstraction or a hope, but as a commitment and a care. The way in which we light up the future is upheld in every small decision we make. When we celebrate a one year old’s birthday with mylar balloons that will be on the planet long after their own life span, we are not lighting up the future; we are holding it hostage. That may sound harsh, but it is a crucial, urgent, and joyful mandate to hold in our hearts the people for whom we will be “the beloved ancestors.” Alternatives to balloons can include: bubbles, petals, posters, self-standing cardboard shapes, etc.
With a commitment to an “ethical infinity” we move forward with our graceful footprint. Let us honor the 7th generation principal, offered in the wisdom tradition of the “Iroquois Confederacy, the oldest living participatory democracy on Earth” which states that “In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.”
Dia de los Muertos
The Day of the Dead Dia de los Muertos is a holiday traditionally celebrated on November 2. This Mexican tradition is a wonderful example of honoring and engaging with ancestry creatively. Symbols of skeletons are dressed up and decorated to dance. Monarch butterflies are honored as symbols of ancestors as they complete their fragile, ancient, and amazing southern migration to the Oyamel Fir Forests of Mexico.
7th Generation Principle
The Constitution of the Iroquois Nation (The Great Binding Law) explains “seventh generation” philosophy as follows: “The thickness of your skin shall be seven spans — which is to say that you shall be proof against anger, offensive actions and criticism. Your heart shall be filled with peace and good will and your mind filled with a yearning for the welfare of the people of the Confederacy. With endless patience you shall carry out your duty and your firmness shall be tempered with tenderness for your people. Neither anger nor fury shall find lodgement in your mind and all your words and actions shall be marked with calm deliberation…”
