Practitioners of African Traditional Religion Offer 5th Annual Ancestral Reverence Ritual Oct. 31
Special to The Post
The Council for Global Ancestral Reverence, a group of elders who practice African Traditional Religion (ATR), is moving into its fifth year in appealing to the blessed ancestors with an updated format and intensified focus on voting as a sacred act.
The virtual ritual will begin on Thursday, Oct. 31, and end five days later on Nov. 4, the eve of Election Day.
Begun in 2020 as victims of the pandemic died by the thousands, hastily mourned and sometimes interred in mass graves, the virtual prayer ritual was designed to bring survivors together survivors from around the world.
At the time, the Council committed to seven years of annual prayers of elevation for the dead to project forward for seven generations. Though the specific circumstances giving rise to the ritual changed as the pandemic subsided, the threat to global well-being continues as we watch genocide unfold in Gaza, and multi-layered crises in Haiti, Sudan, and Mali.
This year, they also encourage everyone within their reach to vote because it is not only a secular and political act, but a sacred one because our ancestors who were denied and died for that right, which is under ruthless attack by force that would undo those accomplishments.
Called ‘Ancestral Souls Rising,’ the prayers will be led by the councilmembers and 15 priests who are in or from parts of the African diaspora: Brazil, Nigeria, Portugal, Haiti and the U.S.
Through the ritual, modeled on one created by the elder priests of Oyotunji Village in South Carolina who composed a view of the Nine Layers of the Soul, the trauma and grief experienced by people of African descent can be identified and healed.
On the first day of the ritual, practitioners will share images from their altars, pour libations and pray in the languages of their forbears – Yoruba, Edo, Fon, and Haitian Kryole– as well as English. On the remaining days of the ritual, prayers will address various layers of the soul in this order: universal, astral, ancestral, human, guardian, sexual, racial, historical and national.
It was and is their intention, then, to use the cultural wisdom, the gift of prayer “and the most sacred thing we have, our breath, to send energy into the world that invokes and honors our Ancestors,” the council said in a statement.
“The Council speaks about those who live on the other side of the veil,” said Dr. Cathy (IyaBeji) Royal. “We honor them (by) advocating for the struggle that they waged so we could live as free as possible. Now the work of the Council is to carry that struggle and that freedom forward.”
To the councilmembers, all over the age of 60, the uttered prayer and the sacred breath are oaths to an unfolding future that people still have some ability to shape.
“I am in awe with the openness of our community to foster a global connection paying homage to the sacrifices our ancestors made,” the newest member, Jennifer Dillard said..
The members of the council are: Dr. Iyabeji Cathy Royal (Maryland), Iyalocha Jennifer Dillard (Virginia), and Ohen Nedra T. Williams and Iyalocha Wanda Ravernell-Stewart (Oakland).
The Council is accepting donations to support the tech crew, but no one will be turned away for lack of funds.
For tickets, go to: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/council-for-global-ancestral-reverence-presents-ancestral-souls-rising-24-tickets-1034436396107
