Ancestor Ritual of the Four Directions
You will need a table in the central area, laid with a cloth. The center of the table can be set as an ancestor altar, with people’s photos or written names or other symbolic items. However, in the North there should be homemade bread. In the West there should be a goblet or bowl of milk, preferably raw milk from a local farm. In the South there should be set a basket of apples. In the East should be a horn of mead.
The approximate words for the ritual are reproduced here; the speaker can adapt them to the circumstances. This ritual can be adapted for specific groups of ancestral dead as well – the Ukrainian dead or the transgendered dead or the deaf dead or any other group desired. The speaker says:
Hail to Hela, Keeper of the Ancestors,
Queen of Helheim, you who feed those
Who have gone quietly down your road
After their courage and endurance
Paved the way for our survival.
Keep them well, Lady of Helheim,
For they bought our lives for us
With blood and sweat, with toil and song,
With joy and sorrow, with birth and death
Upon birth and death, and we are grateful.
Feast them in your halls with honor.
Today we honor those of our tribe who have gone before us. Every tribe has ancestors, even though for some it might seem strange to call them that. But it isn’t strange, it is perfect. They were there first and beat the path for us. We walk in their footsteps, and we call their names, and we remember.
(A candle is lit on the north side of the altar.)
Hail Nordri! Hail Mani! We begin in the North, the direction of the body. Here we honor the ancestors of the body and blood, who gave us life. They fought and struggled and survived so that we might live today. They gave us our bodies, our unique DNA. For all those ancestors who passed these gifts along through their bloodlines, we thank you. We offer you bread, for all of you who planted and harvested that your children might live.
(The bread is lifted high and blessed by all present, and then given to someone to be carried out at the end of the ritual and laid onto the Earth. A candle is lit on the west side of the altar.)
Hail Vestri! Hail Nott! Next we cross to the West, the direction of the emotions. Here we honor ancestors of the heart, those who weren’t related to us by blood, but who gave us nurturing and care anyway. All adoptive parents fall into this category, as do loving stepparents, foster parents, “big brothers and sisters”, friends who have passed away who were there when we needed them. This is the place of those who may not have shared blood with us, but who were a shoulder to cry on, a heart that opened for us, a kind word to pull us through hard times. We offer you milk, the milk of human kindness.
(The goblet of milk is lifted high and blessed by all present, and then given to someone to be carried out at the end of the ritual and poured out onto the Earth. If the ritual is outside, the milk is poured out now. A candle is lit on the east side of the altar.)
Hail Austri! Hail Daeg! Next we cross to the East, the direction of the mind, of words and speech and thought. Here we honor ancestors of the mind, those whose writings filter down to us. We read about them and their struggles, and we learn. Ancestors of the mind are also our teachers who pass on hard-won wisdom, who mentor us in our ambivalent lives. We thank the writers of the words that taught us, the teachers of how to survive our paths. We offer you a horn of mead for your words that we drank in.
(The horn of mead is lifted high and blessed by all present, and then given to someone to be carried out at the end of the ritual and poured out onto the Earth. If the ritual is outside, the mead is poured out now. A candle is lit on the south side of the altar.)
Hail Sudri! Hail Sunna! Next we move to the South, the direction of spirit and will. Here we honor ancestors of the spirit, those whose deeds we heard about, and who inspired us to do great deeds ourselves … or simply to keep going. “If they could do that,” we say, “then I can do this.” They inspire us to be ourselves and to live our lives the way we need to. We looked to their courage to find our own. We thank you, the doers of brave deeds, for showing us that anything is possible. We offer you the fruit of Iduna, apples: sweetness, eternal life, because our own deeds are the fruit that was inspired by your blossoming.
(The basket of apples is lifted high and blessed by all present, and then given to someone to be carried out at the end of the ritual and poured out onto the Earth. If the ritual is inside, all now process outside and leave the offerings on the Earth. Solemn silence is observed for a moment, then everyone goes back in and feasts, and tells tales of their relatives and ancestors.)