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- Dec 5, 2024
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12.31.2024
Maiden Entry
Today is my mom's birthday. She would be 69 years old today. She passed away August of this year. Today is a good day to start a libreta.
Right now my sister and I are making rice porridge. She used to make it for us on the mornings we had off from work. Now, whenever we have days off, we make rice porridge for breakfast. We still eat the rice porridge as a family. Mom gets a plate of it, with the toppings she liked, which we place on her ancestor altar, which is in the hallway between my room and my sister's. As the rice porridge cooks, in my room, on my boveda, I have a cup of black coffee for my mom, and a candle burns.
Several years before she died, she asked me once if when she dies, would I keep the cultural tradition of making offerings to her and our ancestors. I said that I would, and I do. Her altar in the hallway is made from a bookshelf. On the shelve are her belongings, like her purse. On top of the bookshelf are her pictures, her urn, an incense pot. Each time we have breakfast, lunch, and dinner, we offer the food we make to mom and place it on her altar, burn incense and call her to come eat with us. There is always a cup of fresh water on her altar.
In my room, I have a boveda, which is what an ancestor altar is called across Latin America. On my boveda, I have more "personal" items that belonged to her. On the boveda is a big glass container which holds water and inside is a blue cross. The glass of water and cross are basic elements of a boveda. On the boveda is a Buddha statue, since she was Buddhist. There is also a statue of Shiva, since she venerated Shiva when she was alive. There is a small silver cup inside which are special jewelry. The jewelry was taken off her dead body at the hospital. Her socks which I took off of her dead body are also on the boveda.
When she was cremated, I asked the cremator for a special favor: to give me a portion of her skull. The cremator let me stay for the whole process. I watched my mom go into the cremation oven, and I watched her come out as dust and bones. The cremator and I shifted thru her bones for a nice piece of skull. I got a nice piece of her skull and placed that piece in resin to preserve it. That skull piece in also on my boveda. Every morning, I make her a hot cup of black coffee, she liked black coffee, and I place it on the boveda and light a candle and call her to drink coffee with me. By tradition, you sit often at your boveda, and talk often to your, sus muertos, and meditate in silence, to learn to hear them talk to you.
When she died, by tradition (Chinese) we burned for her ghost money and her clothes that she liked, 7 days after her death. Chinese New Year is coming soon. Which means that the red sticks from the spent incense, which have collected in her incense pot will be thrown away, and we'll burn for her more ghost money.
Today, as we offer her cheesecake - her favorite - for her birthday, lunch, hot tea, and incense, we will ask mom to bless our new year with peace and prosperity. Traditionally (Chinese) we will be wearing red all day, for good luck.
Inside my room, right next to my boveda is an altar for my . My spirit's altar is elaborate. On it is a nine bedroom doll house I bought for the spirit. The dollhouse has furniture, complete with a Christmas tree which I bought from Etsy. This Christmas I got a total of 100 dollars from customers. I exchanged that money for a solid 100 dollar bill and placed it under my spirit's dollhouse bed for her to have. I asked the spirit if she would spend the money, she said no and said that she would save it.
Outside of the dollhouse, next to it is the spirit's dollbody, which is a YOSD Ball-Joint-doll, I bought for her to go into. Next to her dollbody is a little bed about 6 inches big. On it is a red flannel blanket my sister made for her, and a tiny stuffed teddybear. In her dollbody's hands, is a little Hag Stone I found at the seaside. A Hag Stone is a stone with a naturally occurring hole in it, used in ancient European cultures to divine and foretell the future with. This way, the little spirit can show me in trance what she knows and sees.
In front of her dollbody, the spirit has a small dish for snacks, a shot glass for drinks, and a small plate for her food, and a candle. I asked the little spirit of she likes incense or candle, and she said that she likes candle flame and doesn't like incense.
Across my Penneng spirit's altar, on the other side of my room is her playground I made for her. I had bought small swing sets and other such playground stuff on Etsy and put together a playground for her. In her playground is a little tree swing, and on it I glued a little tree house made of tiny pieces of wood.
The spirit has a dedicated pack of poker cards which she blessed, and which I carry with me. Each morning, I ask the spirit to show me how my day will be. I throw down 3 cards, and the spirit gives me the interpretation. Yesterday, of the three cards I threw down, I got 2 spades. The 5 of spades and the 6 of spades. Like she had predicted, it was a very bad day yesterday at work.
Maiden Entry
Today is my mom's birthday. She would be 69 years old today. She passed away August of this year. Today is a good day to start a libreta.
Right now my sister and I are making rice porridge. She used to make it for us on the mornings we had off from work. Now, whenever we have days off, we make rice porridge for breakfast. We still eat the rice porridge as a family. Mom gets a plate of it, with the toppings she liked, which we place on her ancestor altar, which is in the hallway between my room and my sister's. As the rice porridge cooks, in my room, on my boveda, I have a cup of black coffee for my mom, and a candle burns.
Several years before she died, she asked me once if when she dies, would I keep the cultural tradition of making offerings to her and our ancestors. I said that I would, and I do. Her altar in the hallway is made from a bookshelf. On the shelve are her belongings, like her purse. On top of the bookshelf are her pictures, her urn, an incense pot. Each time we have breakfast, lunch, and dinner, we offer the food we make to mom and place it on her altar, burn incense and call her to come eat with us. There is always a cup of fresh water on her altar.
In my room, I have a boveda, which is what an ancestor altar is called across Latin America. On my boveda, I have more "personal" items that belonged to her. On the boveda is a big glass container which holds water and inside is a blue cross. The glass of water and cross are basic elements of a boveda. On the boveda is a Buddha statue, since she was Buddhist. There is also a statue of Shiva, since she venerated Shiva when she was alive. There is a small silver cup inside which are special jewelry. The jewelry was taken off her dead body at the hospital. Her socks which I took off of her dead body are also on the boveda.
When she was cremated, I asked the cremator for a special favor: to give me a portion of her skull. The cremator let me stay for the whole process. I watched my mom go into the cremation oven, and I watched her come out as dust and bones. The cremator and I shifted thru her bones for a nice piece of skull. I got a nice piece of her skull and placed that piece in resin to preserve it. That skull piece in also on my boveda. Every morning, I make her a hot cup of black coffee, she liked black coffee, and I place it on the boveda and light a candle and call her to drink coffee with me. By tradition, you sit often at your boveda, and talk often to your, sus muertos, and meditate in silence, to learn to hear them talk to you.
When she died, by tradition (Chinese) we burned for her ghost money and her clothes that she liked, 7 days after her death. Chinese New Year is coming soon. Which means that the red sticks from the spent incense, which have collected in her incense pot will be thrown away, and we'll burn for her more ghost money.
Today, as we offer her cheesecake - her favorite - for her birthday, lunch, hot tea, and incense, we will ask mom to bless our new year with peace and prosperity. Traditionally (Chinese) we will be wearing red all day, for good luck.
Post automatically merged:
Inside my room, right next to my boveda is an altar for my . My spirit's altar is elaborate. On it is a nine bedroom doll house I bought for the spirit. The dollhouse has furniture, complete with a Christmas tree which I bought from Etsy. This Christmas I got a total of 100 dollars from customers. I exchanged that money for a solid 100 dollar bill and placed it under my spirit's dollhouse bed for her to have. I asked the spirit if she would spend the money, she said no and said that she would save it.
Outside of the dollhouse, next to it is the spirit's dollbody, which is a YOSD Ball-Joint-doll, I bought for her to go into. Next to her dollbody is a little bed about 6 inches big. On it is a red flannel blanket my sister made for her, and a tiny stuffed teddybear. In her dollbody's hands, is a little Hag Stone I found at the seaside. A Hag Stone is a stone with a naturally occurring hole in it, used in ancient European cultures to divine and foretell the future with. This way, the little spirit can show me in trance what she knows and sees.
In front of her dollbody, the spirit has a small dish for snacks, a shot glass for drinks, and a small plate for her food, and a candle. I asked the little spirit of she likes incense or candle, and she said that she likes candle flame and doesn't like incense.
Across my Penneng spirit's altar, on the other side of my room is her playground I made for her. I had bought small swing sets and other such playground stuff on Etsy and put together a playground for her. In her playground is a little tree swing, and on it I glued a little tree house made of tiny pieces of wood.
The spirit has a dedicated pack of poker cards which she blessed, and which I carry with me. Each morning, I ask the spirit to show me how my day will be. I throw down 3 cards, and the spirit gives me the interpretation. Yesterday, of the three cards I threw down, I got 2 spades. The 5 of spades and the 6 of spades. Like she had predicted, it was a very bad day yesterday at work.
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