Celebrating Your Ancestors with Your Family

When it comes to honoring your ancestors, what do you do? How about remembering their birthdays? Consider visiting their graves on special holidays.

What places hold special meaning for your family?  Are there local memorials, ancestor workplaces, family farms, churches, schools, or other favorite places?  Take a picture and tell the story when you visit that significant place!

Here are some other ways to celebrate your family history with your kids:

Make a Family Tree

Learning about family members is often a favorite activity for children. The process of creating a family tree does not have to be complicated, unless you wish it to be. Create a family tree by choosing how many generations to represent and how detailed each generation should be. A simpler tree with only the child, parents, and grandparents may be more appealing to younger children.

Create a Coat of Arms

Use the Internet, library records, censuses, and online databases to discover the origin and meaning of your last name. Collect your family crest discoveries and make a collage or crest together.

Celebrate with Food

Some families will have copies of family recipes they can try, but that is not always the case. If there aren’t any recipes shared or they have been lost, popular, cultural recipes could be a way to honor your ancestors as it’s likely they made or indulged in these dishes while alive.

Ancestral bonds require care and renewal just like any other relationship. It is possible to use our ancestors’ relationships as a powerful tool of healing and connection if we engage in simple actions to honor and nourish these relationships. Anyone who has sincere intentions can carry out these practices of remembrance, which are relatively simple.

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