Marigold dreams

This year for 추석 (Chuseok = Korean Harvest Moon Festival), I went to visit an 언니 (unni = females call an older sister or older female friends) and her family. We prepared a 차례 (charye = ancestral memorial ritual) to honor our ancestors and to thank them for their support and guidance.

[Image of the charye table we set for our ancestors for Chuseok]

The charye table was set with our ancestors’ favorite foods: rice, steamed short ribs, pan-fried fish, rice cakes, mountain greens, Korean pancakes, Korean pears, Korean melons, oranges, apples, dried persimmons, 약와 (yakgwa), 막걸리 (makgeolli)…and an assortment of Mexican spices, nuts, and peppers laid upon corn husk!

My beloved is of Mexican ancestry and he called in his ancestors to mingle with my Korean ancestors! During the ceremony, I was giddy at the thought of our ancestors partying it up together - it was LIT, as the kids say these days (Right? Is that still a thing? For those of us who are feeling out of the loop and unhip, here is a Merriam Webster definition for LIT).

Fast forward to last Thursday, the day before Día de los Muertos, my beloved and I strung together marigolds to place upon his ofrenda for his ancestors, a beautiful garland surrounding their portraits. That evening, I had a dream…

What a sweet reminder that our dreams facilitate community weaving and centering our relationships, even with the disincarnate.

Our dreams are a living bridge.

Photo by Edgar Cavazos on Unsplash