DescriptionThe need to bury the dead was almost immediate for many of the first Ukrainian settlers in the Prairies. These cemeteries were as much for the living as they were for the dead, acting as a meeting place and a bridge between the living and the beloved dead.If you look closely at my basket you can see my Rushnyk hiding the water & salt I wanted blessed underneath. This is a ritual cloth embroidered with symbols and cryptograms of the ancient world. They have been used in sacred Eastern Slavic rituals, religious services and ceremonial events such as weddings and funerals.Food is brought to the graves and a blessing is performed by a priest. After the graves are blessed, the food is consumed right in the cemetery as a picnic and offerings are usually left. In a sense, it can represent the sharing of a meal with our deceased loved ones. Cemeteries were not a place to be avoided. They were a part of the landscape as much a part of life as it is a part of deathThe cult of the ancestors was a part of the ancient pagan world view of the Ukrainian people. Every feast of the folk calendar commemorated the dead and was believed to serve a practical agricultural purpose. Back in the day the belief was that there was an indivisible whole, consisting of the living, the dead, and the unborn. Death was viewed as a departure or displacement in space, which did not sever the ties between the dead and the living. The ancestors participated in all the affairs and the agricultural work of the family. Commemorative meals or feasts were held at certain times of the year. (winter, spring, summer, fall) The ancestors were invited to all these events and left at the end of the festive cycles. Every commemorative feast consisted of a summoning-invitational ritual, a greeting ritual, a communal ritual meal for the living and the dead, and a farewell.Use in ritual for protection and healing or for divination and scrying.Banishes harmful influences and negative attachments. Use for when you need protection from enemies for your home, vehicle, or self or when you think you are being jinxed or hexed. To expel or get rid of something in your life rub in a downwards motion (top to bottom / head to toe).8ml bottle adorned with a cross. Dropper lid also included. I recommend keeping the screw lid on as I find these bottles tend to evaporate non oil liquids.Ingredients: Lac La Biche Water blessed by a Slavic Priest in 2019 at Charron Cemetery
