BROOKLYN BRUJERIA X ANCESTORS IN TRAINING™
On September 20th, 2024, the Dos Aguas Ancestor Altar, an interactive art installation in reverence of sacred waters debuts at the 7th Annual Brooklyn Brujeria Festival.
Tended to by Ancestors in Training™, this year’s altar is in reverence of the waters with the following in our hearts. Salt water cleanses us and fresh water gives us life. This duality draws on the sacred stories of two orishas (personifications of the forces of nature) - Yemaya and Oshun.
We build this installation in honor of the waters, our beloved egunguns, and those impacted by the ongoing challenges of our times. From the journeys of enslaved peoples across the Atlantic to the ongoing harm caused to the Indigenous stewards of the land we are guests on - to embody this year’s theme is to remember that “no one is enemy to water” and therefore we must respect it. This altar also invites you to consider how you can tend to your waters, your ecosystems, and your communities in ways that are sustainable to nature - and yourself - with the future in mind.
Through the dynamic leadership of Chiquita Brujita, those seeking to return to ancestral traditions and magic have an annual opportunity to gather at the festival among kindred spirits, and we are so grateful to return to this space. Festival attendees are invited to consider how their ancestors might have found joy amid the horrors of their time, and what they aspire to be known for when they become an ancestor.
Joy is both your birthright and your legacy.
ABOUT ANCESTORS IN TRAINING™
Ancestors in Training™ is an educational project and lived experience that centers sacred traditions, new technologies, intergenerational healing, and grief work. Launched in 2017, this concept has been taught at Sadie Nash Leadership Project and Mayday Space and traveled to El Museo del Barrio, Weeksville Heritage Center, the Caribbean Cultural Center (CCCADI), Ethel's Club, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Black Feminist Future, Decolonizing Birth and Allied Media Conferences. To be an Ancestor in Training is to embody the elevated ancestor we want to be in the present moment, while we are still here. We understand that our time here is finite without fear.
ABOUT THE STEWARD
Veronica Agard (Ifáṣadùn Fásanmí) (she/her) is a poet, writer, abọ̀rìṣà, community educator, and connector at the intersections of Black identity, wellness, representation, and culture. She curated the Who Heals the Healer series and the conference of the same name and facilitates the Ancestors in Training™ educational project. A joy defender and space holder for over 10 years, she wants to be remembered as a force of nature who created sites of healing.
