Libations for the Ancestors June 9, 2012 in the San Francisco Bay Area

It's that time again, our annual ritual pouring libations for our ancestors. We join communities in Charleston & Georgetown, South Carolina, Portobelo, Panama, West Indies, Cape Coast, Ghana, and Brooklyn, New York, Seattle, Washington, St. Croix, Virgin Islands, West Indies, Hampton, Virginia, Atlanta, Georgia (?).

Stop what you are doing Saturday, June 9 at 9 a.m. PST and pour libations for our African ancestors who were taken against their will from Mother Africa. Ask them for strength and endurance. Freedom is a constant struggle. For those who'd like to pour libations in unity. Join us at 8:30 a.m. We will pour precisely at 9 AM. Bring your drums and other percussion instruments to celebrate our ancestors' lives. Bring flowers, breakfast pastry and fruit to share. It is traditional to wear white, but for those who know me...bring yourself, it's what's inside that counts.

Feel the power of that moment as we recall their greatness of spirit and give thanks. Ashay!

Last year we met at the fountain at Lake Merritt in Oakland, across from the Merritt Bakery where the fountain is: E-18th Street at Lakeshore Drive. We can meet there again this year. It is a nice spot, easy to locate and wheelchair accessible.

This is our fifth or sixth year participating in the international remembrance of the African ancestors who were bought and sold during the European slave trade. This is also an opportunity to reflect on those subsequent ancestors like Mama Tubman and Baba Denmark Vesey, and ancestors elsewhere in the African Diaspora. It is, a prayer for our survival and an opportunity to greet and support one another in this important work: healing from enslavement: socially, politically, and economically. It is also an opportunity to reclaim our personal and collective power, plus long overdue justice and equality.


Visit http://maafasfbayarea.com

Listen to Wanda's Picks Radio Friday, June 8, 2012 8-10 AM where I speak to Sisters Deborah Wright (Charleston, SC), Chadra Pittman Walke (Hampton, Virginia), Afua N'Diaye (Seattle, WA), Kefentse Chike (Detroit, MI), and Dr. ChenziRa Davis Kahina (Virgin Islands); Brothers Osei Terry Chandler (founder of Charleston, SC Remembrance) and Azikiwe Chandler (Charleston, SC); and host: Wanda Sabir (Oakland, CA). Click on the title or follow the link:http://www.blogtalkradio.com/wandas-picks/2012/06/08/wandas-picks-radio-show

Photos taken in 2011 at the Libations for the Ancestors. Photo credit: Wanda Sabir