The Dagara people's main job is to look the dead in the face, to treat their bodies not as remains but as temples of grace and beauty continuing from this world to the other. People grieve the passing of loved ones, though in this grief they stress beauty and community and continuity. The handing over of the loved one to the realm of the ancestors is what we call ancestralization. It allows for a sense of completion in the vast array of duties following the passing of a person. In this five-day event, we will address this issue of fulfilling our duties toward the dead in the interest of transforming restlessness into rest, discontinuity into continuity and homelessness into homecoming." -Malidoma Patrice Some´

We will spend Wednesday evening through Sunday morning planning and participating in various rituals specifically choreographed to assist the spirits of the dead make their journeys back to the spirit world. The rituals will also assist the living in letting go, in a powerful way, of attachments that might keep souls bound to this earth plane. The Dagara believe that the deceased can become powerful allies once they are fully "at home" in the ancestral realm."