How do you honor the dead?

We do. It depends on which day it is. We honor our son. October 15th was worldwide infant loss awareness day so we lit a candle in his honor as they suggest. We also have a small alter we can put food and water on. Last year we had a full-on memorial on his birthday, this included a giveaway to those who attended. I’ve also released balloons and sent messages/toys to friend’s children who have passed away. I plan on honoring my son everytime his birthday comes around. We also bought him a Christmas ornament last year to honor him during the holidays. It has only been a year and a half since our loss. In the future I would love to do something like what you mentioned, that is truly beautiful.

This is hard to talk about, very personal things… yet the question is a good one and I feel I should answer it.

I light incense with a prayer of thanks that I had them in my life. I do something that I liked to do with them- like sing a song for my Grammy. I donate money in their memory to charities that support things they believed in. I try to take what they tought me and keep it going.

Sometimes I sit and cry about losing them. Then I try to think of the positives they gave me and then I close my eyes really tight and give them a big hug in my mind.

I have no traditions regarding this. I don’t go to gravesites. I don’t see a point. I don’t know the dates of people who died, even those I was close to.

When they pop into my head, I think about them. I remember the good, I forgive myself for anything I believe might have harmed them. Sometimes I try to picture them in my head as clearly as possible, to remember every last detail. For a moment that person is there with me, then they fade away, and I go back to my life.

I’m an atheist, but I still celebrate the Pagan holidays I came to love. This time of year, Samhain, is when we honor our dead. One thing that some of us do is bring out the old pictures and put them around again on display, so we remember them. Another thing my group and I do is have a potluck feast where we each bring a dish that one of our ancestors made and/or liked, and share that dish and their story with each other.

My own personal tradition involves donating blood this time of year. It’s one of the few things I think I’ve truly made, but it’s a gift from my ancestors in a way and by sharing it, I honor them. I also help someone else stay with their family and not need to be honored at Samhain.

Via my synaptic nerves in the impulses of their memories. The more I reminisce and recollect the stronger my brain impulses work and thus my honor is more vivid. This can be learned as a mental skill. You can transmit those thoughts to paper (in this day and age I guess to a word file) and share this with others for eternity.

my father and I celebrate our passed on family members by celebrating Dia de los Muertos, with our friends. We also honor their souls with money, and food.

I have a dia de los muertos skull tattoo on my ribs. I had wanted one before, but the passing of both of my great-grandparents is what prompted me to follow through. I would definitely say it’s a tribute to them. I chose to put it on my ribs as a reminded to me that they are both always by my side.

I have a plain silver band with a winged skull. Inside are engraved the initials of those I loved who passed. I feel like a part of them is with me where ever I am.

@Dog @Allie Both great answers. What wonderful, thoughtful tributes.

In my own way.

My grandpa loved angels and had so many of them. When he died my grandma gave me one of his angel pins that he used to wear on his hat and every year on the day he died and his birthday I wear his angel. :) It makes me smile.

I write about them.
Otherwise my family has done little to commemorate the deceased. Sometimes we stay up late into the night drinking, and tell stories about “that old son of a bitch,” or that “poor woman,” but not much else goes on.
I like it this way.

Love and cherish the living.

No traditions, yet. I just try to remember them. I wound up with my grandmother’s scarf and gloves. Sometimes I take them out and press them to my face to catch her scent again, and memories well up.Thank you, Dog. Sometimes it’s good to suddenly realize how much grief you still have. I didn’t expect to start crying while writing this.

Pray for them to go to heaven.

@Dog : i really like that tradition you do for your grandmother…

I was raised Jewish and don’t follow any traditions or holidays but I always light a candle (one that burns for 24 hours – it’s called a yahrzeit candle) on the anniversary of the loved one’s passing. Since it burns for an entire day, I light it before bed and remember the person each time I see the candle flicker.

I visit my gradmother’s grave on her birthday and the day she died. Other than that I really don’t do anything else. She is the only person that I really cared about to do those things for, and I don’t light candles for her because my cats would knock them over and start a fire.

It tends to be whenever I go outside at night. Something about the stars and the emptiness and quiet of night time just makes for perfect remembrance. I either speak in my head about memories of whoever passed or just say it out loud. It’s a feeling of being absolutely alone with your thoughts and memories and it’s just a good way I remember them. It’s extremely calming, peaceful and wonderful.

Oh where to start, this is a hard question. I lost my sister in 2006 she was 31 and was killed in a car accident. My mother and I have taken the responsibility of raising two of her three children. (Complicated) I don’t think there is One Single Day that goes by that my sister isn’t on my mind and my moms and her kids. We honor her everyday by trying to live the way she wanted us all too. We miss her so very much and only God can take that pain away.. When we meet again…