There are many aspects to our memories.

Things that trigger them. Sights, sounds, the feel of wind, rain or sunshine on our skin. I think that some of the strongest triggers are scents and flavors.

For me the scents from my childhood bring back vivid memories. The scent of the fire, what wood is burning in it, red cedar wood in particular is very vivid for me, it brings a feeling of calm and comfort. Not the warmest for heating but it gives me great comfort though I am not sure why that memory is not a clear one, just a feeling.

The same with foods, both eating and preparing the scent of spices being chopped, ground and mixed, of fruits as you slice them up or peel them. Many of them elicit feelings that seem to take us to another place and time. Some times its a clear memory, our mother making a certain meal, the smell of meat roasting and the seasoning blending in with the scent of the meat and vegetables, and if its open fire cooking that scent of the wood being burned adds to it. I think in some cases it takes us much further back than a single life time.

These connections are often subtle and we usually are not quite sure where they come from but we know we recognize them. I think of the time in the past that our ancestors sat around the fire, cooking the meat from the days hunt, animals, fish, the herbs and roots gathered from the environment around them and later cultivated purposefully. They became part of the culture that we descended from and that culture and its scents and flavors and textures became a part of us, passed down via genetic memories for a very long time.

I think of the burials we find in ancient sites all the way back to the stone age and the items included in those burials. There are the tools of every day life, but often they have foods and bowls for eating from, included as well. Many say, ah this was to be food for them in the afterlife, but I see much more than that. It represents who they were, what they gave to their families, how we remember them, warrior, farmer, spinner, cook and parent.

Another aspect I think of this is it keeps them still connected to the home, the family and their descendants. So that when a child or grand child needed to connect with the honored ancestor, they could set down at the hearth, lay on a fire and take a bowl of the foods once prepared or eaten at the hearth by that ancestor and connect with them for comfort or assurance, to find answers to question and challenges they faced. It was not to send food for them to live on in the afterlife the afterlife would provide its own foods. It was to provide a bridge from them back to us to continue at need to be our guidance in what we face in this life, the ones we trust the most.

This in part is what my blessing bowls represent. A way to connect to those ancestors who have passed on, but who are still an important part of who we are. To be able to include them in our current lives and ask their blessing in what we face today as well as celebrate all that they have gifted us with in our lives so far.