What Happens To Us When We Die
this is an unedited version of a story that will be featured in the gallery book for my project Wypominky Kobiety.
When the mothers converted to Catholicism, they did not leave the old ways behind. Not completely. In the beginning times, we honoured our ancestral dead on the last day of the month, in fall, after the harvest. With the Sermon on the Mount came the Feast of All Saints and then, later, the Feast of All Souls. The mothers simply folded these new devotions into the existing ones and that is how our weekend of remembrance began.
We came from the milky way and that is where we will return when we are done here. We will join all the glittering stars who were once our family. The mothers from America, the daughters of Wanda, the women of the Magdalenian ancestral land. The artists and storytellers who left us a legacy. The witches and the princesses. The mothers of those women, too, although we will never know their names. Bits of them still are with us. Givers of life, advice, penance and knowledge. Intercessor and cautionary tale- all of them are there. And we will go there too. There are a few ways to get there- by bird (which is mostly how this happens) perhaps by dog or occasionally by rainbow. On Zaduski we bake bread and open the window an inch so that the ancestors can slip in and enjoy a meal with us. For 3 nights, we burn candles and say the Wypomniki.
Josephine Poblanska
Mildred Zorska
Irene Sczmycznska
Marilyn Nagorska
When the ancestors are to receive a new arrival, we pray their soul along: I will leave a candle out so that you can find me when you get there. Please twinkle, so that I may also find you.
These last little stories are stories that I did not hear from my Babcia. They are not slavic stories but I have chosen to take them in as my own. The reason for this is that I deeply and permanently believe that all dogs go to heaven. I believe it so much that I have taken it to the local clergy and had it confirmed. So our first friends, the four legged ones who share with us 20,000 years of coevolution are also waiting for us in the stars.
Some people believe that when you die, a dog will walk with you to the place of Anubis, the king of the dogs. Anubis will weigh your heart against a feather. If you pass the test, the dog may escort you into the kingdom of heaven. Others believe that when you die, you will first visit the Land of the Dogs where a dog who loves you will help you cross a river and enter the forever-after. So when it is my time, I will trust the dog.
