Juneteenth Ritual of Remembrance

Omnira Institute hosts and conducts a Juneteenth Ritual of Remembrance that includes Oro Egun, Ring Shout, and, in keeping with the original celebrants’ practice, prayers of thanks for the fact that slavery was finally over. OI invites members of the First Nation, who were enslaved first, to pray, as well as members of the religions and traditions of the enslaved people when they were taken from Africa: Ifa, Palo Mayombe, Vodun, and the Abrahamic faiths of Judaism. Christianity, Islam. The altar is of an inverted metal tub covered with a layer of white cloth. On it are the cooked foods that the enslaved people favored, crops they may have planted and harvested, candles, red-and-white gingham, water, candles, and a replica of a slave ship. There is some variety from year to year - in 2017, our theme was lynching, hence the image of  Emmett  Till, who was killed in 1955.