Festival of the Ancestors, posted by Meroe

Ya Raqs embarked on a slightly more sombre event on 2nd November by supporting Chester’s very own Deva Victrix in the Festival of the Ancestors. It was arguably one of the coldest events we’ve taken part in this year and all I can say is thank goodness for thermal underwear – not terribly authentic, but what the eye doesn’t see………!

Meroe, Hebba, Kebi and Mishmish traded their usual dance costumes to become official mourners at the re-enactment of a Roman funeral – that of a poor dead gladiator called Pisces Phalanges. Although his name brought smiles to those who had worked out what his name meant, the sentiment of the event was authentic and was approached with the professionalism for which Deva Victrix is famous. For our part, Ya Raqs provided not only the professional mourners but also the dancers who were bought in to entertain the family and friends after the funeral – as would have been the norm in Roman times.

Our funeral procession left the Grosvenor Museum at 2pm and soulfully wound its way through the streets of Chester, finally making its way back to the museum. Each member of Deva Victrix has taken on the name of a real Roman who lived and died in Chester and one by one they made offering to their namesakes in the Stones Gallery –as with many ancient religions, the Romans believed that by speaking the name of the dead they were restored to life.

The mood then lightened as we changed from our mourning outfits to our dance costumes to celebrate the lives of the ancestors that we had just honoured. At 3:30pm, the procession left the museum and headed down to the Groves by the river where there was an opportunity for everyone to set free candle lights on the River Dee in remembrance of their own lost loved ones. In the dusk of that cold November evening, it was truly magical to watch our little lights of remembrance making their way downstream.

As with all good funerals, there was a party to bring possibly one of our chilliest events this year to a close.