Please support this special event offered by our friends a La Ofrenda Fest!
Cacao: NANA MARINA CRUZ (From Tz ́utujil Community in Guatemala)
Ofrendas: Farez Hernandez, Shamanic Community Gathering of NY
Music: Miriam Rubin
Eventbrite Tickets: Donation $55: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/302270458077, limited capacity
Drinks and Food Sponsor by: @arepera_mi_reina_pepeada @cacaolaboratory
La Ofrenda Fest invites you to join them for a very special closing event to honor the Element of Fire with a Sacred Cacao Ceremony by spiritual leader (Ajq'ii) Nana Marina Cruz. For thousands of years Ceremonial cacao has been used in rituals and ceremonies in Meso America to explore our connection with the heart. Nana Marina will guide us in a powerful meditation to explore a journey within. Farez Hernandez will close with a final ceremony of ofrendas with a Despacho where you will have an opportunity to offer your wishes to the element of fire. (Materials will be provided for the ceremony).
A Despacho is a powerful form of giving back to the elements and Pachamama, in exchange for her care of us. It is a love bundle made of flowers, seeds, herbs or any natural item that grows in her garden. (Materials will be provided for the ceremony).
Nana Marina Cruz
is a healer from the Tz ́utujil Tribe, and is a spiritual guide of the old traditions. She is the daughter of Tata Pedro & works not just as a healer and therapist with natural folk methods, but as a ceremonial leader of fire, tobacco, cacao and sweat lodge, and teaches native Mayan languages. She is a ceremonial leader and conducts fire and cacao ceremonies and is a teacher of the Mayan calendar and the Mayan cosmic vision. She emphasizes the importance of being truly connected in body and spirit. She believes that everything has a meaning, everything has an origin, every emotion, every disease has an origin. By finding the origin, you can truly heal the spirit and body. Focusing on the wisdom of our ancestors, a balance can be found. Traditional medicine is to listen, to speak, not to simply “take”. An example of traditional medicine is the use of tobacco. Using tobacco connects us to the cosmos, to the creator, the great Ahau. We are offering for our health, or emotions, our lives and everything, but we are also healing like our ancestors did. When we drink cacao, it is not only the drink but the seeds have a different function to heal.
Farez Hernandez
Born of Lenca (Native Meso American) and of European descent, grew up among the tropical forests of Honduras. Shortly after the assassination of his father, Farez faced threats to his own life, and decided to move to New York. Connecting with the wisdom of his ancestors and gaining knowledge from many other traditions, Farez co-founded the Shamanic Community Gathering NYC in 2017 to bring ancestral wisdom and to create community through a vision of a new humanity in harmony with Mother Earth. He’s convinced that honoring and respecting the ecosystems where we live is key to having inner peace and harmony in life. Farez is a Cacao ceremony facilitator, artist, storyteller and healer. He offers Shamanic Energy Healing, Pagamentos (payments to the spirits) Reiki, Egg and Candle cleansing & readings, Sound healing, Soul retrieval, Cord cutting, Aura cleansing, Tacuma needle technique, Crystal wand technique, Amulets, Home cleansing and blessings, and much more. His calling in this life is to live in harmony with Mother Nature and assist others to remember that we are divine beings, children of the Earth. If we wish to live happily we have to connect and live in harmony with her.
Miriam Rubin
(she/her) is a Somatic Healer & Educator, Ritual Artist, Interfaith Minister and youth Rites of Passage Guide. She weaves original music, storytelling, nature connection, and ancestral wisdom to re-story the times that we’re living in, and assist the awakening of the creative potential of the human soul. Miriam has transformed her own relationship to her body, story, and soul, through the Somatic Listening and Storytelling modality that offers to her clients. Miriam finds great joy and meaning in helping other bodies and souls to access somatic safety, resource and connection to the web of life which brings about positive transformation in body, soul and purpose. Miriam is a 4th generation New Yorker living on unneeded Lenapehoking Territory. Learn more about her work here: www.miriamswellness.com
Production and Director of programming: America Maldonado
Production and Art Curator: Alexandra Alvarez
Sponsors and Assistant Curator: Reinaldo Castro
Consultant Assistant: Rebecca Hansen