How to join the Transgender Ancestor Rite: an FAQ on our updated format
What is it?
an annual, non-denominational ritual honoring transgender individuals who have passed on
an act of solidarity with the lineage of transgender ancestors who have come before us and paved the way, as well as with the descendants who will come after us when we are gone
a chance to share tenderness and kindness with the restless spirits of transgender people who lost their lives to violence
an opportunity for living transgender folks, including those who have lost trans loved ones, to grieve, mourn, and pray
a labor of love from a multiracial group of trans spirit workers, each at various stages of study in ancestor veneration practices, who have been putting on this ritual since 2014
When is it?
the ritual should take place on or around the Trans Day of Remembrance on November 20th, preferably within a week
most of us do it at night but any time of day is fine
if you need to do it a little before or after the 20th, don't sweat it
Where is it?
wherever you are!
groups are welcome to host local events and inform us about them, but the ritual itself takes place in a location of your own choosing, usually at home
if you have access to a local TDOR event that could incorporate some or all of this ritual, you are welcome to bring it there
most of the organizers have historically been located in the northeastern US but you don’t have to be
Who is it for?
it honors everyone from this year’s Trans Day of Remembrance official list, as well as any other deaths of trans individuals from the year that participants wish to include
illness losses, violent deaths, suicides, and natural deaths are all eligible for inclusion
it includes, cumulatively, all transgender deaths from previous years as well, named on the TDOR lists and unnamed, throughout history
it honors and praises the trans ancestors, people who were alive both recently and longer ago, who feel themselves in connection with us, who have received the care and honor we offered through previous years’ rituals, who are bright and well and who can tend the line from the other side
participants can be trans or cisgender, of any or no denomination or faith
Does it cost money?
nope! this is an anticapitalist affair
you can buy incense and offerings if you like, but you don’t need to spend money to participate
Why are y’all doing this?
honestly this could take pages and pages about the importance of this work and of soothing the troubled dead and tending our ancestral line et cetera et cetera ad infinitum but the short version is
we gotta
our ancestors require it and we’re making sure they get it
Okay, how does it work?
during the ritual, you sit or stand at an altar, light a candle, put out a glass of fresh water, and read a prayer
you may also make any other offerings you feel called to do
if so moved, you read the names of the dead from this year's TDOR list and call on our bright and well ancestors to tend to these newly passed souls
all the people participating in all the different places in the world help create a rising raft of energy that is greater than the sum of its parts, delivering the restless dead among our line into the care of our bright and well ancestors, who, in turn, also care for us, the living
Prayers? I thought you said this was non-denominational.
prayers can involve divinity, or they can be kind and soothing words to say to the dead
you can look through our prayers tag to get ideas and inspiration, but feel free to find poems on your own and/or write something yourself as well
you are welcome to include deity or not, as you prefer
the organizers of this ritual incorporate gods and spirits in our practices but you by no means need to
on the flip side, if you want your gods involved, feel free to do so in whatever respectful manner works for you
What do I need on my altar?
the basics are an altar cloth (white is traditional; a bandana works), a cup to be filled with water, and a new or dedicated candle (white is traditional here also but follow your instincts)
other great offerings include cut flowers, portions of your food and drink (though alcohol is not advised with restless spirits), tobacco, honey, pictures and/or names of the deceased, art, music, dancing, and any gender paraphernalia you think the ancestors might like
do not put pictures of living people on the altar
it can be as simple or ornate as you choose: the important parts are the candle, the cup, and the cloth
Isn’t it sketchy to be working with dead people?
a little bit
it is much less sketchy since our format change in 2022, at which point this ritual shifted from working directly with restless spirits (dicey) to interfacing with them only through our cadre of elevated bright and well ancestors who have already benefited from previous years' rituals
we advise that you cleanse or purify in whatever way you prefer, ideally before and after the working
if you’re in a Western (especially American Christian) culture that views death as The End and discussion of death as taboo, consider reading up on cultures where ancestor veneration is a normal part of everyday life (hint: it’s most of them)
Other questions? Send them in and we’ll answer them, and maybe add them to the list! If you post about the ritual, tag #troe2023 and we will check it out!
Hello, friends and comrades. As we approach the Trans Day of Remembrance on November 20th, please consider joining us in this ritual to honor and pay tribute to the members of our family and community we have lost this year, or even just spreading the word.
We will have 2025 updates for you soon. Thank you all for being here. <3
This is the summary of the 2025 Trans Rite conducted at home by mods @thegodwhocums, @flamingkorybante, and @candeladestructora.
We had reset the altar and put out new offerings a few days before the 20th, and when the night came around, I think we were all a little relieved that we hadn’t been trying to plan something bigger or more public for this year. Sitting around our home altar, playing AHNONI’s My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross, I felt like we were getting back to basics.
In the divination we do every year to check with our Helping Spirits, make sure they're still up for participating, and ask if there's any changes they need us to make this year, we had two main takeaways. First, that our Mighty and Beloved Dead want the Rite to fit into a larger pattern of work with the Ancestors and Descendants throughout the year. And second, that our beloved Puta Madre Cecilia Gentili is happy and excited to join the team.
We welcomed her onto the altar with red lipstick, a red candle, and a cup of nice hibiscus tequila
We also burned a homemade smoke bundle of mugwort, rosemary, and lavender, as well as this 6witch3 Palo Santo and rosemary incense.
We lit candles and poured water for the Helping Spirits, and the three of us divided all of the names of this year's newly joined ancestors and read them quietly at the same time.
We had been trying to figure out how to give each recently passed sibling individual honor and respect without having ritual that was torturous or went past the point of being honoring. This felt like a good middle point between that very drawn-out experience and something like just having the papers with the names on the altar but not speaking them aloud, so I think we'll likely keep this method moving forward.
We then offered some prayers, including our base prayer, Audre Lorde's Litany for Survival, the Manifesto of the Order of Chaeronaea, the Mourner's Kaddish, INVOCACIÓN by Ashanti Dinah Ozco Herrera, and Maya Angelou's Still I Rise.
We then put on some more upbeat music, following the message from Cecilia in @candeladestructora's divination to "stop being so serious all the time!"
So of course we said "yes ma'am" and put on the following songs:
God Bless the Child by Sylvester
Rio by Aterciopelados
In Ale Gasn by Zalmen Motek and Adrienne Cooper
Libre y Peligrosa by Plena Combativa
We are Family by Sister Sledge
We closed by using the couplet to offer all of the grief from the rite to Agdistis. We used a river stone as a focal point, which just today we went out back and buried in the earth at the base of a tree to cleanse.
As Sylvia told us during our opening divination this year, FIGHT THE POWER. ✊🏽🤍
We're following the tag #troe2025, if you are participating in the ritual this year and want to share photos of your altar or write-ups about your experience.
Instructions on making your altar and performing the ritual can be found in our FAQ post.
Thank you again to everyone who joined us on or before November 20th for the Rite, and anyone planning to do the ritual this coming weekend! Please continue to tag your posts #troe2025 if you would like us to see them, and we will continue to share.
Mods will post a write-up of our own ritual soon, and look forward to hearing from more participants. It really is a big group project, and we appreciate everybody who comes along.
Marsha P. Johnson on the West Side Piers in Manhattan. Date unknown, from the estate of Leee Black Childers. Collection of Faulkner Morgan Archive. [x]
Because I am caregiving a parent, my main altar for the Transcestors is at my house, and I took the topper with me. When I opened the bedroom drapes this morning, the sunlight fell directly on my mini altar.
"We call upon the ancestors of our line, the progenitors of our queer spirits, those who came before and laid the path behind them, the mighty transgender dead." - 'Basic Trans Ancestor Elevation Ritual Prayer' by @rockemsockemrocket & @trans-rite.
For today, the Transgender Day of Remembrance, I created a small altar atop the cabinet that houses my beloved dead, for the transgender dead.
I lit the candle from my beloved dead's altar as well as a fresh black candle (I wish I had some actual Pride representation, but for now the glass prisms will have to do). I offered some hot milk with honey and a touch of turmeric, later followed by a cup of fresh water, and read the 'Basic Trans Ancestor Elevation Ritual Prayer' in its entirety.
When I return home from work tonight I will relight the candles and let them burn for awhile, as this morning was kind of rushed.
My trans rite of elevation altar for this year. Offerings of incense, apple, and strawberry Swiss roll.
I also poured a drink for Lucifer and Ishtar. You can’t see it but it’s in the pewter dish. Said prayers to them for the healing and safety of their trans descendants, departed and living, and invoked them in the prayer itself.
- bandana from a trans artist - water with ice - mocktail with coconut water and spiced apple cider vinegar - lavender honey - spiced candies - flowers - glitter bottle (gift ❤️) -
Said the suggested prayer (some extemporizing), talked to my goddesses, said hello to Marsha (more like a tiny timid wave but I felt warmth reflected back), closed my eyes and offered my hand to a loving ancestor and danced in a connected line stretching away from me and also toward me, felt the pain points on the line being held on either side.
Set a prayer in my own spell space (strawberry candle) with necklaces for gender, tenderness, grace, strength, protection, grief, recovery, and future happiness.
Spent some time while the candles burned doing sigil work for beloved priestess.
I wasn’t able to do as much for this year’s ritual compared to last year, but I’m glad to have participated
Offerings included water in a cup I got from attending my first drag show, a dried rose, a dried bunch of baby’s breath (that may have been from the bouquet I had gotten for tdor last year I’m not sure), and a beaded bracelet I got from my first protest
I had asked Hermes to accompany me again, and to guide those to a better after place.
When I had finished reciting the prayer, I wanted to continue what I did last year of following it with something uplifting, so I played music created by trans artists
As the candle was burnt to just the wick, the flame curled over itself into the shape of a butterfly 🦋 It was beautiful
I will be spending the majority of Trans Awareness Week caregiving Alzheimer’s Mom while my sibling tries to get some rest. The altar for the Transcestors will be at my house, I will take a few tokens with me and do my meditations and ritual when I can.
The Gay Militants: How Gay Liberation Began in America, 1969-1971 - Donn Teal
“Sylvia Rivera: A Woman Before Her Time” - Liz Highleyman (from Smash the Church, Smash the State: The Early Years of Gay Liberation)
“Marsha P. Johnson: New York City Legand” - Tommi Avicolli Mecca (fromSmash the Church, Smash the State: The Early Years of Gay Liberation)
“Queens in Exile, The Forgotten Ones” - Sylvia Rivera (from GenderQueer: Voices from Beyond the Sexual Binary)
“Rapping With a Street Transvestite Revolutionary: An Interview with Marcia Johnson” (from Out of the Closets: Voices of Gay Liberation)
‘I’m glad I was in the Stonewall riot’: Leslie Feinberg interviews Sylvia Rivera
Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries - Leslie Feinberg
“A Woman for Her Time” - Riki Wilchins (from The Village Voice)
Sylvia Rivera: 1951-2002 - Michael Bronski (from Z Magazine)
Sylvia Rivera soundportraits interview (from New York Times Magazine)
Sylvia Rivera soundportraits update from July 4, 2001
Remembering Stonewall soundportraits transcript
Sylvia Rivera New York Times obituary
“Sylvia and Sylvia’s Children: a Battle for a Queer Public” - Benjamin Shepard (from That’s Revolting: Queer Strategies for Resisting Assimilation)
Sylvia Rivera’s talk at LGMNY, June 2001
“Still at the back of the bus”: Sylvia Rivera’s struggle - Jessi Gan
The Gay Liberation Youth Movement in New York: “An Army of Lovers Cannot Fail” - Stephen L. Cohen
“Queens, Hookers, and Hustlers: Organizing for Survival and Revolt Amongst Gender-Variant Sex Workers, 1950-1970” - Mack Friedman
“Eliding trans Latino/a queer experience in U.S. LGBT history: José Sarria and Sylvia Rivera reexamined” - Tim Retzloff
“Sylvia Rivera: Fighting in Her Heels: Stonewall, Civil Rights, and Liberation” - Layli Phillips and Shomari Olugbala (from The Human Tradition in the Civil Rights Movement)
“History or Myth? Writing Stonewall” - Benjamin Shepard
Transgender Warriors: making history from Joan of Arc to Dennis Rodman - Leslie Feinberg
“From Community Organization to Direct Services: The Street Trans Action Revolutionaries to Sylvia Rivera Law Project” - Benjamin Shepard
“Sylvia Rivera: She was more than Stonewall” - jerimarie liesegang
“Amanda Milan and the rebirth of the Street Trans Action Revolutionaries” - Benjamin Shepard (in From Act Up to the WTO)
“Transvestites: your half sisters and half brothers of the Revolution” - Sylvia Rivera (from Come Out! Magazine 1971)
“Sylvia Goes to College: ‘Gay Is Proud’ at NYU” - Arthur Bell (from the Village Voice, October 15, 1970)
“Street Transvestites for Gay Power” (October 1971)
FILMS
Pay it No Mind: The Life and Times of Marsha P. Johnson
Sylvia Rivera: Trans Movement Founder
Sylvia Rivera speaking at the 1973 Christopher Street Liberation Day Parade after being mocked and repressed by lesbian feminists and gay men
Clip from Market This featuring Sylvia
Sylvia Rivera at World Pride 2000
Changing House (a short documentary on Transy House)
Randy Wicker Interviews Sylvia Rivera on the Pier
Marsha P. Johnson home video
Marsha P. Johnson - People’s Memorial
Marsha P. Johnson In Person
Marsha P. Johnson at Baltimore Pride 1991
PHOTOGRAPHS
Marsha P. Johnson photo collection (by Randy Wicker)
