The Sacred Botany of the White Altar: Casablanca Lilies, Rue, and Chiapas Copal

An altar is a workplace. Flowers that have gone slimy are not an offering. They are a chore you skipped.

Flowers

White roses, carnations, or whatever you can replace when it wilts. Cut the stems. Change the water in the vase as you change the glass for her. If you cannot keep flowers, do not fake a bouquet with plastic and call it tradition.

Copal

Copal blanco is smoke to wash a room. Open a window. Respect the lungs of whoever lives there. You are not more devout because the fire alarm knows your name.

What not to do

Do not steal flowers from a grave to look hard. Do not leave meat to rot “for power.” Do not pour liquor you cannot handle. She does not need your mess to be fed.

If you have no shrine, a cup of water and one white candle still count. See traditional offerings.