Traditional "Alay" Sets

The "Alay" tradition's significance is to revere, pay respects and send good tidings to the departed. The living descendants pay respect and homage to all ancestors, including same age or younger generations of ancestors. It is a day to remember and honour one's ancestors at grave sites by sweeping the tombs and offering food, tea, wine, chopsticks to eat the food with and by praying.

Savory Escolta Online is here to help you prepare an alay with a light and happy heart; it is, after all, to celebrate your ancestor's life.

Offering them food in the afterlife brings blessings to the offerer by virtue of kindred help, sort of an intuitive form of guidance from the legacy of one’s ancestors, their virtues and values, especially in day-to-day decision-making. Simply put, it is how to make a better life, drawing from the lessons of the life of the deceased.

These rituals can be done regularly, depending on the descendant. It is no different from saying prayers for the dead in the Catholic faith. In feng shui or Chinese ancestral worship, it is materially expressed using lucky food offerings.

It is believed that performing such rituals brings blessings to the descendants making the offering.

The best time to make an offering is before noon. But in feng shui, the time and day must be in sync with the fortune calendar or Chinese almanac, Tong Shu.

See 2021 guide below: