In most cases, somen is not only offered to sorei (ancestral spirit, collective of ancestral spirits which have lost their individualities, ancestor deified as a kami, spirit of a kami) and Shinto and Buddhist deities, but also served to relatives by blood and marriage who gathered for the event.
祖霊や神仏に供えられると共に親類縁者が集まって食べる例が多い。