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The veneration of the dead, including one's , is based on love and respect for the deceased. In some cultures, it is related to that the dead have a afterlife, and may possess the ability to influence the fortune of the living. Some groups Veneration their direct, familial ancestors. Certain religious groups, in particular the Eastern Orthodox Churches, Anglican Church, and Catholic Church venerate as Intercession; the latter also believes in prayer for Soul in Purgatory. Other religious groups, however, consider veneration of the dead to be idolatry and a sin.
In European, Asian, Oceanian, African and Afro-diasporic cultures (which includes but should be distinguished from multiple cultures and Indigenous populations in the Americas who were never influenced by the African Diaspora), the goal of ancestor veneration is to ensure the ancestors' continued well-being and positive disposition towards the living, and sometimes to ask for special favours or assistance. The social or non-religious function of ancestor veneration is to cultivate kinship values, such as filial piety, family loyalty, and continuity of the family lineage. Ancestor veneration occurs in societies with every degree of social, political, and technological complexity, and it remains an important component of various religious practices in modern times.
Most cultures who practice ancestor veneration do not call it "ancestor worship". In English, the word worship usually but not always refers to the reverent love and Loyalty accorded a deity (god) or God. However, in other cultures, this act of worship does not confer any belief that the departed ancestors have become some kind of deity. Rather, the act is a way to express filial duty, devotion and respect and look after ancestors in their afterlives as well as seek their guidance for their living descendants. In this regard, many cultures and religions have similar practices. Some may visit the graves of their parents or other ancestors, leave flowers and pray to them in order to honor and remember them, while also asking their ancestors to continue to look after them. However, this would not be considered as worshipping them since the term worship may not always convey such meaning in the exclusive and narrow context of certain Western European Christian traditions.
In that sense the phrase ancestor veneration may but from the limited perspective of certain Western European Christian traditions, convey a more accurate sense of what practitioners, such as the Chinese people and other Buddhism and Confucianism societies, as well as the African and European cultures see themselves as doing. This is consistent with the meaning of the word veneration in English, that is great respect or reverence caused by the dignity, wisdom, or dedication of a person.
Although there is no generally accepted theory concerning the origins of ancestor veneration, this social phenomenon appears in some form in all human cultures documented so far. David-Barrett and Carney claim that ancestor veneration might have served a group coordination role during human evolution, and thus it was the mechanism that led to religious representation fostering group cohesion.
Indian and Chinese practices of ancestor-worship are prevalent throughout Asia as a result of the large Indian diaspora and Chinese diaspora populations in countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and elsewhere across the continent. Furthermore, the large Indian population in places such as Fiji and Guyana has resulted in these practices spreading beyond their Asian homeland.
Memorial services for the deceased by occur on the 7th and 49th days after death, the time it is said to take for the deceased to be reborn, as well as periodically afterwards, such as on the first and third anniversaries of the death. After the Japanese funeral, the family of the deceased receives an 3=ihai Spirit tablet containing a posthumous name, which is then brought to the home butsudan so the deceased can be venerated.
Based on the Buddhist sect of the family, ancestral veneration serves different functions, such as praying for the deceased to enter Amida's Sukhavati or be guided by the Thirteen Buddhas through the deceased's journey through the afterlife. The sole Japanese Buddhist sect that rejects prayer for the deceased is Jōdo Shinshū, which views petitionary memorial services as unnecessary, seeing memorial services as a time for the living to reflect on their lives rather than pray for the deceased.
Several Japanese Buddhist festivals include strong elements of ancestral veneration, such as Obon (お盆) and Higan (彼岸). During these festivals, people return to their hometowns to honor their ancestors in accordance with Buddhist tradition.
The majority of Catholics, Buddhists and nonbelievers practise ancestral rites, although Protestants do not.
The Catholic ban on ancestral rituals was lifted in 1939, when the Catholic Church formally recognised ancestral rites as a civil practice.Ancestral rites are typically divided into three categories:
Ancestor worship was present in the royal court in pre-colonial Burma. During the Konbaung dynasty, solid gold images of deceased kings and their consorts were worshipped three times a year by the royal family, during the Burmese New Year ( Thingyan), at the beginning and at the end of Vassa. The images were stored in the treasury and worshiped at the Zetawunzaung (ဇေတဝန်ဆောင်, "Hall of Ancestors"), along with a book of odes.
Some scholars attribute the disappearance of ancestor worship to the influence of Buddhist doctrines of anicca and anatta, impermanence and rejection of a 'self'.
The ancient Tagalog people believed in , the spirits or souls of their ancestors. They honored and worshipped them in daily life especially the spirits of parents and grandparents who had passed away. These ancestor spirits were often represented by small idols kept in homes, sometimes made from gold and shaped like animals, such as crocodiles. Anitos were not only from the home. Some were believed to live in mountains, forests, and rice fields. These were often the souls of ancient warriors or previous inhabitants of the land. The Tagalogs believed that these spirits could protect or harm, so they treated them with respect.
Unlike other nearby cultures that worshipped many gods and spirits without making idols, the Tagalogs made physical representations only for certain anitos mainly those connected to the household. Different regions and tribes had their own names for these spirits. While Tagalogs called them anito, others used names like nitu, aitu, or hantu. This shows how widespread and deeply rooted the belief in ancestor spirits was across Southeast Asia.In these animistic indigenous religions of the precolonial Philippines, ancestor spirits were one of the two major types of spirits ( anito) with whom babaylan communicate. Ancestor spirits were known as umalagad (). They can be the spirits of actual ancestors or generalized guardian spirits of a family. Ancient Filipinos believed that upon death, the soul of a person travels (usually by boat) to a spirit world.
There can be multiple locations in the spirit world, varying in different ethnic groups. Which place souls end up in depends on how they died, the age at death, or conduct of the person when they were alive. Souls reunite with deceased relatives in the underworld and lead normal lives in the underworld as they did in the material world. In some cases, the souls of evil people undergo penance and cleansing before they are granted entrance into a particular spirit realm. Souls would eventually Reincarnation after a period of time in the spirit world.Souls in the spirit world still retain a degree of influence in the material world, and vice versa. Anito rituals may be used to invoke good ancestor spirits for protection, intercession, or advice. Vengeful spirits of the dead can manifest as apparitions or ghosts ( mantiw) and cause harm to living people. Paganito can be used to appease or banish them.
Ancestor spirits also figured prominently during illness or death, as they were believed to be the ones who call the soul to the underworld, guide the soul (a psychopomp), or meet the soul upon arrival.Ancestor spirits are also known as kalading among the Igorot people; tonong among the Maguindanao and Maranao people; umboh among the Sama-Bajau; ninunò among Tagalog people; and nono among Bicolano people.
Ancestor spirits are usually represented by carved figures called taotao. These were carved by the community upon a person's death. Every household had a taotao stored in a shelf in the corner of the house.The predominantly Roman Catholic Filipino people still hold ancestors in particular esteem—though without the formality common to their neighbours—despite having been Christianised since coming into contact with Spanish missionaries in 1521. In the present day, ancestor veneration is expressed in having photographs of the dead by the home altar, a common fixture in many Filipino Christian homes. Candles are often kept burning before the photographs, which are sometimes decorated with garlands of fresh Jasminum sambac, the national flower. Ancestors, particularly dead parents, are still regarded as psychopomps, as a dying person is said to be brought to the afterlife (Tagalog language: sundô, "fetch") by the spirits of dead relatives. It is said that when the dying call out the names of deceased loved ones, they can see the spirits of those particular people waiting at the foot of the deathbed.
Filipino Catholic and Aglipayan veneration of the dead finds its greatest expression in the Philippines is the Hallowmas season between 31 October and 2 November, variously called Undás (based on the word for "the first", the Spanish andas or possibly honra), Todos los Santos (literally "All Saints"), and sometimes Áraw ng mga Patáy (), which refers to the following solemnity of All Souls' Day. Filipinos traditionally observe this day by visiting the family dead, cleaning and repairing their tombs. Common offerings are prayers, flowers, candles, and even food, while many also spend the remainder of the day and ensuing night holding reunions at the graveyard, playing games and music or singing.
Chinese Filipinos, meanwhile, have the most apparent and distinct customs related to ancestor veneration, carried over from traditional Chinese religion and most often melded with their current Catholic faith. Many still burn incense and joss paper at family tombs and before photos at home, while they incorporate Chinese practises into Masses held during the All Souls' Day period.
In Vietnam, traditionally people did not celebrate birthdays (before Western influence), but the death anniversary of one's loved one was always an important occasion. Besides an essential gathering of family members for a banquet in memory of the deceased, incense sticks are burned along with hell notes, and great platters of food are made as offerings on the ancestor altar, which usually has pictures or plaques with the names of the deceased. In the case of missing persons, believed to be dead by their family, a Wind tomb is made.
These offerings and practices are done frequently during important traditional or religious celebrations, the starting of a new business, or even when a family member needs guidance or counsel and is a hallmark of the emphasis Vietnamese culture places on filial duty.
A significant distinguishing feature of Vietnamese ancestor veneration is that women have traditionally been allowed to participate and co-officiate ancestral rites, unlike in Chinese Confucian doctrine, which allows only male descendants to perform such rites.
In Catholic countries in Europe (continued later with the Anglicanism), November 1 (All Saints' Day), became known and is still known as the day to specifically venerate those who have died, and who have been deemed official saints by the Church. November 2, (All Souls Day), or "The Day of the Dead", is the day when all of the faithful dead are remembered. On that day, families go to cemeteries to light candles for their dead relatives, leave them flowers, and often to picnic. They also celebrate Suffrage Masses to shorten the time that souls need to leave Purgatory and the enter in Paradise. The evening before All Saints'—"All Hallows Eve" or "Hallowe'en"—is unofficially the Catholic day to remember the realities of Hell, to mourn the souls lost to evil, and to remember ways to avoid Hell. It is commonly celebrated in the United States and parts of the United Kingdom in a spirit of light-hearted horror and fear, which is marked by the recounting of Ghost story, , wearing costumes, carving jack-o'-lanterns, and "trick-or-treating" (going door to door seeking candy).
In the United States, Memorial Day is a Federal holiday for remembering the deceased men and women who served in the nation's military, particularly those who died in war or during active service. In the 147 National Cemeteries, like Arlington and Gettysburg, it is common for volunteers to place small American flags at each grave. Memorial Day is traditionally observed on the last Monday in May, allotting for a 3-day weekend in which many memorial services and parades take place not only across the country, but in 26 American cemeteries on foreign soil (in France, Belgium, the United Kingdom, the Philippines, Panama, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, and Tunisia). It is also common practice among veterans to memorialize fallen service members on the dates of their death. This practice is also common in other countries when remembering Americans who died in battles to liberate their towns in the World war. One example of this is on 16 August (1944) Welborn Griffith, died of wounds from enemy action sustained in Lèves, the same day he is credited with saving Chartres Cathedral from destruction.
In Judaism, when a grave site is visited, a small pebble is placed on the headstone. While there is no clear answer as to why, this custom of leaving pebbles may date back to biblical days when individuals were buried under piles of stones. Today, they are left as tokens that people have been there to visit and to remember.
Americans of various religions and cultures may build a shrine in their home dedicated to loved ones who have died, with pictures of their ancestors, flowers and mementos. Increasingly, many roadside shrines may be seen for deceased relatives who died in car accidents or were killed on that spot, sometimes financed by the state or province as these markers serve as potent reminders to drive cautiously in hazardous areas. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., is particularly known for the leaving of offerings to the deceased; items left are collected by the National Park Service and archived.
Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints perform posthumous baptisms and other rituals for their dead ancestors, along with those of other families.
Native Americans were not heavily concerned with the veneration of the dead, though they were known to bury the dead with clothes and tools as well as occasionally leave food and drink at the gravesite; Pueblo Indians supported a cult of the dead which worshipped or petitioned the dead through ritualistic dances.
Imam Ahmad, Al-Hakim, and others narrated about Marwan I–Umayyad governor of Medina–that he once passed by the grave of the Prophet and saw a man with his cheek on the grave of the Prophet. Marwan Ibn al-Hakam asked: "Do you know what you are doing?" Nearing the grave, Marwan Ibn al-Hakam realized it was Abu Ayyub al-Ansariyy, one of the greatest companions of the Prophet. Abu Ayyub al-Ansariyy replied, "Yes, I know what I am doing. I came here for the Messenger of Allah—not for the stone." By this he meant he was seeking the blessings from the presence of the Prophet, not for the stone covering his grave. Abu Ayyub al-Ansariyy continued his response with what he heard the Messenger of Allah say: "Do not cry over the Religion of Islam if the rulers are ruling correctly. Rather, cry over this Religion if the rulers are ruling incorrectly." By his response, Abu Ayyub was telling Marwan Ibn al-Hakam: "You are not one of those rulers who are correctly ruling by the rules of Islam."
Some followers of Islam are at odds with the concept of saint veneration, but this practice is retained in Turkey, particularly through Alevi Muslims.
Two prayers—Kaddish and Yizkor—are recited on behalf of the dead by Rabbinic Jews, including on anniversaries of a death. For some, the performance of prayers, especially prayers in their first year after death from their children, are thought to positively impact God's judgement of them, as well as donations and other good works done in their name. This is similar to Japanese practices and other ancestral veneration practices overall. These good deeds done in the name of the dead are reciprocated by the dead's prayers to God for the living. There are taboos and injunctions the living must follow, particularly in regard to their direct ancestors: not to use the remains of coffin wood for other purposes, to bury the dead in a proper shroud, and not to eat or drink at the beginning and/or close of Shabbat, as that is when spirits of the dead are believed to eat, drink, and bathe. One who eats during this time has stolen from the spirits, and one who drinks at the beginning of Shabbat risks ingesting contaminated bathing water.
Ashkenazi Jews commonly name children after dead relatives, and are hoped to embody those dead's positive traits. Eastern European Jews specifically transform the concept of zechut avot—the merit of one's ancestors, used to explain both a belief that the dead pray on behalf of the deceased, and a prayer to God to remember the good deeds of one's ancestors and be merciful in judgement—into the related idea of yichus ovus, inherited ancestral status.
In contemporary Rabbinic Judaism, visiting the graves of tzaddikim (righteous figures akin to saints) has long remained popular, including the graves of ancestral figures like Abraham and Esther. These visits may also be accompanied by petitions of the dead, as their elevated status is thought to give them more direct access to God. Rabbinic Jews stress that they do not worship the dead, and only respect and honor them—a distinction made by other cultures, including Japanese and African cultures.
were housing in the Hereafter and so they were carefully constructed and decorated, just as homes for the living were. Mummification was a way to preserve the corpse so the ka (soul) of the deceased could return to receive offerings of the things s/he enjoyed while alive. If mummification was not affordable, a "ka-statue" in the likeness of the deceased was carved for this purpose. The Blessed Dead were collectively called the , or "shining ones" (singular: akh). They were described as "shining as gold in the belly of Nut" (Gr. Nuit) and were indeed depicted as golden stars on the roofs of many tombs and temples.
The process by which a ka became an akh was not automatic upon death; it involved a 70-day journey through the duat, or Otherworld, which led to Divine judgment before Wesir (Gr. Osiris), Lord of the Dead where the ka
If the heart was in balance with the Feather of Ma'at, the ka passed judgment and was granted access to the Beautiful West as an akh who was ma’a heru ("true of voice") to dwell among the gods and other akhu. At this point only was the ka deemed worthy to be venerated by the living through rites and offerings. Those who became lost in the duat or deliberately tried to avoid judgment became the unfortunate (and sometimes dangerous) mutu, the Restless Dead. For the few whose truly evil hearts outweighed the Feather, the goddess Ammit waited patiently behind Wesir's judgment seat to consume them. She was a composite creature resembling three of the deadliest animals in Egypt: the crocodile, the hippopotamus and the lion. Being fed to Ammit was to be consigned to the Eternal Void, to be "unmade" as a ka.
Besides being eaten by Ammit, the worst fate a ka could suffer after physical death was to be forgotten. For this reason, ancestor veneration in ancient Egypt was an important rite of remembrance in order to keep the ka "alive" in this life as well as in the next. Royals, nobles and the wealthy made contracts with their local to perform prayers and give offerings at their tombs. In return, the priests were allowed to keep a portion of the offerings as payment for services rendered. Some tomb inscriptions even invited passers-by to speak aloud the names of the deceased within (which also helped to perpetuate their memory), and to offer water, prayers or other things if they so desired. In the private homes of the less wealthy, niches were carved into the walls for the purpose of housing images of familial akhu and to serve as altars of veneration.
Many of these same religious beliefs and ancestor veneration practices are still carried on today in the religion of Kemetic Orthodoxy.
A nobiles displayed ancestral images ( imagines) in the tablinum of their home (domus). Some sources indicate these portraits were Roman sculpture, while others suggest that death mask were also displayed. The masks, probably modeled of wax from the face of the deceased, were part of the funeral procession when an elite Roman died. Professional mourners wore the masks and regalia of the dead person's ancestors as the body was carried from the home, through the streets, and to its final resting place.R.G. Lewis, "Imperial Autobiography, Augustus to Hadrian," Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt II.34.1 (1993), p. 658.
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