Question: The worship of
ancestors is based upon the belief that the spirit continues to infleunce the
living relatives discuss?
For most of the cultures, ancestors
practices are not the same as the
worship of the gods. When a person
worships a god at a
local temple, it is to ask
for some favour that can be
granted by the powerful spirit. In some
cultures, the purpose of ancestor
veneration is not to ask for favours but to do ones filiai duty some people believe that their ancestors
actually need to be provided for by
their descendants others do not believe that the ancestors are even award of what
their descendants do for them , but that the expression of filiai piety is important, whether or
not the ancestor receives what is
offered is not the issue.
Therefore, for people unfamiliar with
how ancestor worship is
actually practiced and thought
of the use of the translation worship
can be a cause of misunderstanding and
is a misnomer in many ways in English, the word worship usually refers to
the reverent love and devotion
accorded a deity or divine being.
However, in other culture, this act of worship does not confer any belief that the departed ancestors have become some kind of deity
rather, the act is away to respect, honour and look after ancestors in their
after lives as well as seek their
guidance for their living descendants in
this regards 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
ancestors, leave flowers and pray to
them in order to honour and remember them, while also
asking their deceased ancestors to continue to look after them.
However,
this would not be considered as
worshiping them. It is in that sense that the translation ancestor veneration may convey a more accurate sense of what practitioners, such as the
Chinese and other Buddhist influenced
and Confucian influences societies, see
themselves doing
In some eastern cultures, and a native
American traditions, 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 functions of ancestor veneration is to
cultivate kinship values, such as filial
piety, family loyalty, and continuity of
the family lineage,. while far from universal,
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.
Ancestor veneration is very prevalent
throughout Africa and serves as the
basis of many religions. It is often
augmented by a belief in a supreme
being, but prayers and / or
sacrifices are usually offered to
the ancestors who may ascend to becoming
minor deities themselves. Ancestor veneration remains among
many Africans, sometimes practices
alongside the later adopted religions of Christianity as in Nigeria among the
Igbo people and Islam among the
different mande peoples and the
bamum in much of the continent.
Veneration of ancestors is also
prevalent throughout the African island of Madagascar.
Approximately half of the country’s
population of 20 million currently
practice traditional religion which
tends to emphasize links between the
living and the razana (ancestors). The
veneration of ancestors has led to the widespread tradition of tomb building, as well as
highlands practice of the famadihana
whereby a deceased family members remains may be exhumed to be periodically re-qrapped
in fresh silk shrouds before being
replaced in the tomb. The famadihana is
an occasion to celebrate the beloved ancestors memory, reunites with family and community,
and enjoy a festive atmosphere.
Residents of surrounding villages
are often invited to attend the party, where food and rum are typically served
and a hiragasy troupe of other musical
entertainment is commonly present.
Venation of ancestors is also demonstrated through adherence today taboos that
are respected during and after the
lifetime of the person who established
them.
It is widely believed that by
showing respect for ancestors in these
ways, they may intervene on behalf of the living conversely, misfortunes
are often attributed to ancestors whose
memory or wishes have been neglected.
The sacrifice of zebu is a tradition method
used to appease or honour the ancestors. Small, everyday gestures of respect include throwing
the first capful of a newly opened
bottle of rum into the north east
corner of the room to give the
ancestors their due share.
The ancient Egyptian pyramids are the
most famous historical monuments devoted to the dead Egyptian religion posited the survival of the soul in
connection with the survival of a physical receptacle for the soul, hence mummification and portraiture flourished
as vital part of egyptain religion.
Although
some historians claim that
anceient Egyptian society ws a “death
cult” because of it elaborate tombs and mummification ritual, it was really
quite the opposite. The philosophy that
“this world is but a vale of trears” and that to die
and be with God is a better existence than an earthly
one ws relatively unknown among the ancient egyptains. This was not to
say that they were unacquainted with the harshness of life, rather,
their ethos include a sense of national pride. The Egyptian
people loved the culture, customs and
religion of their daily lives so much that they wanted to continue them in the next -
although some might hope for a
better station in the
beautiful west. This same strong
sense of national and historical period still exists in modern day Egypt,
although the religion and culture have changed.
Tombs 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
return to receive offerings of
the things he /she enjoyed while alive. If mummification was not afsordable, a ‘ka-statue” in the likeness of the deceased was carved for
this purpose. The blessed dead were collectively called the akhu, or “shining ones” . they were described as
‘shining as gold in the belly of
nut” and were indeed depicted as golden
stars on the roofs of many tombs and temples.
The process by which aka became
an akh was not automatic upon death, it involved a 70 day
journey through the duat, or otherworld, which led
to judgment before wesir, lord of
the dead where the ka’s
heart would be weighed on a scale
against the feather of ma’at
representing truth . however, if the ka was properly prepared, this journey
could be gaught with dangerious pitfalls
and strange demaons, hence some of the earliest relgions texts discovered, such
as the
papyrus of ani commonly known as the book of the
dead and thepyramid texts were actually written as guides to helop the
deceased successfully neavigate thedyat
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’aheru ‘ true of voice” to dwell
among the gods and other akhu.
At this pint, 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
5ried to avoid judgment became lost in
the duat or deliberately tried to avoid
judgment became the unfortunate and
some time dangerous mutu, the restless
dead for the few whose truly
evil hearts outweighed the feather,
the godless amount waited
patiently behind desires judgment seat to consume them. She was a composite creature resembling three of the dead list
animas 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 aka 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 priests
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 help also to perpetuate their memory, and to offer water, prayers or other things if they so desired.
In the private home of the less wealthy,
riches were carved into walls
for the purpose of housing images
of familial akhu and to serve as altars of veneration. Many of these religious
beliefs and ancestor veneration practices are still carried on today in the
religion of kemetic or thodoxy
The romans like many mediterrean
societies regarded the bodies of the dead as pollouting. During romes classical period, the body was most
often cremated, and the ashes placed in
a tomb outside the city walls. Much of
the month fo February was devoted to
purifications, propitiation and
veneration of the dead, especially at the nine-day festival of the parentalia during which a family honored it ancestors.
The family visited the commentary and shared cake and wine, both
in the form of offerings to the dead and as a meal among themselves. The parentalia drew to a close on February 21 with the more somber feralia, a public
festival of sacrifices and offeringsto the manes the potentially malevolent spirits of of the
dead who required propitiation
A noble Roman family displayed
ancestral images in the atrium of their
home. Some of sources indicate these portraits were bust, while other suggest that funeral masks were also displayed. The masks, probably modeled of wax from the face
of the decreased, were part of the funeral procession when
an elite roman died. Professional
moverners more the masks and regalia of
the dead persons ancestors as the body
was carried from the home, through the streets, and to its final resting place
Early
Christianity’s attitudes
Some
early Christians may have been persecuted for their faith, leading some
to hide in the catacombs in Rome. As a
result, they may have found themselves
praying and worshipping God surrounded
by tombs and bodies of the dead. when possible, they may have sought to pray among the bodies of dead Christians, maybe using a
cottin or tomb for an altar on which to celebrate the eucharni from early
apostolic times, it appears the
church held a respectful veneration for
the dead. They reported witnessing
miracles in connection with the bodies
of the dead Christians, such as healing, or
observing set smelling myth exuding from their bones. This,
combined with their belief in the resurrection of Jesus and
future resurrection of all Christians
(the resurrection of Jesus and
future resurrection of all Christians
(the resurrection of the dead) eventually
led to the veneration of saints and of their
relics.
Early accounts of martyrs include
Christian witnesses making great efforts to obtain the remains of the martyrs
and the roman sometimes trying to
prevent this . also, it became
common to continue to ask Christians
leaders to pray for them, even after the leaders haddied as they believed that these Christians were still able to pray
and that their prayers would still be effective later, most of the various protestant sects
that broke away from the catholic church in the
16th century repudiated the practice of asking intercession from the dead based on possible
pagan origin of communication with the dead