CATHOLICISM AND ANGLICANISM’S ATTITUDES TO AFRICAN TRADITION AND CULTURE



The  roman catholic church,  as well as the Anglican communion, eastern orthodox  churches and oriental orthodox churches venerate saints who are in heaven although not necessary ancestors, the saints are considered  departed from earthly life. They  are  honored through   prayers and feast  days. Such holidays to honor the dead in Christianity include. All Saints day all souls day and day of the dead.


East Asian cultures
ancestral veneration in some cultures such as  Chinese, as well as ancestor worship seeks to  honor and reminiscence the actions  of the deceased, the ultimate homage to the dead. The  importance of paying  respect to parents and elders lies with the fact  that all physical bodily aspects  of ones being were created  by ones parents, who continued to tend to ones well being until one is on firm footings. The  respect and the homage to parents , is to return this  gracious deed to them in life and after, the ultimate homage 

The shi corpse personate was a sacrificial  representative of a dead relative . during a shi ceremony  the ancestral spirit supposedly would  enter the resonator, who would eat and drink sacrificial offering and convey spiritual messages . sacrifices are   some  time made to altars  as found  for  the  deceased  . This falls under the modes of communication  with the Chinese spiritual world concepts. Some of the  veneration includes visiting the  deceased  at their graves  and making offerings to the deceased spring, autumn and  ghost  festivals.

Due to the hardships of the late  19th and  20th  century china,  when meat and poultry were difficult  to come by sumptuous feasts  are still offered in some  Asian countries as a practice to the  spirits or ancestors. However, in the orthodox Taoist and Buddhist  rituals, only vegetarian food would suffice for those with deceased in  the  afterlife  or hell, elaborate or even houses, care, paper money and shoes  are provided  so that the deceased will be able to have these  items  after  they  died often,   paper versions of these objects are burned for the same purposes originally, real life objects were  buried with the  dead. In time these goods were replaced by full size clay models which in turn were replaced by scale  models,  and  in time today’s paper offering  including paper servants.

REFERENCES

Ancestors as elders in Africa (Roy Richard Grinker and Christopher  Burghard)

Dead Join the Living in  a Family Celebration Bearak, Barry (5 September  2010)

Ancestor Worship and Korean Society, (Roger Janelli, Dawnhel Janelli, Stanford  University  press  1992 )

Some Reflections on Ancestors Worship in Africa, Major Fortes, African Systems of thought. Pages  122-142, University of Kent 
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