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