Ancestor Veneration Around the World: How Cultures Stay Connected to the Dead

In many parts of the world, death does not end a family’s relationship with a person. The dead are remembered, fed, consulted, and honored, sometimes for generations. This is called ancestor veneration. This article describes what it is and gives a few examples from different cultures. It is only a sample of a very large subject.

What is ancestor veneration?

It is the practice of honoring deceased relatives and keeping a connection with them through ritual, offerings, and remembrance. An overview of the subject says that it is not the same as worship of a god. Most cultures that practice it do not call it “ancestor worship,” and even where the word “worship” is used, it does not mean the ancestors are thought to be gods.

Why do people do it?

For different reasons. The overview says that in many cultures the goal is to ensure the ancestors’ continued well-being and goodwill toward the living, and sometimes to ask for special favors. In other cultures the purpose is not to ask for anything but to do one’s duty as a child or descendant. Some believe the ancestors need to be provided for, so practices include offerings of food. The same overview says that the practice appears in some form in every human culture documented so far, and that it is widespread in Africa and Madagascar.

What does it look like in China?

Portraits, altars, and festivals. The Smithsonian’s Freer and Sackler galleries describe Chinese ancestor portraits as portraits made for ritual veneration. The Smithsonian’s book on the subject notes that the practice of making them continued into the twentieth century, when photographs gradually replaced paintings. A curator from the Royal Ontario Museum told CBC that people who commissioned these portraits believed that their ancestors did not cease to exist when they died. The portraits helped living relatives continue their relationships with ancestors in a different realm. Singapore’s National Heritage Board says the portraits were usually hung only on the anniversary of the person’s death and during annual festivals such as Chinese New Year and the Autumn Sacrifice for All Souls. The curator also notes that honoring ancestors is hardly a specifically Chinese practice. See Chinese Funeral Traditions.

What about Southeast Asia and Japan?

Many families keep altars and mark special times of year. In Cambodia, people make offerings to their ancestors during Pchum Ben, a 15-day period each autumn, as described in Cambodian (Khmer) Funeral Traditions. In Japan, many households keep a Buddhist altar at home; see Why Some Japanese Families Keep a Buddhist Altar at Home.

What about Africa, Rome, and the Americas?

The idea is old and widely shared. The College Board’s art history guidelines mention Roman portrait busts and the veneration of ancestors, and African ancestor altars, such as the royal ancestral altar of Benin in present-day Nigeria, as examples of art connected to ancestors. In Mexico, the Day of the Dead honors the dead each year; see Dia de los Muertos. Hmong families also have rich traditions of guiding the dead toward the ancestors, covered in Hmong Funeral Traditions.

How can I be respectful if I am a guest?

Ask. Practices differ widely between families, and even within one culture. If you are invited to a ceremony or visit a home altar, follow your hosts’ lead, and ask before photographing or touching anything. For a global view of customs around death, see Death Around the World.