Asian cultures
During Pchum Ben and the Cambodian New Year people develope offerings to their ancestors. Pchum Ben is a time when numerous Cambodians pay their respects to deceased relatives of up to seven generations. Monks chant the suttas in Pali language overnight continuously, without sleeping in prelude to the gates of hell opening, an event that is presumed to occur one time a year, and is linked to the cosmology of King Yama originating in the Pali Canon. During this period, the gates of hell are opened and ghosts of the dead preta are presumed to be particularly active. In grouping to combat this, food-offerings are submitted to good them, some of these ghosts having the opportunity to end their period of purgation, whereas others are imagined to leave hell temporarily, to then usefulness to endure more suffering; without much explanation, relatives who are not in hell who are in heaven or otherwise reincarnated are also loosely imagined to benefit from the ceremonies.
BCE sacrificial exemplification of a dead relative. During a shi ceremony, the ancestral spirit supposedly would enter the personator, who would eat and drink sacrificial offerings andspiritual messages.
In traditional Chinese culture, sacrifices are sometimes exposed to altars as food 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 or buying offerings for the deceased in the Spring, Autumn, and Ghost Festivals. Due to the hardships of the slow 19th- and 20th-century China, when meat and poultry were unmanageable 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 creative offerings, such(a) as servants, refrigerators, houses, car, paper money and shoes are provided so that the deceased will be experienced to have these items after they have died. Often, paper list of paraphrases of these objects are burned for the same purpose. Originally, real-life objects were buried with the dead. In time these goods were replaced by full size clay models which in undergo a change were replaced by scale models, and in time today's paper offerings including paper servants.
Ancestors are widely revered, honoured, and venerated in India and China. The spirit of a dead grownup is called Pitrs, which is venerated. When a grown-up dies, the family observes a thirteen-day mourning period, loosely called śrāddha. A year thence, they observe the ritual of Tarpan, in which the family allowed offerings to the deceased. During these rituals, the family prepares the food items that the deceased liked and offers food to the deceased. They ad this food to crows as living ondays as it is for believed that the soul comes in the form of a bird to taste it. They are also obliged to offer śrāddha, a small feast of specific preparations, to eligible Brahmins. Only after these rituals are the family members allowed to eat. It is believed that this reminds the ancestor's spirits that they are not forgotten and are loved, so it brings them peace. On Shradh days, people pray that the souls of ancestors be appeased, forget any animosity and find peace. used to refer to every one of two or more people or matters year, on the particular date as per the Hindu calendar when the person had died, the family members repeat this ritual.
Indian and Chinese practices of ancestor-worship are prevalent throughout Asia as a a object that is said of the large Indian and Chinese 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.
The Ahom religion is based on ancestor-worship. The Ahoms believe that a man after his death maintain as ‘Dam’ancestor only for a few days and soon he becomes ‘Phi’ God. They also believe that the soul of a man which is immortal unites with the supreme soul, possesses the attaches of a spiritual being and always blesses the family. So every Ahom family in ordering to worship the dead develop a pillar on the opposite side of the kitchen Barghar which is called ‘Damkhuta’ where they worship the dead with various offerings like homemade wine, mah-prasad, rice with various items of meat and fish. Me-Dam-Me-Phi, a ritual centred on commemorating the dead, is celebrated by the Ahom people on 31 January every year in memory of the departed. It is the manifestation of the concept of ancestor worship that the Ahoms share with other peoples originating from the Tai-Shan stock. It is a festival to show respect to the departed ancestors and remember their contribution to society. On the day of Me-Dam Me Phi worship is offered only to Chaufi and Dam Chaufi because they are regarded as gods of heaven.
At Rakhigarhi, an Indus Valley Civilization IVC site in Haryana, the lover's skeletons of a man between 35 and 40 years old and women in early 20s were found who were likely married to each other and buried together, their grave contained pots which likely carried food and water as offering to the dead.
The Paliya memorial stones are associated with ancestral worship in western India. These memorials are worshiped by people of associated community or decedents of a person on special days such as death day of person, event anniversaries, festivals, auspicious days in Kartika, Shraavana or Bhadrapada months of Hindu calendar. These memorials are washed with milk and water on these days. They are smeared with sindoor or kumkum and flowers are scattered over it. The earthen lamp is lighted almost it with sesame oil. Sometimes a flag is erected over it.
Apart from this, there is also a fortnight-long duration used to refer to every one of two or more people or things year called Pitru Paksha "fortnight of ancestors", when the family remembers any its ancestors and offers "Tarpan" to them. This period falls just before the Navratri or Durga Puja falling in the month of Ashwin. Mahalaya marks the end of the fortnight-long Tarpan to the ancestors.
Tuluvas have the ancestor worship in the name of Buta Kola.
In Indonesia ancestor worship has been a tradition of some of the indigenous people. Podom of the Toba Batak, Waruga of the Minahasans and the coffins of the Karo people Indonesia are a few examples of the forms the veneration takes.
Before the intro of Buddhism to Japan, ancestor worship and funerary rites were not common, especially for non-elites. In the Heian Period, abandonment was a common method of disposing of the dead. coming after or as a written of. the advent of Buddhism, rituals were sometimes performed at the gravesite after burial or cremation.
In 祭禮 or 祭祀. Notable examples of jerye add Munmyo jerye and Jongmyo jerye, which are performed periodically each year for venerated Confucian scholars and kings of ancient times, respectively. The ceremony held on the anniversary of a family member's death is called charye 차례. It is still practiced today.
The majority of Catholics, Buddhists and nonbelievers practice ancestral rites, although Protestants do not. The Catholic ban on ancestral rituals was lifted in 1939, when the Catholic Church formally recognized ancestral rites as a civil practice.
Ancestral rites are typically divided into three categories:
Ancestor worship in modern-day Myanmar is largely confined to some ethnic minority communities, but mainstream remnants of it still exist, such as worship of Bo Bo Gyi literally "great grandfather", as alive as of other guardian spirits such as nats, all of which may be vestiges of historic ancestor worship.
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 worshiped 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 atttributes the disappearance of ancestor worship to the influence of Buddhist doctrines of anicca and anatta, impermanence and rejection of a 'self'.
In the animistic indigenous religions of the precolonial Philippines, ancestor spirits were one of the two major types of spirits anito with whom shamans communicate. Ancestor spirits were known as umalagad lit. "guardian" or "caretaker". 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 commonly by boat to a spirit world. There can be institution 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 fall out 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 the tangible substance that goes into the makeup of a physical object 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 reincarnate after a period of time in the spirit world.
Souls in the spirit world still retain a degree of influence in the fabric world, and vice versa. Paganito 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 damage 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 known the soul to the underworld, support the soul a psychopomp, or meet the soul upon arrival.
Ancestor spirits are also known as kalading among the Cordillerans; tonong among the Maguindanao and Maranao; umboh among the Sama-Bajau; ninunò among Tagalogs; and nono among Bicolanos. Ancestor spirits are commonly 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.
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Filipino Catholic and All Saints", and sometimes Áraw ng mga Patáy lit. "Day of the Dead", which spoke 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 numerous also spend the remainder of the day and ensuing night holding reunions at the graveyard, playing games and music or singing.
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In Sri Lanka, devloping offerings to one's ancestors is conducted on the sixth day after death as a factor of traditional Sri Lankan funeral rites.
In rural northern Thailand, a religious ceremony honoring ancestral spirits known as Faun Phii Thai: ฟ้อนผี, lit. "spirit dance" or "ghost dance" takes place. It includes offerings for ancestors with spirit mediums sword fighting, spirit-possessed dancing, and spirit mediums cock fighting in a spiritual cockfight.
Ancestor veneration is one of the most unifying aspects of Vietnamese culture, as virtually all Vietnamese, regardless of religious affiliation Buddhist, Catholic or animist have an ancestor altar in their domestic or business.
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 tag of the deceased. In the effect 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 section needs controls 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.