ancestor worship
Honoring the deceased
Ancestor worship is the practice of honoring deceased family members through rituals, offerings, or prayers, based on the belief that the dead maintain influence over the living.
Common in East Asian, African, and indigenous traditions, it ranges from formal religious observance to informal respect for family heritage: The shrine was central to their ancestor worship.
The term sometimes carries dismissive connotations when applied by outsiders to practices they consider primitive.
Sacred ritual table
- shrineSacred devotional place
- incenseAnger greatly, or aromatic resin
- offeringsThings presented or given
- libationsRitual drink offerings
sacrifice · rites · ceremonies · prayers · chanting · prostration · kowtow · bowing
Profound admiring respect
- pietySincere religious devotion
- devotionDeep, loyal commitment
- respectRegard with honor
- homageExpression of deep respect
honor · filial piety · deference · gratitude · remembrance · commemoration · tribute · sanctity
Study of family descent
- forebearsAncestral family members
- progenitorsOriginal ancestors of a lineage
- bloodlineAncestry through generations
- heritageInherited cultural legacy
clan · kinship · descent · pedigree · patriarch · matriarch · elders · descendants
altar
Sacred ritual table
- shrineSacred devotional place
- incenseAnger greatly, or aromatic resin
- offeringsThings presented or given
libations · sacrifice · rites · ceremonies · prayers · chanting · prostration · kowtow · bowing · joss paper
veneration
Profound admiring respect
homage · honor · filial piety · deference · gratitude · remembrance · commemoration · tribute · sanctity · sacredness
genealogy
Study of family descent
- forebearsAncestral family members
- progenitorsOriginal ancestors of a lineage
- bloodlineAncestry through generations
heritage · clan · kinship · descent · pedigree · patriarch · matriarch · elders · descendants · progeny
afterlife
Existence beyond mortality
mediums · shamanism · divination · oracle · séance · communion · intercession · blessings · curses · protection
tombstone
Memorial stone at grave
- graveSerious and worrying
- cemeteryPlace for interring remains
- mausoleumMonumental building for interment
crypt · sepulcher · headstone · epitaph · graveyard · burial mound · tumulus · columbarium · urn · ossuary
- cultural elementstraditions, heritage, customs, ritual, religions
- cultural practicesmusic, dance, art, religion, marriage
- cultural traditionsflamenco, tango, kabuki, hula, capoeira
- customscustoms, customs clearance, wedding custom, customs declaration, burial custom
- African traditionsinitiation ceremonies, naming ceremony, rites of passage, tribal chiefs, tribal initiation
- clan traditionstradition, burial rites, initiation, elders, chief
ancestor worshipmonotheism
Belief in one god
theism · atheism · secular humanism · self-worship · idol worship
ancestor worshipfuturism
Study of tomorrow's possibilities
progressivism · pronatalism · anti-traditionalism · modernism
worship, ancestor, ancestry, ancestors, ancestral, ancestress, ancestries