spirit offerings
Gifts for ghosts
Spirit offerings are food, drink, incense, or other items presented to deceased ancestors, gods, or supernatural beings.
Common across many religious and folk traditions, these offerings honor the dead, seek favor from deities, or appease restless spirits.
The practice assumes spirits can perceive or consume the essence of physical gifts: She left spirit offerings of rice and fruit at her grandmother's shrine.
- libationCeremonial drink offering
- incenseAnger greatly, or aromatic resin
- burning incenseCombusting aromatic substances
- wineFermented grape beverage
- foodConsumable nourishment source
ancestor worship · departed souls · hungry ghost · water · shamanism · gratitude · oblation · animism · sacrifice · joss paper · votive candle · light · sacred fire · reverence · bowl · grave goods · ancestral altar · kami
- cultural traditionsflamenco, tango, kabuki, hula, capoeira
- folk customsfolk dances, folk customs, burial rite, folk costumes, folk traditions
- indigenous beliefsshamans, ancestor spirits, nature spirits, sacred rituals, ancestor veneration
- paganismWicca, pagan, heathen, polytheist, polytheism
- Javanese Mysticismdalang, tapa, guardian spirits, flower water, purification rites
- Myanmar spiritsnats, guardian spirits, house spirits, tree spirits, forest spirits
intended recipient
spirit offeringshospitality
Generous treatment of guests
charity · alms · tithes · party favors