Why don't we worship our ancestors anymore?

Question

Before the emergence of world religions – Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam – the major form of spiritual activity in virtually every corner of the globe was comprised of various forms of ancestor veneration or ancestor worship.

Answer 1

I do pay homage to the Ancestors.

Answer 2

That is actually a very interesting question.

Ancestor worship does exist in the west, in residual form.

People have pictures up of the family, all the way to the great grandparents. They often have a shrine, or some sort of candle in their memory. People visit graves, people in the states embalm the dead, so they will go to the afterlife in style.

Family heirlooms are a way of remembering the dead; think of grandma when you wear her necklace ...

But worshipping the dead as deities, that is practiced in a lot of areas of the world. Basically, if a person has high esteem when he is alive, he is remembered in high esteem when he is dead.

Also, in recent years, there seems to be a revival of "Angels" as helpers to the living on earth. Many say a deceased relative is their guardian angel. That is an example of a crossing between the boundaries of the dead and the living.

So to answer your question, ancestor veneration and/or ancestor worship still exists but it has evolved, and even taken a secular bent.

Answer 3

In the island of Bali they still do ... there is a special garden within each family's compound, containing a large number of little temples. Those are for everybody: gods, demigods, relatives. Only the earth spirits and evil spirits have no temples, their offering is placed directly on the ground. The people in Bali believe that you have to get along with everybody ... That's their defining belief. And their religion is a nice mixture of ancient animism, hinduism, buddhism and even some christianity. And it works. Everyday life is constant ritual. Every action is prayer. Lovely place.

Answer 4

Buddhism good. Ancestor worship i do not understand any good in that. i would not, could not understand that. Ahh, but Buddhism helps you live. Very intelligent way of life. Is Confusism ancestor worship or what? Muslims, Christians and Jews all worship war and eternal conflict over the impossible. Buddhism is the only one that reminds me of a better form of clinical psychology. Love it.

Answer 5

According to my religion, we shouldn't worship the ancestors, but we know they are waiting for us, praying for us and sometimes they even come to see us (not often, but sometimes). A spirit that leaves the body needs to go through a lot of preparation, until they are ready to be born again. During this time, they are allowed to see us every now and then, but the bottom line is that they will be busy themselves, recovering from past life, learning from the good and bad deeds of past life, helping other spirits that need support. When we reach a certain high level of spiritual progress, we don't have to be born again, then we can come more often and really help those we love and that still are living in this world.

My religion is spiritism.

Peace!

Answer 6

The only thing better than ancestor worship is cooking and eating your ancestors.

By the way, ancestor worship is still practiced in China, although I believe it's called ancestor veneration now. I guess because "worship" implies the promotion of ones ancestors to god-like status.

Answer 7

To worship ones ancestors is not recommended in the Vedas. On only need to worship the Supreme Lord, also known as Krishna, Allah, Jehovah, Vishnu, etc. But give respect to the ones who have left this place but worship is unnecessary and doesn't necessarily lead to higher places.

Answer 8

There are many other minor religions in which people still worship/honor their ancestors. It isn't extinct, just overshadowed by the dominant religions that don't practice that form of worship.

Answer 9

Some of us still do,but not the ancestors themselves but the Goddesses and Gods they worshipped.. We are of The Earth Mother Religion...Love and Light... )O(

Answer 10

my parents were practically disowned and our extended family is pretty much nonexistant, and thousands of miles away, to say nothing of my ancestors--ancestor worship comes from close knit families where youy actually knew your ancestors, the living elders remembered, stories were passed down from one generation to the next, but we don't have those kind of families anymore

Answer 11

Probably because everyone is immigrating, so we rarely are 100% tied to the people who inhabited our homeland for centuries before.

Plus, people are becoming less respectful of their elders.

I think people are also becoming more individualistic and relying on their own strength to get them through life, instead of asking for guidance from their parents and dead ancestors.

Besides, blood doesn't matter.