In speculating on the origins of religion, one common approach is to see the development from impersonal, non-human spirits(as found in animism) to personified, human-like deities. In this development, the role of the ancestors—particularly ancestor veneration or ancestor worship—may have been important in the evolution of gods with human-like characteristics. In many cultures, both ancient and current, the ancestors are viewed as having an active interest in the daily lives of the people and thus continue to be consulted and propitiated. There are periodic rituals or ceremonies other than funerary rites which are focused on the ancestors, both specific ancestors and generic ancestors.
In exploring the origin of religion, many scholars have concluded that ancestor worship, along with animism, may have been the earliest form of religion. In looking for a possible evolutionary or development sequence of religion, many scholars have suggested that venerated ancestors could have evolved into gods.
First, a short note about terminology. Ancestor worship is used by some researchers to imply that the ancestors are considered divine while ancestor veneration is used to indicate a deep respect for the ancestors. The term “ancestor cult” is used by some researchers to indicate religious practices, particularly ceremonies, involving the ancestors. Fairly complex religious beliefs and practices designated as “ancestor cults” arose in ancient Egypt by about 3100 BCE and in ancient Mesopotamia by about 2500 BCE.
In his book Religions, Philip Wilkinson writes:
“Many of the most ancient religions incorporate beliefs about ancestors.”
The belief in ancestral spirits provides a strong sense of continuity linking the present with both the past and the future.
Ancestor worship is not considered a religion, but is a concept found in religions throughout the world. In their chapter in The Archaeology of Ancestors: Death, Memory, and Veneration, Jon Hageman and Erica Hill write:
“Ancestor veneration is not a religion per se; rather, it is one of a set of beliefs and practices within a larger cosmological system that explains origins, structures, relationships, and conveys information about group membership.”
Group membership often involves the lineage, a group of people recognizing common ancestry. Anthropologist A.R. Radcliffe-Brown, in his book Structure and Function in Primitive Society, writes:
“For the individual, his primary duties are those to his lineage. These include duties to the members now living, but also to those who have died and to those who are not yet born.”
Ancestor worship is more than just a set of beliefs about ancestors having an ongoing interest in the affairs of the living. More importantly, ancestor worship involves regular ceremonies and offerings. A.R. Radcliffe-Brown writes:
“What is called ancestor-worship consists of rites carried out by members of a larger or smaller lineage (i.e. one consisting of more or fewer generations) with reference to the deceased members of the lineage. Such rites include the making of offerings, usually of food and drink, and such offerings are sometimes interpreted as the sharing of a meal by the dead and the living.”
In his chapter in The Archaeology of Ancestors: Death, Memory, and Veneration, Jon Hageman writes:
“Ancestors are revered and celebrated by the descendants through periodic group ritual.”
Jon Hageman also writes:
“Feasting maintains relationships between the living members of the lineage and deceased ancestors. In return for ritual upkeep, ancestors may protect the living members of their lineage from natural and supernatural phenomena.”
Ancestor worship may help integrate the larger community, giving people a feeling of commonality, of shared ancestry. Worshipping or revering common ancestors, whether specific or generic, places a focus on common good as well as common heritage. In his book The Heathens: Primitive Man and His Religion, William Howells puts in this way:
“…ancestor worship puts before the people the importance of their community life; interesting them in their ancestors, it makes them feel that their ancestors are interested in them, and in what they are doing to maintain the village; it presents them with a means of feeling dignity of the community and of the individuals within it, of feeling the importance of the responsibility and the good will of each man for the common weal.”
Writing in Current World Archaeology, Alexandra Fletcher explains:
“Activities associated with ancestor worship encouraged the development of belief systems that cut across household and kin groups. The idea of a community’s shared history in time and space restricted the consolidation of social differentiation into hereditary power, authority, or status, thereby reducing social tensions. Occasions such as mortuary rituals or feasting therefore helped large groups of people come together and remain together.”
In many cultures there are places where ancestors are honored, revered, spoken to, and perhaps even worshipped. Sometimes this is a communal area, such as a cemetery, where people may go to place offerings, such as flowers and stones, on the graves of their relatives. In some cases, such as Tahiti, each family may have its own sacred place dedicated to the ancestors.
While ancestor worship is often focused on lineage ancestors—the actual ancestors of the lineage—there are times when great leaders, warriors, religious figures, and others, also become revered or worshiped in a similar fashion. William Howells writes:
“Some human beings become public gods, especially when they had been living people of some importance, like great warriors or kings. But when people revere their forebears simply because of being descended from them, they have a true ancestor cult.”
Even in the more modern World Religions there may be ancestor veneration regarding founding members of the religions. Thus, there is veneration of “ancestors” such as Jesus, Mohammed, Joseph Smith, and many others.
The psychiatrist Erich Fromm, in an essay reprinted in Critiques of God: Making the Case Against Belief in God, presents a different view of ancestor worship:
“Indeed, ancestor worship is one of the most widespread primitive cults in our society, and it does not alter its picture if we call it, as the psychiatrist does, neurotic fixation to father or mother.”
Religion 101/201
Religion 101/201 is a series exploring various religious topics in which the concept of religion is not confined to the Abrahamic Religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) nor to the idea that religions require the worship of gods. Religion 201 is an expansion of an earlier essay. More from this series:
Religion 201: Human Sacrifice
Religion 101: The Meaning of Ghosts
Religion 201: Reincarnation
Religion 101: God-Given Morality
Religion 101: Theism, Pantheism, Panentheism
Religion 101: Hidden Blasphemy
Religion 201: Heresy
Religion 201: Apostasy
