Category: WM Special

In many African societies, the veneration of ancestors is one of the central and basic traditional and even contemporary forms of cult. So, any exposure of the main features of that type of veneration in black Africa, South of the Sahara – deeply rooted in the traditional African worldview – is so generalized and diverse that it must be made generic and brief.

The celebration that marks the beginning of the lunar year in South Korea starts early in the morning with the “ritual for the ancestors.” In such homage, one prays in silence for a few moments, entrusting to these departed souls all of one’s desires and hopes for the new year that is about to begin. Together with the boys, I too bowed, remembering my loved ones in paradise and praying for them.

On All Souls’ Day, we wait eagerly on “nuestros muertitos” (our beloved departed): we prepare some delicacies for them, we sing to them and feast for them because they are our root and the guarantee of our heritage as peoples with a specific history and identity. It can be said that we share our life joyfully with our dead people, or rather, they live in us because they gave their lives for us.

November, which is universally dedicated to the departed in the Christian world, has special importance in the Philippines. It is a time when Filipinos keep vigil at the cemeteries where there exists a spirit of festivity. Although considered a Christian country, Filipino Christians find many roots in the traditional religion or primal religion of the indigenous peoples.