So, just about every culture practices some form of ancestor veneration. Everything from researching genealogy, building shrines to their ancestors, to just decorating graves, it's all a type of veneration. The extent in which people do this depends on the culture, religion, and family traditions.
In Heathenry, ancestor veneration is central. What, exactly, "veneration" means varies by person, but just about every Heathen does something to honor their ancestors. Some people use the term "worship" to describe their dealings, and some people abhor the term because, from my understanding, it puts the ancestors on the same level as the gods. For the most part, though, I think that's kind of a misunderstanding. I've never come across anyone who worshiped their ancestors in the same way as they worship the gods.
While I was looking up ancestor worship info, I came across the blog link. The author talked about how there's three versions of ancestor worship in Heathenry. I'm not entirely sure I completely agree with what he says, but it's still an interesting read.
Basically, one approach is what he calls the idealized ancestor approach, which is basically when someone honors more of a culture hero than an actual ancestor. The second one is called the cultural identity approach which is pretty self explanatory. Basically the person worships the culture they came from more than their actual ancestors. And the last approach is called the personal ancestors approach. This is the one that I do more of. I honor all of my ancestors, but I tend to focus more on the ancestors that I knew/knew about.
As I said. I'm not entirely sure I agree with what he says, but it's interesting, nonetheless.
As to how people interact with their ancestors... I've found a lot of conflicting information about that. I've heard people say that they speak to their ancestors regularly, and that they offer advice on certain issues. But then I've also read that those types of interactions are rare. Which, if people honestly think that, than I'm unsure of why ancestor veneration would be so important, because I thought the thought behind veneration was that the ancestors were still here (in some way) and were able to interfere and give advice. I know that another aspect of veneration is to give thanks for the gifts given, but it still seems odd to place so much focus on veneration for thanks.
In Heathenry specifically, it doesn't seem as if there is a singular way to interact with the ancestors, or a universal "this is appropriate, this is not" type of idea either. Even historically, I'm not finding a whole lot of "everyone did it this way" type stuff either. I did find that tribal mothers and Disir were important, and archeologists have found remains of temples and monuments dedicated to the mothers and Disir. Traditionally, the mothers and/or Disir were called upon in times of need (health, protection, luck in battle), and the offerings given were fairly standard: incense, fruit. Interestingly, they also found that snake imagery was important in the worship. (link)
In Heathenry, ancestor veneration is central. What, exactly, "veneration" means varies by person, but just about every Heathen does something to honor their ancestors. Some people use the term "worship" to describe their dealings, and some people abhor the term because, from my understanding, it puts the ancestors on the same level as the gods. For the most part, though, I think that's kind of a misunderstanding. I've never come across anyone who worshiped their ancestors in the same way as they worship the gods.
While I was looking up ancestor worship info, I came across the blog link. The author talked about how there's three versions of ancestor worship in Heathenry. I'm not entirely sure I completely agree with what he says, but it's still an interesting read.
Basically, one approach is what he calls the idealized ancestor approach, which is basically when someone honors more of a culture hero than an actual ancestor. The second one is called the cultural identity approach which is pretty self explanatory. Basically the person worships the culture they came from more than their actual ancestors. And the last approach is called the personal ancestors approach. This is the one that I do more of. I honor all of my ancestors, but I tend to focus more on the ancestors that I knew/knew about.
As I said. I'm not entirely sure I agree with what he says, but it's interesting, nonetheless.
As to how people interact with their ancestors... I've found a lot of conflicting information about that. I've heard people say that they speak to their ancestors regularly, and that they offer advice on certain issues. But then I've also read that those types of interactions are rare. Which, if people honestly think that, than I'm unsure of why ancestor veneration would be so important, because I thought the thought behind veneration was that the ancestors were still here (in some way) and were able to interfere and give advice. I know that another aspect of veneration is to give thanks for the gifts given, but it still seems odd to place so much focus on veneration for thanks.
In Heathenry specifically, it doesn't seem as if there is a singular way to interact with the ancestors, or a universal "this is appropriate, this is not" type of idea either. Even historically, I'm not finding a whole lot of "everyone did it this way" type stuff either. I did find that tribal mothers and Disir were important, and archeologists have found remains of temples and monuments dedicated to the mothers and Disir. Traditionally, the mothers and/or Disir were called upon in times of need (health, protection, luck in battle), and the offerings given were fairly standard: incense, fruit. Interestingly, they also found that snake imagery was important in the worship. (link)
