Almost every society keeps a way of staying in touch with those who came before.
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Almost every society keeps a way of staying in touch with those who came before. Some set a place at the table, some sweep a grave, some light a lamp, and some tell the names aloud at every gathering. The reasons differ: gratitude, duty, a belief that the dead still watch over the family, or simply the wish that no one is forgotten. These customs are usually tied to a season, a day of the year or a family anniversary, and they tend to bring the living together as much as they honour the dead. Here is how it is done in many places, and how the old ways are changing.
Remembering ancestors places a family inside a long story. In many cultures the dead are thought to remain part of the household, able to bless or to be hurt by neglect, so the rites are a form of care. In others the aim is gentler: to say thank you, to pass on names and lessons, and to teach children where they come from. Either way the custom answers a plain human need, which is to keep a link with people we loved or whose work made our lives possible. It also gives grief a calendar, a fixed day when sadness is allowed and shared.
Offerings of food, drink and flowers are the commonest element, left at a grave, an altar or a household shrine. Lamps, candles and incense are lit. Graves are cleaned and repainted. Names are recited, photographs are set out, and stories are told. Many traditions also fix a season for it, such as autumn in Mexico and Japan, early spring in China and Korea, or the days around the new moon in India. Paper money, gifts and clothes are burned in parts of East Asia so that they reach the next world. Some peoples invite the spirits home for a few days and then send them off with a farewell meal.
Food is the language of remembrance. The dead are offered what they liked in life, or the dishes of the season: sweet bread, rice cakes, steamed buns, dates, fruit and drink. After the offering the family eats the same food together. Dress is often plain or white, though in some places it is bright and festive, because the day is a reunion rather than a sorrow. Music ranges from a single bell to full brass bands, drumming and dancing in the cemetery. Songs may be lullabies the dead once sang, or old chants that only a few elders still know.
Families now live far from their ancestral graves, so remembering has moved online and into the home. People light virtual candles, hold video calls with relatives and send offerings through apps. Cities limit burning and fireworks for air quality, and many families have switched to flowers and lamps. At the same time there is a renewed pride in old rites, and younger people are asking elders to explain them. Public versions, such as parades and altar competitions, have become festivals in their own right, shared with visitors, while the quiet family rite at the grave remains at the centre.
Families build an ofrenda, an altar of marigolds, candles, photographs, sugar skulls and the dead person's favourite food, for the Day of the Dead on 1 and 2 November. Many spend the night in the cemetery, and the mood is warm and often joyful.
Read: Day of the DeadAt Qingming in early April families sweep the graves, set out food and burn paper offerings. Ancestor tablets in the home are also given incense through the year.
Read: Qingming FestivalObon, in mid-August, welcomes the spirits home with lanterns lit at the door and bon odori dances. Families clean the grave, offer food at the household altar and send the spirits off with floating lanterns.
Read: ObonCharye is a table of rice, soup, fruit and rice cakes laid for the ancestors at Chuseok and Seollal, and jesa is held on the anniversary of a death. Families also visit and tidy the graves in a custom called seongmyo.
Read: JesaEvery household keeps an ancestor altar, and the death anniversary, or gio, is marked with a family meal and offerings. Tet begins with a visit to graves and an invitation to the ancestors to join the celebration.
Vietnamese folk religion, being writtenPchum Ben lasts fifteen days in autumn, when families take rice and offerings to the pagoda for monks to pass on to the spirits of seven generations. The days are serious and communal.
Read: Pchum Ben
Day of the DeadMexico, 1 and 2 November.
Qingming FestivalTomb-sweeping in China.
ObonJapan's festival of the returning spirits.
ChuseokKorean harvest festival with ancestral rites.
Pitri PakshaThe Hindu fortnight of the ancestors.
Pchum BenCambodia's fifteen days of offerings.
FamadihanaMadagascar's turning of the bones.
SamhainThe old Celtic season of the dead.Often, but not always. It is part of many faiths and traditional belief systems, and in some places it is simply a family custom with no creed attached. People take part for love, duty, habit or all three.
Food is how families show care, so it is how they show it to the dead. The living usually share the meal afterwards, which turns the offering into a reunion.
Many do, in autumn or early spring, but others use the death anniversary of each person, or a rite at any time of year. Some use all three.
Mourning is the period just after a death. Ancestor remembrance carries on for years or generations, often with a lighter and more affectionate tone.
Many families begin small: a photograph and a candle, a favourite dish cooked once a year, or a story told on a chosen day. A simple, regular habit usually lasts better than a grand one.
Written by the EveryParampara desk with AI assistance. Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.
The traditions written up so far, best known first.
🇳🇬 NigeriaMmanwuMmanwụ
An Igbo masquerade tradition invoking ancestral spirits through masked performanceSpiritual
🇳🇬 Onitsha, NigeriaAgbogho MmuoAgbọghọ Mmụọ
An Igbo masked dance celebrating maidenhood and the female spiritPerformance
🇲🇼 Malawi and 3 moreNyau
A secret society and masked dance tradition of the Chewa people in Southern Africa.Spiritual
🇨🇬 Republic of the CongoNkisi
Spiritual vessels and figures crafted to channel ancestral power, healing and justiceSpiritual
🇲🇺 Mauritius and 3 moreSegaséga
A music and dance tradition from Mauritius and Réunion with Afro-Malagasy roots.Performance
🇱🇸 LesothoMokorotlo
A conical straw hat that serves as the national symbol of Lesotho and a key element of Basotho traditional dress.Dress
🇬🇲 Gambia and 4 moreKoraߞߐߙߊ
A 21-string West African harp-lute played by hereditary storytellers and bardsPerformance
🇲🇬 MadagascarFady
A system of cultural taboos in Madagascar that regulate daily life and spiritual practice.Spiritual
🇳🇬 Oyo, Nigeria and 1 moreEgungunEgúngún
Yoruba ancestral masquerades bringing blessings, counsel and moral renewalSpiritual
🇬🇭 Accra, GhanaFantasy coffinsAbebuu adekai
Custom hand-carved burial caskets shaped as animals, tools and symbols in southern GhanaRite of passage
🇳🇬 Osogbo, NigeriaOsun-Osogbo FestivalOsun-Osogbo
An annual Yoruba festival of cleansing, procession and sacrifice to the river goddess Osun in Osogbo, Nigeria.Festival
🇲🇱 Bamako, Mali and 5 moreGriotjeli, ߖߋ߬ߟߌ in N'Ko script
West Africa's hereditary keepers of spoken history, praise and musicPerformance
🇬🇭 Ghana and 2 moreAgbadza
An Ewe music and dance, born of war songs and kept for funerals, weddings and festivalsPerformance
🇿🇦 South Africa and 5 moreSouthern African traditional healing
Ancestral divination, herbal muthi, and spiritual care across Southern AfricaSpiritual
🇳🇬 Ibadan, Nigeria and 1 moreYoruba naming ceremonyÌkòlọ́pọ̀ Orúkọ Yorùbá
A rite of passage where a newborn receives a destiny name through divination and family celebration.Rite of passage · Feasts and festival meals
🇿🇼 ZimbabweMhondoro
Territorial guardian spirits and mediums honoured in Zimbabwe for guidance and rainSpiritual
🇿🇦 South Africa and 1 moreDay of the VowGeloftedag
A religious public holiday in South Africa kept by Afrikaners to honour a vow made before the Battle of Blood River.Festival
🇱🇷 LiberiaDan maskgle or ge
A sacred wooden mask worn by the Dan people of Liberia to embody forest spirits during masquerade.Spiritual
🇿🇼 ZimbabweBira ceremony
An all-night Shona ritual in Zimbabwe where music and dance summon ancestral spirits for guidance.Spiritual
🇿🇦 South AfricaHeritage DayErfenisdag
A nationwide South African public holiday honouring the country's diverse culturesCeremony
🇳🇬 Nigeria and 2 moreGeledeGẹlẹdẹ
A Yoruba masked dance festival honoring the spiritual power of mothers and social harmony.Festival
🇲🇬 MadagascarFamadihana
A Malagasy reburial custom where families gather to rewrap and honour their ancestorsRite of passage
🇪🇹 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and 1 moreMeskelመስቀል (Mesk'el)
A celebration in Ethiopia and Eritrea marking the discovery of the True Cross with a large bonfire.Spiritual
🇬🇭 Accra, GhanaHomowo
A harvest festival of the Ga people in Ghana to remember surviving famineFestival · Feasts and festival meals
🇬🇭 Ghana and 3 moreDamba festivalDamba chuɣu
A Ghanaian celebration of royal authority, ancestral memory, music and danceFestival
🇬🇭 Cape Coast, GhanaFetu Afahye
A harvest festival of cleansing, boat races and royal durbars in Cape Coast, GhanaFestival · Feasts and festival meals
🇳🇬 Lagos, NigeriaEyo FestivalAdamu Orisha Play
A Yoruba masquerade procession honouring departed leaders and royalty in LagosFestival
🇬🇭 Kumasi, GhanaAkwasidae Festival
A Sunday gathering of the Ashanti people to honour ancestors and the kingSpiritual
🇬🇭 Akropong, GhanaOdwira Festival
An annual harvest and purification festival celebrated by the Akuapem in GhanaFestival · Feasts and festival meals
🇳🇬 Oyo, Nigeria and 3 moreSango Festival
An annual Yoruba gathering in Nigeria honoring the deity of thunder and lightningFestival · Feasts and festival meals
🇳🇬 NigeriaIgbo New Yam FestivalIri ji
A harvest thanksgiving and feast marking the first yam crop among the Igbo of NigeriaSeasonal · Feasts and festival meals
🇬🇭 GhanaAdae Festival
A sacred day of rest and ancestral rites observed across the Ashanti Region in GhanaSpiritual
🇨🇮 Ivory Coast and 1 moreAbissa
A week-long New Year festival of the Nzema people in Ivory Coast and Ghana, marked by sacred drums, dance, and forgiveneFestival
🇸🇳 Touba, Senegal and 1 moreGrand Magal of Touba
An annual pilgrimage to the holy city of Touba in Senegal, kept by followers of the Mouride Sufi order.Spiritual
🇬🇭 GhanaPanafest
A biennial Ghanaian festival uniting Africans and the diaspora through arts and healingFestival
🇲🇬 MadagascarLamba
A rectangular cloth wrapped around the body, worn across Madagascar and at burialsDress
🇬🇭 GhanaOutdooringkpojiemɔ (Ga), abadinto (Akan), vihehedego (Ewe)
A Ghanaian ceremony eight days after birth, when a baby is brought outdoors and namedRite of passage · Feasts and festival meals
🇲🇼 Malawi and 2 moreGule Wamkulu
A masked Chewa dance of the Nyau society, danced at funerals and chief installationsPerformance
🇬🇭 Bonwire, Ghana and 1 moreKente clothNwentoma
Hand-woven Ghanaian cloth of silk and cotton strips, worn for ceremonies and graduationsDress
🇰🇪 Kenya and 1 moreAdumuEnkipaata
A Maasai warrior dance of high jumps from a circle, done at weddings and ritesPerformance
🇳🇬 Abuja, NigeriaNew Yam FestivalIri ji
A yearly harvest thanksgiving across Nigeria, when the first new yams may be eatenFestival · Feasts and festival meals
🇰🇪 Kenya and 5 moreBurial
Placing the dead in the ground or a structure to honor them and guide their journey.Rite of passage
🇬🇭 Anloga, Ghana and 1 moreHogbetsotso festival
An Anlo Ewe festival in Anloga recalling an escape from NotsieFestival
🇲🇬 Antananarivo, MadagascarSavika
Traditional Betsileo zebu wrestling and courtship rite in MadagascarGame
🇳🇬 Nigeria and 1 moreOkpu Aguokpu agụ
A knitted wool cap from southeastern Nigeria, historically worn by warriors to display status and now used in ceremoniesDress
🇿🇲 Maala, ZambiaShimunenga
An annual Zambian celebration of cattle displays, dances, and ancestral memoryFestival · Tea, coffee and drinking ceremonies
🇲🇼 Rumphi, Malawi and 2 moreTumbuka dances and festivals
Dances for healing and celebration, and the yearly festivals that keep themPerformance
🇲🇼 Chonde, MalawiMulhako wa Alhomwe
An annual gathering in Malawi where the Lhomwe people celebrate their language, dance and heritage.Festival
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
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