Talk:Veneration of the dead

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I'd like to see the pages combined under this title; as mentioned on Talk:Ancestor worship, "worship" is a fairly specific term which "veneration" broadens to other practices which don't fall under that particular lexicon. -- nae'blis 04:00, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

Even if you do have a point, to my mind it seems far better to stick to an old established and widely used term. The problem with that term is already in that article, as it should be. 80.217.62.168 22:50, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

I am anti-merge on this one. Although ancestor worship is part of veneration of the dead, ancestor worship is a big enough specialized topic to merit it's own page. For example, Saint Francis would fall under the general caregory of Saints or Christianity, but because there is enough independent information about ancestor worship, I think it should stay its own page. If I don't see more discussion on this in the coming month, I'm going to remove the merge tags. Avraham 01:59, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

I would also prefer to keep the two topics separted, as "Ancestor Worship" usually relates to Confusian Chinese habits. In Chinese (and derived) cultures "Ancestor Worship" is already refined and specialized. In my opinion it is a topic on its own, as is also the major content of the article. I would suggest that the parts on "Ancestor Veneration in Poland", "Ancestor Veneration in America" and "Ancestor Veneration in Ireland" are moved to the article on "Veneration of the dead". In that article a reference to the "Ancestor Worship" in the Chinese Confusian sense could be provided.

I oppose merging. Ancestor Worship is, as User:IrishJew says, a topic that merits an article independent from the more general Veneration of the dead. I would ask my Chinese grandmother to contribute to this article, as she regularly worships her deceased parents-in-law on the Lunar New Year, birthdays, the regular New Year, and Christmas (go figure), but she's too old to master even a typewriter. Mang 06:38, 24 February 2007 (UTC)

I am against merging, but I do think these categories should be completely rethought. "Veneration of the dead" is too weak and non-specific a term to encompass the various ancestor cults found throughout the world. Generally, the ancestors assume a sacred status and are thought actively to intervene in the affairs of the living--this anthropological phenomenon is broader than both "veneration" and "worship." Likewise, "veneration of the dead" is also not the correct term to describe the medieval "cult of the dead," in which the dead held an ambiguous status, stranded in purgatory; individuals were anxious to ensure that the living would remember to pray for them, while the living wanted to ensure that the dead made it safely through purgatory and did not return to haunt the living. "Worship of the ancestors" is also an outdated term. I think "ancestor cults" would be more appropriate and up-to-date. Thus I would propose "ancestor cults" as the general, global category, with the "cult of the dead" as a specific category for Christian Europe.