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Ancestor Veneration is formally linked to three religions in this atlas: Slavic Native Faith, known as Rodnovery, Heathenry, and Kemeticism, three modern reconstructionist and revival traditions rather than three ancient ones. All three carry their own distinct note.

Present Members of the Kin, Not Figures Recalled

"Rodnover rites address the ancestors as present members of the kin rather than as figures recalled." Heathenry holds a closely related but not identical position, extending the obligation beyond kinship alone: "The ancestors and the spirits of a particular land are addressed directly in Heathen rite and are owed obligation as kin." Kemeticism places the same standing dead inside the same devotional space as the gods themselves: "The blessed dead are honoured at the household shrine alongside the gods in modern Kemetic practice."

A Doctrine the Comparative Literature Has Mislabelled

Its own description states plainly what these three religions demonstrate together: "The doctrine is held in strikingly different forms across African traditions, and also well outside Africa, in Chinese, Japanese, Roman and Polynesian religion, which is why treating it as a distinctively African trait has been a persistent error in the comparative literature." Three modern European and Egyptian revival religions holding the identical doctrine, each in its own words, is exactly the kind of case that error overlooks.

Where To Read More

• Ancestor VenerationAfrican and Diaspora ConceptsThe doctrine itself; three modern reconstructionist religions counted, each holding it in its own words
• Slavic Native Faith (Rodnovery)Polytheistic (Historical/Revived)Addresses the ancestors as present members of the kin rather than as figures recalled
• HeathenryPolytheistic (Historical/Revived)Extends the obligation of kinship to the ancestors and the spirits of a particular land alike
• KemeticismPolytheistic (Historical/Revived)Honours the blessed dead at the household shrine alongside the gods themselves