Ancestor Veneration

It is a curious thing that often there isn't much discussion on ancestor veneration in general among polytheists (anywhere, not just this board) given it is an aspect of various ancient religions/cultures.

I wonder if part of the (lack of interest? de-emphasis? non-practice?) is due to the type of society we live in, with families often scattered far and wide so not much interaction occurs beyond people's immediate family. Even with immediate family there can be a lot of dysfunction and minimal interaction. Many people know little to nothing about their extended kin and, unfortunately, don't gain any interest (if ever) until a relative's death. So it's no wonder there's a lack of awareness or interest in connection to distant ancestors.

It factors in to mine in that I do respect what they did to pave the way, so to speak. A lot of people have lived and died to make the world what it is, as well as my place in it. There is also a sort of attachment I feel to what blood heritage I have. I may be horribly detached from it because that is just what American assimilation does to you, but still it is there and it is honestly one of the reasons that I am as interested in and attached to Gaelic polytheism as I am. I may not have grown up in Ireland or Scotland but both are parts of the continuous line of people that I am part of.

So every now and then I will make offerings, and I add them into various prayers and such. I don't believe that they still exist as those particular lives though, given the whole rebirth and anatta thing that comes with Buddhism.

My extended family is still pretty close, and ancestor veneration is a large part of my practice. Each morning I make tea to share with my ancestors, and I leave it on their shrine and take some time to remember them and their stories.

I think it doesn't get talked about as much because it's such a personal practice. I can describe it in generalities as I did above, but saying "Great-grandma Hattie loves rhubarb pie as an offering" or going on about my interactions with her doesn't strike me as something that's helpful or useful for others to read about, I guess.

I finally started to do some ancestor veneration in my practice. It took a while for me to get to it because, as Callisto said, I worried about offending my non-polytheist ancestors. I also don't/didn't know a lot of my extended family, not even the ones still alive. My grandmother is the only person who I've known and who has passed on, but we weren't terribly close before her death. Even so, she's Catholic so I worry about offending her.

But I picked up some literature on the subject and got the idea to do an ancestor elevation for each ancestor I want to have a dedicated place for on my shrine. Thanks to genealogy research, I know a bit more than I did about people who lived before me--even if it's just their names. After the elevation, I plan to ask the particular ancestor via divination what they want and if I should continue venerating them.

Sorry, I've been woefully absent from the forum for a hot minute now.  But ancestor veneration definitely plays a role in my practice.  I ask for their protection and guidance and feel almost as if they watch over us in times of need, akin to a guardian spirit for lack of a better phrasing atm.

As my username might suggest, I strongly identify with my Southern (US) heritage, so I blend not just Gaelic traditions, but Southern ones, too, when it comes to ancestor veneration.  On one hand and like others have said, my ancestors haven't practiced any form of polytheism (to my knowledge) in at least a few hundred years.  They're not even Catholic (but mostly fundamentalist biblical-literalist Baptists), so there's not saint stuff even sprinkled in.  So I often wonder about whether they feel honored or not.  I've never gotten a negative reaction to offerings that I'm aware of, but it's something I think about regularly.  I make sure to leave things like sweet tea, Coca-Cola, red velvet cake, etc., because they're so strongly tied to Southern identity right along with things like whiskey for more distant ancestors.  I'm somewhat of the opinion that ancestors gain some kind of universal knowledge that they didn't have while alive that allows them to appreciate what's done for them, even if it's not something they would have done or asked for. 

I keep a shrine for them alongside other shrines to the gods full of family pictures and the like.   Like all my shrines, their shrine is somewhat hidden away and I really look forward to bein able to have it more in the open one day, preferably in the form of pictures down a stairway with little floating shelves to leave candles and offerings on.  

Whoops. Posted in the wrong thread.