In many cultures the dead are seen as not permanently severed from the living. Some groups venerate their ancestors, some groups venerate heroic mortals as having god-like qualities, and some groups offer gifts to placate angry ghosts -- the approaches differ. This article will examine similarities and differences in the relationships between the living and the dead.
The minimum requirement for veneration offered to the dead is probably some kind of belief in an afterlife, a survival at least for a time of personal identity beyond death.
- Egyptian attitudes toward, practices in connection with, and festivals of the dead
- Celtic attitudes toward, practices in connection with, and festivals of the dead
- Greek attitudes toward, practices in connection with, and festivals of the dead
- Roman attitudes toward, practices in connection with, and festivals of the dead
- Hebrew attitudes toward, practices in connection with, and festivals of the dead
- Rabbinical Judaism's attitudes toward, practices in connection with, and festivals of the dead
- Early Christianity's attitudes toward, practices in connection with, and festivals of the dead
- Chinese attitudes toward, practices in connection with, and festivals of the dead