Food in the Afterlife
In Religion in the Kitchen: Cooking, Talking, and the Making of Black Atlantic Traditions, Perez talks of Ashabi and her grandchildren providing food offerings to their ancestors. This immediately reminded me of the practice of food sacrifice in early China. I've taken Chinese language classes for about 7 years now and in one of the lessons, we learned about food as well as the history of food in Chinese culture.
Ashabi and her grandchildren would give food offerings to their ancestors every day. This included nine beverages (coffee, liquor, and water mixed with sugar and molasses) and nine square pieces of coconut topped with red palm oil and guinea pepper. The offerings would also include whatever food was dropped on the ground. In their house, food dropping on the floor signified more than it would in common American households. It signified that the ancestors wanted that food and had willingly made it fall to the floor. They also used dishware that had been chipped which was meant to symbolize the division between the spirits and the living (40).
In early Chinese culture, food was offered to ancestors to appease them. There are also differences between the dead in early Chinese culture. There are ghosts, ancestors, and spirits. Ghosts are the dead who are given no food offerings by anyone and they are considered dangerous. Ancestors are the dead who are fed by their living descendants, and because they are fed and happy they watch over their living family. Finally, spirits are the dead that are given offerings by many, not just their families. This makes them more powerful than ghosts and ancestors. Ghosts, ancestors, and spirits can interchange based on if they are fed or not and who feeds them.
There are, of course, variations of these types of rituals of offering food to the dead in other religions. I wonder if there was one religion that started this type of practice or if it just happened to occur separately in many early religions. I also wonder how many modern religions continue to offer food to the dead. From what I've experienced, I've observed offerings made to spirits (dead that are given offerings by many), but not as much so to families specific ancestors. My family is Catholic and we will often pay respects to our ancestors at the cemetery and maybe bring flowers or notes, but not usually food. Does anyone who practices a different religion have a special way that their family remembers/pays respects to their ancestors?
Ashabi and her grandchildren would give food offerings to their ancestors every day. This included nine beverages (coffee, liquor, and water mixed with sugar and molasses) and nine square pieces of coconut topped with red palm oil and guinea pepper. The offerings would also include whatever food was dropped on the ground. In their house, food dropping on the floor signified more than it would in common American households. It signified that the ancestors wanted that food and had willingly made it fall to the floor. They also used dishware that had been chipped which was meant to symbolize the division between the spirits and the living (40).In early Chinese culture, food was offered to ancestors to appease them. There are also differences between the dead in early Chinese culture. There are ghosts, ancestors, and spirits. Ghosts are the dead who are given no food offerings by anyone and they are considered dangerous. Ancestors are the dead who are fed by their living descendants, and because they are fed and happy they watch over their living family. Finally, spirits are the dead that are given offerings by many, not just their families. This makes them more powerful than ghosts and ancestors. Ghosts, ancestors, and spirits can interchange based on if they are fed or not and who feeds them.
There are, of course, variations of these types of rituals of offering food to the dead in other religions. I wonder if there was one religion that started this type of practice or if it just happened to occur separately in many early religions. I also wonder how many modern religions continue to offer food to the dead. From what I've experienced, I've observed offerings made to spirits (dead that are given offerings by many), but not as much so to families specific ancestors. My family is Catholic and we will often pay respects to our ancestors at the cemetery and maybe bring flowers or notes, but not usually food. Does anyone who practices a different religion have a special way that their family remembers/pays respects to their ancestors?
Do you think there's anything particularly significant about the sheer physicality of foods and flowers you can touch and smell offered to gods or ancestors that enhances the experience?
ReplyDeleteNow that i think about it, a majority of things that are offered to gods or ancestors are things that are highly sensory. These things could include: flowers (smell and sight), food (taste, smell, and sight), pictures (sight), and incense (smell). Besides the fact that these things are highly sensory they are also things people would consider to be beautiful or enjoyable. So we are offering things that are are nice and of course we would want to give nice things to our beloved ancestors and powerful spirits that we respect.
DeleteYes! And the human giver as well as the intended receiver also perceives these sensory dimensions, so it's as if both giver and receiver were sharing the same sensory experience, i.e., "communing."
DeleteI wonder why the traditions and practices of offering food (like actual real food) to ones dead ancestors is so universal, like in china how you mentioned, and during other celebration like Día des Muertos. Maybe it is so universal because the need to nourish loved ones is so intrinsic within human nature ...?
ReplyDeleteI suspect it's out of the need to "play house" with invisible persons - dead ancestors or deities - so as to make their presence more felt as physical, as "real." Going through the physical motions of feeding, dressing, bathing, making a trip to visit makes the at first sight absent ones feel present.
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