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<blockquote data-quote="Rechan" data-source="post: 5192613" data-attributes="member: 54846">The Chinese have a strong tradition of talking to the dead, as ancestral worship is big there. There are shrines in people's homes and if they don't give respect to their ancestors, the ancestors' ghosts will get angry and do things to them. There are mediums who are possessed by the spirits of the dead and write down messages. One of the practices during a funeral is for a Taoist priest to &quot;descend into the underworld to collect the soul of the departed and free it&quot;, represented by a dance with the priest collecting a paper representation of the departed. And of course Taoist priests exercise magic to ward away ghosts/angry spirits from the community. There's also a Central American culture who see the tarantula as a messenger to the dead (because the tarantula lives underground). They have a ritual where the spider is eaten, and the eater then is able to commune with the dead. Not to mention the Polynesian culture that eats the deceased relative, because they believe the graveyard is within their stomachs; the soul of the departed joins with the rest of the family, and thus is never gone.Also (symbolic) cannibalism of blood and flesh.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Rechan, post: 5192613, member: 54846"] The Chinese have a strong tradition of talking to the dead, as ancestral worship is big there. There are shrines in people's homes and if they don't give respect to their ancestors, the ancestors' ghosts will get angry and do things to them. There are mediums who are possessed by the spirits of the dead and write down messages. One of the practices during a funeral is for a Taoist priest to "descend into the underworld to collect the soul of the departed and free it", represented by a dance with the priest collecting a paper representation of the departed. And of course Taoist priests exercise magic to ward away ghosts/angry spirits from the community. There's also a Central American culture who see the tarantula as a messenger to the dead (because the tarantula lives underground). They have a ritual where the spider is eaten, and the eater then is able to commune with the dead. Not to mention the Polynesian culture that eats the deceased relative, because they believe the graveyard is within their stomachs; the soul of the departed joins with the rest of the family, and thus is never gone. Also (symbolic) cannibalism of blood and flesh. [/QUOTE]

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