Ancestral worship

The Chinese have practised ancestral worship since ancient time. It is a way of showing respect to their late parents or grandparents.

Food offered for praying include rice, vegetables, meat and tea and sometimes wine. If the Chinese are Buddhists they can prepare vegetarian food for this purpose.

Tomorrow will be the 43th anniversary of my father's death and my family and I will do ancestral worship then.

It is a good practice because we are trained to think of the good deed our forefathers have done for us. In olden China, if a son was rewarded and honoured, the honour also went to the ancestors. There were cases where the title awarded to the son was given posthumously to his father too.