Motif family
Ancestor Rites and Feeding the Dead
Ritual care, feeding, invitation, appeasement, or dismissal of dead souls or ancestors to maintain proper relations between living and dead.
39 traditions
205 occurrences
203 mapped motifs
7 sub-families
- afro caribbean
- amazonian
- andamanese
- arctic inuit
- arthurian
- australian aboriginal
- celtic irish
- comparative
- confucian
- egyptian
- finnic
- germanic
- greek
- greek roman
- hawaiian
- hindu
- indigenous australian
- inuit
- islamic
- islamicate folklore
- japanese
- jewish christian
- malagasy
- melanesian
- mesopotamian
- nahua maya inca
- native american great lakes
- native american northeast woodlands
- native american northwest coast
- native american plains
- native american southeast
- native american southwest
- norse
- roman
- shan
- slavic
- sufi
- zoroastrian
- zuni
Conserved neighbors: afterlife passage · death and transformation · sacrifice · sacred exchange · restless dead haunting vengeance
Sub-families · the next landing down
Tombs, Graves, and Ancestral Landscapes
7 motifs
- Sacred tree associated with graves of the dead 2 occurrences · 1 traditions
- indigenous australian
- ancestor or founder sepulchre veneration 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- islamic
- burial by ancestors or ancestral land 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- islamic
- foundation at an ancestral or sacred burial site 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- roman
- landscape made alive by ancestral memory 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- celtic irish
- miracle-working tomb or shrine 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- sufi
- pilgrimage-like prayer at the teacher’s tomb 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- sufi
Memorial Feasts, Prayers, and Tokens for the Dead
5 motifs
- Memorial feast used as a trap 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- japanese
- Memorialization of a revered dead teacher 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- sufi
- mirror used to maintain bond with dead parent 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- japanese
- prayer for a distant deceased convert 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- islamic
- successors praying for purified communal memory 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- islamic
Food, Drink, and Worship for the Dead
5 motifs
- Drink offering reaches the dead 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- sufi
- Feeding and dismissing the souls of the dead 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- comparative
- food placed on corpse as possible sin-eating survival 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- comparative
- funeral worship of deities for deceased progenitors 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- hindu
- Propitiation of the underworld dead 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek
Rivers, Watersides, and Washing the Dead
4 motifs
- funerary duty beside the waters 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- hindu
- Ritual washing of the dead body 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- sufi
- sacred river as place of rites for the departed 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- hindu
- Sacred-river funerary libation for a father 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- hindu
Burial Duties, Death Locks, and South-Facing Rites
3 motifs
- missed voyage caused by burial duty 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- islamicate folklore
- sacred lock cut for death 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- roman
- southern orientation in rites for the dead 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- hindu
Descendants Determining the Dead's Afterlife
1 motifs
- Descendant-mediated afterlife status 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- hindu
Not yet placed in a sub-family
177 motifs, showing the 60 most attested
- Grave goods accompanying the deceased 2 occurrences · 2 traditions
- arctic inuit
- native american plains
- afterlife provisioning through grave goods 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- nahua maya inca
- afterlife reunion with dead kin 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- arctic inuit
- Ancestor manifestation through temple reverence 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- confucian
- Ancestor presence through tablet placement 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- confucian
- Ancestor spirits given elevated status 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- andamanese
- Ancestor spirits present in material household objects 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- comparative
- ancestor tablet accompanying military expedition 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- confucian
- ancestral authorization of a rite 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- confucian
- Ancestral invocation for hunting success 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- melanesian
- Ancestral mortuary customs and descent identity 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- confucian
- ancestral mound as remembered burial place 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- native american southeast
- ancestral praise preserved on ritual vessels 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- confucian
- Ancestral remembrance through temple, shrine, and descendant obligations 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- confucian
- ancestral reverence attached to planted trees 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- confucian
- ancestral shades and spirit beings 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- hawaiian
- ancestral tablet placement by lineage relation 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- confucian
- Ancestral tablet retention and removal by generational rank 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- confucian
- Ancestral tablets as movable ritual authority 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- confucian
- Ancestral temple as locus of honor and deference 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- confucian
- ancestral temple performance as ritual communication 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- confucian
- Animal grave offering and funerary treatment 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- comparative
- appeasement of the dead 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- roman
- appeasement of the dead through calendrical rites 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- roman
- bones as relics mediating renewed relation with the dead 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- andamanese
- bread and salt on corpse as disputed sin-eating evidence 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- comparative
- Breaking grave goods for the dead 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- amazonian
- burial of personal domestic implements with the dead woman 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- amazonian
- Burial oriented toward the rising sun 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- nahua maya inca
- Burial provision with preferred food and prohibited binding 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- native american northwest coast
- calling ancestors by name during pig-driving 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- melanesian
- Camp relocation or temporary camp after death 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- andamanese
- child named after a recently dead kinsman 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- norse
- Coffin enclosure resembling a house 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- confucian
- coffin-lid withheld to compel a corpse's confession 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- slavic
- Commemorative funerary offerings after hearing an ancient tale 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- egyptian
- continued maternal nourishment for dead infant 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- andamanese
- continuing social bonds with the dead 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- andamanese
- Corpse-associated ingestion transfers sin 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- comparative
- Dangerous night vigil over a dead body 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- slavic
- dead kin among spirit visitors and guides 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- arctic inuit
- Dead mother's promise linked to grave-side aid 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- germanic
- dead parents aiding children 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- slavic
- dead remain aware of earthly events 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- native american northeast woodlands
- dead residing at burial place and receiving memorial feasts 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- slavic
- Dead treated as spiritual intelligences 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- confucian
- Death-anniversary mourning and abstention 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- confucian
- death as being gathered to one's people 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- jewish christian
- deathbed preparation and confirmation of death 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- confucian
- destruction of houses of the dead 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- melanesian
- Directional ordering of dead and living 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- confucian
- directional orientation of the dead 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- finnic
- Disposition of bodily remnants with or apart from coffin 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- confucian
- efficacious funerary offerings and rites 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- egyptian
- Embodied representation of the dead in ritual 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- confucian
- farewell breath over the dead 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- andamanese
- Feast for the dead as occasion for obtaining and distributing food 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- native american northwest coast
- feeding and ritual dismissal of the dead 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- comparative
- filial continuity through mourning 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- confucian
- Filial grave vigil rewarded by dead father's aid 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- slavic
Each motif link opens its evidence page: every tagged passage with its quote, and a path into the book where the passage lives.