Do ancestors hold us back?

Should we continue to worship the memory of our forefathers or is it an expensive waste of time?

Devotion to ancestors is widespread across the African continent where many people consult the shrines of spiritual mediums as a way of seeking advice from those that have died.

Religious leaders in the continent are alarmed by the rise in ancestral worship and claim it has no place in today's society.

How much do ancestors influence your life? Does their memory inspire or scare you? Do you have ancestral duties yourself? Are your antecedents holding you back? Or giving you spiritual guidance?

This debate is now closed. Thank you for your comments.

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Your comments:

Our ancestors are a part of us Nayanka, Guinea Bissau/UK

Our ancestors are a part of us. They are there to remind us where we came from and where we should go in the future. We can freely express ourselves today because of what they have accomplished in the past, so why not show them some respect by praying for them or even to them? After all, they don't hold us back, but keep us all together.
Nayanka Perdigao, Guinea Bissau/UK

Just as there is no universal language or culture, there is no universal path to salvation. Rather than engage in a useless and ethnocentric discussion on people's beliefs, we should be asking why is there so much poverty, ignorance, war, famine, dictatorship, and disease in Africa. These are what are holding Africans back, not their religions.
Joe, Greensboro, USA

If you are an African by origin, yes, ancestral spirits have something to do with you. I personally believe in tradition, I pray to god through the ancestral spirits. To my African brothers who don't believe in tradition, will they kindly answer these simple questions. Can they kindly tell me the origin of their surnames and why they have them?
Raphael Chokuona, Harare, Zimbabwe

Actually people like Africans do not worship their ancestors. They venerate them, but they worship the One Supreme God or Spirit named differently according to various ethnic groups with such names like Mungu, Engai, Ruwa, Mulungu, Sangare, etc.

To venerate the good ancestors, who lived well and did great things for the people and the world, is not a waste of time, because it is as if one would want to say that venerating Saints is a waste of time! Only those who do not have faith in Religion or are ignorant of the mysteries of God and his friends can say that.
Bango Chakaza, Tanzania

Some of our so-called ancestors negotiated with slave dealers in the days of yore to sell our people. Today some of the African leaders that pillage and maim their countries will be called ancestors tomorrow. So who is deceiving who?
Stephen Kingah, Brussels

The mere fact that this question is being asked speaks volumes about the imperial nature of western culture. It illustrates the modern face of forced acculturation. The BBC would hardly go to Rome and ask if Christianity has outlived its usefulness. The obvious subtext is when are these ignorant superstitious Africans going to give up their mumbo-jumbo and accept the true reality of western materialism. Perhaps as the unsustainable nature of this destructive philosophy becomes obvious the west will begin to decipher the depth of spiritual incite that refuses to be obliterated in Africa.
Chris Kirkwood, Clearlake, Oaks, USA

There is no time to build my house or my life on sand Paul Muong, USA

I am a Dinka, an African, but there is no time to build my house or my life on sand. Heeding whatever the spirits of the ancestors do, or what others say they do, would mean building my house on sand, which would be an expensive waste of time for me. I am a Christian, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit is good enough for me.
Paul Muong, Kansas, USA

A man without guidance from his ancestral spirits is like a Christian without a Bible. Go back to your roots Africans!
Joel Chiutsi, Keswick, Canada

Worshipping mediums is what has kept Africa poor and impoverished.
Amanuel Lebassi, USA

The stories of my ancestors give me the inspiration to follow great paths in life. And it gives me the strength to pursue things that unite my community. Every time I travel my mother tells me that my ancestral animal is the lion and that my people are great hunters, but they can never hunt a lion. I am told to always uphold the integrity of my ancestors. Like a lion, I should be vigilant, brave, calm and responsible. I did not meet my ancestors, but I believe that they are responsible for my safety in foreign lands. This why my parents call on them every time we have an important issue in the family. Even if they don't exist physically, the belief makes them real.
Joseph Kaifala, Sierra Leonean in Saratoga, USA

I think we all know much less about God than we think Kolawole Raheem, Finland

A chapter in the Quran says that we as humans should allow people to worship the ways they want, of course not killing people or destroying the environment, and leave all for Allah to judge. I think there is no way our ancestors will not influence us. And actually people in Africa worship God and not ancestors. They only offer sacrifices to God through their ancestors. Their ways of getting to God may not suit us as Muslims or Christians but I think we all know much less about God than we think.
Kolawole Raheem, Finland

Yes, we should pray and talk with our ancestors as they have a vested interest in us, as opposed to famous "Saints" who everyone is pulling on for miracles and blessings. I speak to my dead relatives often. Their memory inspires me in that I know they are looking at me with love. I do not have ancestral duties.
Ed, Kearny-USA

Relying on our forefathers for advice or counsel is a sure sign of the total lack of faith in an open, unbiased, democratic and accessible support system.
Frank Slater, Chapala, Mexico

Our ancestors can help us or hold us back, depending on whether they are good or bad ancestors. A good ancestor lived a good life while on earth. The good spirits of our good ancestors hang around to help us. Our role is to be prayerful for our bad ancestors, so that their bad spirits can be liberated.
Ola, USA

I do not participate in ancestral worship but I believe it is helpful for those who do. And why wouldn't they (ancestors) be helpful? It is not as though they are passing around the collection plate and going out to buy a Lexus or country home like the leaders (say crooks) of organized religions.
Kim Jackson, San Diego-CA-USA

We have an indelible link to our ancestors. Unfortunately, due to exposure to foreign culture their influence is growing weak in many places. We should celebrate our identity by remembering them and applying their legacy, provided that it does not conflict with today's society. Many years ago an elder ones told me that we do not worship the ancestors and that we merely invoke them to plead our case to God as they are believed to have gone to him.
Ayind, Congo

The distance between our future and our past is elastic in nature Gbanabom Hallowell, USA

The question assumes that Africans don't believe in the "deadness" of their dead. It also assumes that Africans tie their development to the supernatural. Perhaps this global ignorance, nursed by other peoples of the earth, is responsible for the forested African images the West put on their screen. No, we are not held back by our ancestors. But, because the distance between our future and our past is elastic in nature, we carry our ancestors in our hearts!
Gbanabom Hallowell, Maryland, USA

If one is to worship a person, at least the minimum requirement should be that they are immaculate! In addition, I cannot help but wonder what the whole purpose of this ancestral worship is, is it merely opportunistic? I noticed in your article, how the woman left her job as a nurse to act as a caretaker for a tree. No doubt, there is more financial opportunity in 'gardening' in Uganda then such socially beneficial jobs as nurses. Caution: be wary of 'spiritual guides' that take meat, alcohol, and tobacco to intercede on your behalf. Frankly, I wish that the BBC would report on more substantive topics in Africa. We are more concerned with the mundane aspects of life; education, corruption, health care and economic development issues. It is my hope that in the future an international forum such as this would not be used to promote such crass, ignorant, and opportunistic individuals.
Koblavi Fiagbedzi, Ottawa-Ontario

What an absolutely ridiculous question. Ancestors are the progenitors who have brought us forward and as such they must be revered. This makes more logical sense than worshipping Jesus - a Nazarene who was nailed to a cross. I know my ancestors and I give thanks to them every day for my health, my intelligence and my compassion. Ancestor worship in Africa will never disappear.
George Dash, Canada

Ancestors do not and cannot hold us back. The continuous remembrance of the past is a means for moving forward. Our identity as a people depends on our ability to recognize and appreciate our past. I do not argue for the religious worship of ancestral beings but I do argue for the acknowledgement, respect, celebration, and support for ancestral history, ideologies, and knowledge.
Khadijat, New York/Nigeria

I was taught to venerate my Ancestors by traditional Yoruba people I met while working in Nigeria. It has made me feel much closer to my family and my lineage. People all over the world remember and pray to their Ancestors. Just because a family member has passed away and is on the "Other side of the Veil" does not mean they do not care about you. Venerating one's ancestors is not the same as praying to God, and one isn't exclusive of the other.
Chris Knowles, Troy-NY-USA

We have living people whom we can consult for advice, not somebody who died several years back Tusime Abel, Uganda

Ancestors do not inspire me in any way. Those ancestors should be used as a point of reference, say to recall what happened in those days and comparing it with what is happening presently, but not to be worshipped or to be used as a source of consultation. In any case we have living people whom we can consult for advice, but not some body who died several years back.
Tusiime Abel, Kasese-Uganda

The earth is our ancestor, as is the entire cosmos, and it is good for us to understand that our little lives take place in a great continuity - from past to present, yes, AND from present to future. May there be human children in a hundred years, in five hundred years, and may they thank their ancestors for thinking of them in the way they cared for the earth, our great ancestor.
Anne Benvenuti, Kernville, California, USA

As an African American Artist, ancestor worship is very important to my work and to my spirituality, which are basically inseparable. There is not a day that goes by that I am not reminded of the hell that my ancestors endured on this continent and in the diaspora, so I feel a responsibility to remember and acknowledge that so I can grow from it.

There are times that white Americans, especially older males, feel that they should have some sense of entitlement over the rest of us. They will do subtle things like cut in front of you in a grocery line and other such things, that although small, send a loud and clear message that your existence is insignificant to them and that your business is less important than theirs. Well, it is my ancestors that give me the strength at those times to put them in their place.
Renee Stout, Washington-DC

As an African, I think it makes more sense for Africans to worship an African God even in the form of Ancestors instead of worshipping foreign Gods. It is really a question of genuine identity, which is at the root of political and economic progress.
Uchenna Osigwe, Quebec, Canada

Whatever you take from nature you give back Kiki Lavier, USA

When I was a child, and rode on my bicycle about Stanford University, I came upon a tree that attracted my attention for some reason. It might have been an oak. For some reason, I found that tree's presence to be a place for meditation and thoughts, sometimes a place where I contemplated feelings of sadness or conflict. I often felt better after a while. I visited the tree for many years from childhood through my teen years, after which my activities elsewhere kept me too busy.

Years later, when I mentioned that special tree, my father told me that my grandmother's tribe celebrated The Spirit of the Trees, in her native Oregon, USA. This would have been the Clackamas tribal region in the late 19th Century. This practice of the African tree worshippers reminds me of my Native American ancestors' practices. One practice was that, when you are feeling sad or ill, you would walk into the forest - alone - find a peaceful spot, and focus on the trees and gather or absorb your energy from the beauty and majesty of them. Later, when you feel better, return to the same tree to release your energy and give back the energy that you took. Whatever you take from nature, you give back.
Kiki Lavier, California

Our hope ought to be in the living Christ Brian Aarons, USA

Our ancestors cannot hold us back, or promote us forward. After all they are dead. Therefore, our hope ought to be in the living Christ in whom our faith should be deservedly placed.(see Isaiah 44:14-20).
Brian Aarons, New York-USA

There is no ancestor, there is no descendant, there is no human being, there is no religion. Whether we worship or pray to our ancestors, it is only a form of respect to those who have created and brought us up in this world.
Tang W.K., Singapore

Good question, but you continue to trumpet the notion that veneration of the ancestors in African religion is tantamount to ¿ancestral worship', a flawed idea that is still promoted by some Western scholars and now the BBC. The so-called religious leaders in Africa who are reportedly alarmed by the rise in ¿ancestral worship', must look to their own ¿religions' which also practice worshipping of their founders (ancestors). Judaism; Christianity; Islam; Hinduism; and all other religions extol the memory of their ancestral founders. Why should Africa be different? Since the death of my parents last year, I have always mentioned their names whenever I say a Christian prayer. I am more comfortable and self-assured calling on the God of my Father and Mother than to the ¿God of Abraham and Isaac'. I also pour drinks as Libation every Sunday morning as prayer to their memory. My parents and some of my more venerable departed relatives spent an awful lot of time on my well-being. I therefore consider any reciprocal veneration of their memory, not an ¿expensive waste' of time but a sacred duty!
Kofi Ellison, USA via Asuonwun, Ghana

I deeply believe in honouring the spirits in trees Virginia Hubbard, USA

I deeply believe in honouring the spirits that live in trees. In this universe all things are living consciousness. I also believe in honouring all my ancestors from time immemorial. Our ancestors include not only departed human beings but angels, spirit guides and Gurus. In India there are chants offered to our ancestors and we honour their role in our spiritual development. I see great similarities in the actions this caretaker is performing to many rituals or ceremonies in India.
Virginia Hubbard, Houston-Texas- USA

We might know more comfort in the world if we knew our ancestors were not holding us back, but rather holding us.
P Lawson, Knoxville, Tenn, USA

Ancestors influence our lives. The question is whether they influence our lives for good or for bad. I do not believe in worshipping our ancestors or seeking spiritual guidance from them, simply because I serve a living 'God' and not an ancestral non-living god. The choice is ours today.
Sam Imevbore, Coventry, UK

Ancestors are our friends John Ghansah, USA

The best model for interpreting and understanding the ancestors, in a way that respects contemporary progress and their love for us, is the model of friendship. Ancestors are our friends and they wish us well, we must also wish them well, with various acts of respect.
John Ghansah, Cambridge-MA-USA

Ancestors do influence my life and as a matter of fact they should influence our lives. We read stories of biblical heroes and heroines such, as Abraham as father of faith, Moses man of obedience, Paul a man of missions and Mary, woman of purity. We are also influenced by past leaders and our parents. For instance, Africans cannot forget in a hurry these great men: Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, and others for their political, social, educational, and economical contributions to humanity. However, these heroes and heroines should not be worshipped, because God forbids us to do so.
Rev. Paul Bala Samura, Sierra Leone/USA

Ancestors give us spiritual guidance just like Jesus does to Christians. Before Christianity came to Africa, we had our religion and our God. Unfortunately over time, the Christian God, who is believed to be white, is worshipped, while the Devil, who is black, is demonised. To me, it is a matter of choice whether to worship God or the ancestors or both.
Sophia Akol, Uganda

If I want information, I consult my computer, not a dead man Almay Dukuly, Liberia/USA

Our ancestors do not hold us back and neither do they influence our success. However, their legacies are part of our histories. Personally, I consider the days of my ancestors as a point of reference, but never to worship them or repeat their way of life. If I want advice, I consult a living man, and if I want information I consult my computer, but not a dead man. While I respect the hard work and great legacy of my ancestors, I do believe that replacing the stone age for the computer age will be a costly mistake.
Almamy Dukuly, Liberia/USA

We must worship the ancestors, as we would want to be worshiped when we pass on. Worshipping the ancestors brings good things in different ways, just like going to church. Anyone that suggests doing without our ancestral worship does not want progress. It is like saying to the Catholics don't go and see the Pope or to the Muslims don't pray towards Mecca.
Oneyor, London

To me, religion is man's creation. The fact that we believe in gods does not in itself prove that those superhuman forces do exist. To me, they exist in our minds. Having said so, does worshipping our ancestors hold us back? No. By worshipping our ancestors, we celebrate our identity. If our people become gods upon their deaths, then we too are special, since we will, by default, become gods. Indians worship Indian-looking Gods.

Chinese people worship Chinese-looking Gods. Whites worship a blonde, blue-eyed, white skinned Jesus, even though he came from the Middle East. Why can't we Africans worship gods that represent Africans? If worshipping ancestors holds us back, then all religions hold people back, for they are based upon the same concept, some superhuman force that governs our lives!
Tadios Chisango, Zimbabwe/UK