Some nations pay particular attention to the memory of their ancestors.
The Quojas, a people of Africa, offer sacrifices of rice and wine to
their ancestors, before they undertake any considerable action; and the
anniversaries of their death are always kept by their families with
great solemnity; the king invokes the souls of his father and mother to
make trade flourish and the chase succeed. But the Chinese have
distinguished themselves above all other nations, by the veneration in
which they hold their ancestors. Part of the duty, according to the laws
of Confucius, which children owe their parents, consists in worshipping
them when dead. They have a solemn and an ordinary worship for this
purpose, the former of which is held twice a year with great pomp, and
is described as follows by an eye witness:--The sacrifices were made in
a chapel, well adorned, where there were six altars, furnished with
censers, tapers, and flowers. There were three ministers, and behind
them two young acolites: he that officiated was an aged man, and a new
Christian. The three former went with a profound silence, and made
frequent genuflexions towards the five altars, pouring out wine;
afterwards they drew near to the sixth, and when they came to the foot
of the altar, half bowed down, they said their prayers with a low voice.
That being finished, the three ministers went to the altar; the priest
took up a vessel full of wine, and drank; then he lifted up the head of
a deer, or goat; after which, taking fire from the altar, they lighted a
bit of paper, and the minister of ceremonies turning towards the people,
said, with a high voice, that he gave them thanks in the name of their
ancestors, for having so well honoured them; and in recompense he
promised them, on their part, a plentiful harvest, a fruitful issue,
good health and long life, and all those advantages which are most
pleasing to men.
The Chinese have also in their houses a niche, or hollow place, in which
they put the names of their deceased fathers, to which they make prayers
and offerings of perfumes and spices at certain periods.