Note 7 — Chapter IV · THE WORSHIP OF THE SAINTED DEAD.

The ordinary worship of ancestors among Brâhmanized Hindu races has been so often described in well-known books as to need little further illustration.7 The spirits of departed ancestors attend upon the Brâhmans invited to the ceremony of the Srâddha, “hovering round them like pure spirits, and sitting by them when they are seated.” “An offering to the gods is to be made at the beginning and end of the Srâddha; it must not begin and end with an offering to ancestors, for he who begins and ends it with an offering to the Pitri quickly perishes with his progeny.” The belief is common to many races that the spirits of the dead assemble to partake of the food provided by the piety of their relations on earth. Alcinous addressing the Phæacians tells them—“For ever heretofore the gods appear manifest among us, whensoever we offer glorious hecatombs, and they feast at our side sitting by the same board.” And the old Prussians used to prepare a meal, to which, standing at the door, they invited the soul of the deceased. “When the meal was over the priest took a broom and swept the souls out of the house, saying—‘Dear souls! ye have eaten and drunk. Go forth! go forth!’”8