ANTENATI, CULT OF THE. - The cult of the a. is distinguished from the simple cult of the dead, in that it is directed to the progenitors of one's own lineage taken collectively, while the other refers to specific deceased persons, generally but not necessarily bound to the officiant by ties of blood.
In Chinese religion the cult of the a. - in which "filial piety" is par excellence manifested - is the one most deeply felt by the people, and it is present in the interior of every house. The imperial dynasty had for the a. its own temple with seven chapels, of which the one oriented to the north was consecrated to the founder of the family; the temples of the feudal princes had five chapels, those of the vassals three, each furnished with the "tablet," held to be the resting place of the soul and on which therefore incense was burned, candles were lit, and offerings were made. The people, lacking a chapel, venerated and venerate their a., represented by the tablets, in a corner of the house; before them all the events of family life are consecrated, births, coming of age, marriages, funerals, since the Chinese are firmly convinced that the a. continue to take an active part in the life of the family. Only the firstborn may function as minister of the ancestral cult. The cult of the a. in China, which for two and a half centuries fueled a bitter controversy among the missionaries who upheld or denied its legitimacy as being almost an act of idolatry, has been declared a civil ceremony and as such authorized by a decree of the S. C. of Propaganda (Dec. 8, 1939) which considers it an act of homage and not of worship, provided that the tablets are not considered the "seat of the soul" and that only the name of the deceased be written on them. For the whole question v. RITI CINESI.
Japan, which owes its civilization to China, venerates its a. in a similar manner, whose representative tablet is placed within a small wooden box in a corner of the house. Moreover, the whole of Japanese religion presents itself as a cult of the a., beginning with those of the imperial family, venerated with
