Quote:
Originally Posted by Žorkell
Something similar to this is apparently done in Madagascar. Once in a while you dig up your dead ancestors and update them on the happenings in your family and introduce family members to the deceased.
Assuming, of course, that QI is a reliable source.
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QI? no clue what that's referencing.
Many cultures have family gatherings at the family gravesites. The ones with mummification or intentional skeletonization seem to also add pulling the ancestor's remains out.
Early Christians would hold services at small altars set up at martyr's niches.
Pagan-era Rome buried the dead in the catacombs, and are thought to have had family meals with dead relatives in them, so the Christians turning it to the services in the 2nd C wasn't a huge red flag.