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From around 1640, as part of a push to ban Christianity, temples kept family registries of people in the neighborhood, creating a tradition of ancestor worship still observed today.

At some point before contact with Christians, ancestor worship was replaced by a religion centered around a “birdman.”

She always taught me that our reunification with loved ones is deferred upon entry to the Kingdom of Heaven; ancestor worship was a sin that jeopardized my access to that prize.

“Chinese have that, too—ancestor worship, sweeping the graves in the springtime.”

It is disquieting, then, when after many pages of lucid observations, she goes off the rails on the subject of ancestor worship — its ancient origins and modern incarnations.