Across East and Southeast Asia, ancestor veneration ceremonies weave together heartfelt rituals and offerings that bridge the gap between past and present. Here’s a glimpse at the most cherished elements:

1. Home Altars and Ancestral Tablets
   • Central to Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, and Japanese homes, these altars display carved wooden or stone tablets inscribed with ancestors’ names.
   • Fresh flowers—often chrysanthemums in China, lotus blossoms in Vietnam—add a splash of life to the solemn setting.

2. Incense and Candles
   • Thin sticks of incense burn in graceful spirals, carrying prayers heavenwards.
   • Red or white candles symbolize hope, respect, and the guiding light for wandering spirits.

3. Ritual Bowing and Prostrations
   • In Korea’s Jesa and Japan’s Obon, participants perform deep bows or full prostrations before the altar, a gesture of profound respect that goes hand in hand with whispered prayers or Buddhist sutras.

4. Food Offerings
   • Seasonal fruits—pomelos, oranges, persimmons—arranged like a small banquet.
   • Special dishes: Chinese rice cakes (nian gao) during Qingming, Korean songpyeon rice cakes at Chuseok, Vietnamese sticky rice (bánh chưng) at Tết.
   • A small cup of tea, rice wine or soju: a humble toast to those who came before.

5. Joss Paper and Paper Goods
   • Sheets of “hell money,” paper houses, gold bars and even paper electronics are burned, believed to provide comfort and luxury for ancestors in the afterlife.
   • In recent years, some families have embraced eco-friendly joss papers or digital memorial apps—burning QR-code “banknotes” on-screen to reduce smoke.

6. Cemetery Visits and Tomb Sweeping
   • During China’s Qingming (Tomb-Sweeping Day) and Vietnam’s Thanh Minh, families gather at ancestral graves, clear weeds, lay fresh flowers, and offer food, incense, and joss paper.
   • In Japan, Obon often involves lighting lanterns at gravesites or riversides—Tokyo’s Sumida River festival ramps up the glow, guiding ancestral spirits home.

7. Communal Feasts and Storytelling
   • After formal rites, relatives share a meal—sometimes a feast fit for kings—recounting tales of great-great-grandparents, laughter mingling with nostalgia.
   • This storytelling carries the torch of family history, making sure each name lives on.

These rituals, while varying in details from region to region, all spring from the same desire: to honor one’s roots, keep memories alive, and maintain an unbroken thread between generations.