Ancestral altars and spirit tablets function as the primary points of contact between the living and the dead, shaping how reverence for forebears is woven into daily life and communal ritual. In domestic settings, the altar—often bearing spirit tablets, incense, offerings, and sometimes images—embodies the ongoing presence of deceased family members within the household. The spirit tablet, inscribed with the ancestor’s name and often additional identifying details, is treated as the formal seat or dwelling place of the ancestor’s spirit, a tangible locus where the unseen is invited to abide. Through this arrangement, the home itself becomes a shared space, inhabited not only by the living but also by those who have gone before.

Within the household, these altars serve as stable centers for daily and periodic acts of devotion. Family members offer incense, food, tea, or flowers, bow before the tablets, and may report important events such as births, examinations, or major decisions, thereby integrating ancestral presence into the flow of ordinary life. On death anniversaries, at the new year, and during major festivals, offerings and rituals intensify, yet they remain anchored at the same altar that quietly witnesses the family’s everyday rhythms. The tablets are often arranged by generation and seniority, visually teaching hierarchy and continuity, and thus the altar becomes a living diagram of filial piety, lineage, and moral inheritance.

In temples and ancestral or clan halls, altars and spirit tablets extend these dynamics from the family to the wider community. Here, tablets may represent founding ancestors, notable lineage members, or revered cultural figures, and the altar becomes a communal space where many families participate in shared rites. Large, formal ceremonies—often involving ritual specialists, music, and processions—are oriented toward these temple altars, especially during major festivals or lineage gatherings. The spatial arrangement of tablets expresses social order and precedence, granting visible form to authority, inheritance, and the structure of the group.

These temple installations also act as repositories of memory and merit, preserving genealogical names and local histories while inviting ongoing offerings in gratitude for the beneficence attributed to eminent ancestors. Whether in home or temple, the altar and its tablets serve as spiritual bridges and ritual centers, enabling communication through offerings, prayer, and respectful gestures. They are understood to facilitate blessing, guidance, and protection, while at the same time binding descendants into enduring relationships of duty and gratitude. In this way, the boundary between living and deceased becomes ritually permeable, and reverence for ancestors is continually renewed in both intimate and communal spheres.