Why Did Ancestor Rites Survive Only in Asia?

Geography and Different Defense Systems

Europe's terrain was largely flat and hard to defend. Amid constant wars, the key to survival was a warrior's ability to stop the enemy right now, not family tradition. Securing living fighting strength came before honoring ancestors.

Religious Unification and a Cultural Break

As Christianity spread across Europe, a worldview centered on "God alone" took hold. In the process, older polytheistic elements and ancestor veneration were seen as idolatry and quickly disappeared.

Asia's Vertical System of Authority

In Asia, by contrast, the family came before the individual. A powerful authoritarian culture in which elders' words were law while they lived continued after their death through the form of ancestral rites, as a way to inherit and confirm their power and authority.

Settled Culture and the Continuity of the Clan

Asians tended to settle in one village for generations, farming, tending the family graves and carrying on the lineage. Because they rarely moved, it was easy to look after the traces of their ancestors, and this naturally hardened into an unbroken culture of ancestor veneration.

Measures of Prosperity and a Modern View

Today Europe may seem to be further ahead. But this kind of Asian cohesion also became a driving force behind rapid "compressed" economic growth. That said, Asia may now be reaching a point where excessive collectivism and authority clash with modern individual creativity.