Chayk Ancestor Worship

Ancestor Spirits
The Blessed Ancestors
Alignment:	Neutral
Portfolio:	Life, Divination, Health, Agriculture, Luck, Strength
Worshippers:	All Chayk
Servants:	Clerics, Oracles
Clerics Align:	CN, LN, N, NE, NG
Domains:	Community, Death, Knowledge, Luck, Strength
Weapon:	Spear

The primary religious activity for nearly every Chayk is ancestor worship. Reverence of ancestors is the most immediate, most important spiritual need of the average Chayk, for the ancestors act as the intermediaries between the this world and the next. Ancestors who are loved and revered and who receive proper offerings at the proper times bring success, good health, and luck to their descendants.

On the other hand, ancestors who are neglected become angry, and they often exact revenge. When their graves are defiled, their spirits punish intruders, and then punish those who failed in their vigilance. When their tombs are neglected and forgotten, they rise as undead to feed upon those they hate: the descendants who forgot them. So while the heavenly deities are remote upon their mountains, ancestors play an important role in the daily life of nearly everyone.

The "holy symbol" used by Chayk shamen (called Gothi, meaning "wise man"... if the shaman is a woman she is called a Gortha or "wise woman") are clan ancestral symbols, that is, the sigils used by the tribe's long-dead ancestors, especially those of people who are notable for some great deed. Notable holy days are the New Year Day, in which all of a clan's ancestors are venerated, and the birthdays of important ancestors. On the birthday of an especially honored ancestor, his name and deeds are recited by the shaman, and a great feast is prepared in his name. This feast is for the dead, not the living. It is prepared and spread on a table set in the village common, and then left there to rot, while the living spend the day in fasting.

Chayk have a hard time understanding why the other people of the Young Kingdoms put so much importance in temples. Chayk tribesmen offer prayers and worship to the ancestor spirits whenever and wherever they have to, and don't need a specially built house to do so.