DIFFUSION OF ANCESTOR-WORSHIP The custom is found among peoples very widely distributed, and in all grades of culture. It is not, however, so nearly universal as either the fear of ghosts or the cult of supernatural beings of some kind. Thus, the ancestors of totemic tribes are themselves totems; but it can hardly be said that the totem is worshipped; i.e., made the object of prayer and other forms of cult. It is not a god, but rather a respected kinsman. The totemic ceremonies of North America, for instance, consist largely in mimetic dances in which the celebrants are assimilated to the totem, rather than in performances intended to please it, or as requests to it to send some blessing. Totemism may here and there develop into wor ship, but can hardly be said to be worship (see TOTEMISM and Sir J. G. Frazer, Totemism and Exogamy, ii. p. 18). Again, merely to care for the comfort of the dead ancestors is not necessarily to worship them ; the Roman parentalia were quite as much tend ance as worship proper. But examples of true ancestor-worship are very numerous, when all deductions have been made. Instances have been quoted from Africa, Asia and the Pacific islands, in all three of which it flourishes. Of civilized races, the Greeks, Romans and Vedic Indians all had it in a more or less developed form, and it has been claimed as a common Indo-Germanic herit age. This is possible but not certain. Of existing cultured peoples, the Chinese and Japanese are the best-known examples (see CON FUCIUS ; TAOISM ). Where it has completely disappeared the reason is normally the adoption of a monotheistic religion, as Christianity, Judaism, or Islam; hence it is no longer found in Europe. It is not necessarily inconsistent with the existence of a very high form of religious or ethical belief, such for example as Confucianism.