Editing Veneration of the dead (section)

==North America==
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In the United States and Canada, flowers, wreaths, grave decorations and sometimes candles, food, small pebbles, or items the dead valued in life are put on graves year-round as a way to honor the dead. These traditions originate in the diverse cultural backgrounds of the current populations of both countries. In the United States, many people honor deceased loved ones who were in the military on [[Memorial Day]]. Days with religious and spiritual significance like [[Easter]], [[Christmas]], [[Candlemas]], and [[All Souls' Day]], [[Day of the Dead]], or [[Samhain]] are also times when relatives and friends of the deceased may gather at the graves of their loved ones. In the [[Catholic Church]], one's local parish church often offers prayers for the dead on their death anniversary or All Souls' Day.

In the United States, [[Memorial Day]] is a Federal holiday for remembering the deceased men and women who served in the nation's military, particularly those who died in war or during active service. In the 147 [[United States National Cemetery System|National Cemeteries]], like [[Arlington National Cemetery|Arlington]] and [[Gettysburg National Cemetery|Gettysburg]], it is common for volunteers to place small [[Flag of the United States|American flags]] at each grave. Memorial Day is traditionally observed on the last Monday in May, allotting for a 3-day weekend in which many memorial services and parades take place not only across the country, but in 26 [[American Battle Monuments Commission|American cemeteries on foreign soil]] (in France, Belgium, the United Kingdom, the Philippines, Panama, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, and Tunisia). It is also common practice among veterans to memorialize fallen service members on the dates of their death. This practice is also common in other countries when remembering Americans who died in battles to liberate their towns in the [[World war|World Wars]]. One example of this is on 16 August (1944) [[Welborn Griffith|Colonel Griffith]], died of wounds from enemy action sustained in [[Lèves]], the same day he is credited with saving [[Chartres Cathedral]] from destruction.
[[File:Ofrenda Tequisquiapan.jpg|thumb|Ofrenda in [[Tequisquiapan]], Mexico]]

In Judaism, when a grave site is visited, [[Visitation stones|a small pebble is placed on the headstone]]. While there is no clear answer as to why, this custom of leaving pebbles may date back to biblical days when individuals were buried under piles of stones. Today, they are left as tokens that people have been there to visit and to remember.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.orchadash-tucson.org/rabbi-mourning-customs.html |title=Archived copy |access-date=2009-12-31 |archive-date=2015-07-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150721132054/http://www.orchadash-tucson.org/rabbi-mourning-customs.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Americans of various religions and cultures may build a shrine in their home dedicated to loved ones who have died, with pictures of their ancestors, flowers and mementos. Increasingly, many roadside shrines may be seen for deceased relatives who died in car accidents or were killed on that spot, sometimes financed by the state or province as these markers serve as potent reminders to drive cautiously in hazardous areas. The [[Vietnam Veterans Memorial]] in Washington, D.C., is particularly known for the leaving of offerings to the deceased; items left are collected by the [[National Park Service]] and archived.

Members of [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] [[Baptism for the dead#LDS Church|perform posthumous baptisms]] and other rituals for their dead ancestors, along with those of other families.

Native Americans were not heavily concerned with the veneration of the dead, though they were known to bury the dead with clothes and tools as well as occasionally leave food and drink at the gravesite; [[Pueblo Indians]] supported a cult of the dead which worshipped or petitioned the dead through ritualistic dances.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hultkrantz|first=Åke|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv9b2xgt|title=Belief and Worship in Native North America|date=1982|publisher=Syracuse University Press|isbn=978-1-68445-013-8|editor-last=Vecsey|editor-first=Christopher|doi=10.2307/j.ctv9b2xgt.9|jstor=j.ctv9b2xgt|access-date=2020-10-09|archive-date=2020-10-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201018003921/https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv9b2xgt|url-status=live}}</ref>