If treated well, the ancestral spirits may help their living descendents have bigger crops, do better in business, or achieve other desirable goals because they are still interested in the well being of the family. I n European cultures, the spirits of dead ancestors are usually not thought of so kindly. Ghosts or spirits are feared and avoided because of the danger inherent in encounters with them. This belief that the dead more likely than not will be malevolent is one of the reasons that Europeans have traditionally buried their relatives in cemeteries, which are essentially cities of the dead physically separated from the living. It also accounts for the success of Hollywood's many haunted house movies.
Ghosts are stereotypical villains for people in European derived cultures.
Gods and Goddesses M ost religions maintain a belief in powerful supernatural beings with individual identities and recognizable attributes . These beings are usually thought of as gods or goddesses. Another term for them is deities. Like spirits, they have individual identities and recognizable attributes. As a result, they are commonly worshipped and requests are made of them to help in times of need.