Ancestral worship Ancestor worship is one of the faiths in Azeroth and one of the main tenets of shamanism ( along with animism and spirit guidance ) practiced in the world . Ancestor worship entails more than a simple veneration of the dead . While almost all races respect and memorialize their ancestors in some way , the orcs and tauren believe that their forebears possess powers that their living offspring can channel . A tauren does not merely remember her ancestors ; she speaks to them and draws power from them . A tauren ’ s ancestors watch over her and sometimes guide her through visitations and dreams . All tauren learn rituals and chants designed to connect them to their ancestors . A tauren shaman , however , can call on tribal spirits to infuse him with wisdom and strength . Although tauren society is no longer nomadic , their rituals and traditions developed long ago , and thus were heavily influenced by the nomadic way of life that the tauren followed up until recently , when they joined the Horde and made Mulgore their home . For example , when the tauren were nomadic , they could not always visit the graves of their ancestors when they wished to show honor . Many rituals require a tauren to carve wooden figures and then burn these carvings with fragrant grasses and herbs to honor his ancestors . Tauren now have a permanent home in Mulgore , but since marauding centaur keep them away from many areas , they still cannot visit the graves of their ancestors . Thus , they have no reason to change these rituals . Orcs leave more concrete reminders of their ancestors . They carve memorials to the fallen dead and place stones around permanent campsites . Nomadic orcs and tauren both conduct group rituals ; these rituals involve storytelling , chanting and feasting that lasts all night . Orc death rituals vary in form , but most possess common traits . Any orcs present when an orc dies roar as loudly as possible , to alert the deceased ’ s ancestors that they must come and escort a new spirit to the spirit world . If an orc falls in battle , his companions wait until after the battle ends to roar . This prevents the death roar from being lost in the sounds of battle . Orcs value honor . Should an orc die with an unfulfilled duty , his close friends and relatives take it upon themselves to complete the duty and allow the fallen orc ’ s spirit to enter the afterlife without a blemish . The deceased ’ s closest friend or relative sometimes takes one of the corpse ’ s fangs as a memento and a token to use in shaman rituals to summon a particular spirit . During group rituals to honor the dead , orcs adorn their tribal costumes or weapons with the fangs of their fallen friends and family . Tauren prefer to bury their dead , but after the advent of the Scourge and the Forsaken , more tribes are cremating their dead to avoid the possibility of undeath . A shaman who practices ancestor worship can gain access to the Ancestor domain . Tauren ancestral carvings . When a tauren plans a ritual to honor his ancestors , he carves a number of wooden idols to burn during the ritual . Each tauren ’ s choice of carvings reflects his values and history , making each set of carvings highly personalized . However , certain themes repeat over time , and most tauren understand the following symbols . Miniature wooden tauren represent a person ’ s ancestors . Tauren symbolize themselves with a 6 - inch kneeling figure to display their reverence for their ancestors . A tauren might not carve every single individual in her lineage , but instead carve representative figures , such as the following .