snowyfox@deadinsi.de's status on Wednesday, 09-Aug-2023 10:04:58 JST

This particular essay was a relatively uninteresting specification (stating of premises, basic component of the altar, the practice you should be doing) of ancestor worship, in the English language, by a Yoruba person. But it fits in the book because of the interesting assumptions it makes: that life is really really valuable (shown both by the deference given to ancestors, and to the specific prayer that is said); that your ancestor communicates to you through you and through natural objects like water; and that offering food to the altar isn't "wastage" because food is supposed to be renewable - you leave the finished offering outside to nature, and nature will give you new food.
Hence the next chapter makes more sense why this was included. It's pretty different in how it conceptualises the world compared to usual religion