Caroline Kenner has a guest blog over at Wild Hunt, and has provided a fascinating post on the ancestors .   Kenner raises an issue that I think has been under addressed in
our community.

My own take is similar to hers: addressing the
ancestors at Samhain and ignoring them the rest of the time is a bit
like getting a Christmas card once a year from people with whom I
otherwise have no contact.  It’s nice, and leaves the door open to
future connection, but it’s otherwise pretty thin stuff.  Even a
passing mention in ritual isn’t much by world wide Pagan standards.

Many
people in mainstream society are fascinated with geneaology.  My mother
certainly was.  I wonder whether it is a secularized form of honoring
the ancestors, and as such gives them a sense of roots in a society
that denies their importance and also serves spiritual purposes of
which most practitioners are unaware.

I suggest going on over and giving her a read.