Soul plurality
Many traditions describe several soul-components with different destinations: one stays with the body, one travels, one may return as an ancestor or be reborn in the lineage.
The escort
Where the dead are believed capable of getting lost, becoming stuck, or returning to trouble the living, a specialist guides them. Funerary work is frequently the most socially indispensable part of the role.
Ancestors as present kin
In much of Africa and East Asia, ancestors are ongoing members of the household with appetites, claims and opinions, not distant memories.