"Many African societies divide humans into three categories: those still alive on the earth, the sasha, and the zamani. The recently departed whose time on earth overlapped with people still here are the sasha, the living-dead. They are not wholly dead, for they still live in the memories of the living, who can call them to mind, create their likeness in art, and bring them to life in anecdote. When the last person to know an ancestor dies, that ancestor leaves the sasha for the zamani, the dead. As generalised ancestors, the zamani are not forgotten but revered. Many ... can be recalled by name. But they are not the living-dead. There is a difference." -- James W. Loewen, Lies My Teacher Told Me (1995)
( a little more context (Wikipedia) but note the "needs more sources" warning on that page)
[Today is All Souls Day and the end of Dia de Muerto. For folks who observe the traditions of either of those holidays. or who quietly ark the date inour own heads, I know a bunch of us have more dead to remember today than we did a year ago. Last year we lost a bunch of celebrities; this year it's personal. I wish everyone who needs it, whatever comfort the holday can bring -- or just whatever comfort is possile regardless, if neither of these celebrations is yours.]