“...I don’t know how yankees see it, but in the South dishonoring one’s ancestors is right up there with dishonoring ones parents or sisters being about the worse thing one can do absent sexual crimes...”
It is just like that old joke, “Why are Chinese and Southerners so much alike? ... The both eat lots of rice and both worship their ancestors.”
That’s South Carolina the joke is told about. People from SC or Va regardless of race or class always seem to start comparing family histories at some point in the conversation.