AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINESAFRICAN TRADITIONS
NORTH AMERICAN PLAINS INDIANSMESOAMERICAN RELIGION
Primal Religious Traditions
Primal Religions
Unique forms of religions practiced since prehistoric times. Some are still practiced at present.
Religious traditions of non literate peoples who rely on oral tradition rather than scriptures
Tend to be the traditions of tribal peoples, small groups that reside in villages rather than large city populations
Why investigate Primal Religious Traditions?
Primal: Prehistoric, Non-literate, oral tradition
Provide insight into mythic and ritual dimensions of religion that are essential sources of knowledge and power for important aspects of life
All religions stem from or are rooted in primal worship
Native people of AustraliaFoundation
Dreaming Period of the ANCESTORS Still remains in the symbols left behind Rituals reenact the mythic events
Ancestors Supernatural beings that gave shape to the formless world Organized humans into tribes Allocated land
Left symbols of their presence Spirit of ancestors left behind
Australian Aborigines
Ritual
Spiritual essences left behind by the ancestors in symbols Charged with sacred power
Take the same paths originally taken by the ancestors reenacting the mythic events of the dreaming
Cosmology takes a key place in Aboriginal religion- mythic geography
Spiritual essence in humans also. Unborn child is animated by an Ancestor when the mother makes contact with a sacred site. Totem: the natural form of the ancestor in the dreaming Totemism: a system of belief and ritual based on totems
Animation
Ancestors continually nourish the natural world, sources of all kinds of life
Human beings associated with a particular ancestor perform rituals to cause the power to flow into the natural world Reenactment of the myth
Reenacting of the myth recreates the original action Maintaining the social structure of society
Taboo: things and activities set aside for certain members and forbidden to others Gender Training Maturity
Initiation Awakens spiritual identity Death of childhood- birth of adulthood
African Traditions
Several hundred religions among the 400,000,000 inhabitants of the second largest continent, Africa.
Yoruba Religion Consists of 10,000,000 people and
has endured 1,000 years. Produced artwork that is famous
and admired Resides in Western regions of
central Africa Favor city living
Ife is the center of Yoruba religion Orishna-nla began world
creation here http://www.genuineafrica.com/yor
uba.htm#.TynstWd8Mxc.email
Cosmology
Reality is in two separate worlds Heaven, the invisible home of the gods and ancestors Earth, the world of normal experience, visible home of
humans; also populated by a deviant form of human beings, witches and sorcerers, who can cause disastrous harm if not controlled
Purpose of the religion Maintain balance between the human beings of earth
and the gods and ancestors of heaven while guarding against the evil deeds of the sorcerers and witches
Heaven
Home of Supreme god- Olorun
Primary, original source of power in the universe Distant and remote- not involved in human affairs People do not worship Olorun; other gods serve as mediators
Other deities- orishas Lesser than Olorun but truly significant Are appeased by the rituals carried out by humans Hundreds of orishas exist
Orisha-nla, created earth Ogun, god of iron, originally a human, inhabits border between
ancestors and orishas Esu, most complex, contains both good and evil properties,
worshipped with all other gods- Trickster figure (can disrupt the normal course of life)
Cont’d
Ancestors: Deceased humans who have acquired supernatural
powers They can help or harm the living Worshipped through rituals at sacred shrines
Earned a good reputation, lived to an old age, worshipped only by their own family
Deified ancestors known throughout Yoruba society and worshipped by large numbers of people
Connecting Heaven and Earth
Head of a family: Worships the family’s ancestors in the home at the family shrine
King or chief of a city: In charge of annual festivals and performs other religious functions
Priests Oversee the various rituals carried out at the shrines of each orisha
Diviners Tells the future since this is important in determining how to proceed with
ones life Mediator
Becomes a living representation of an ancestor by dancing at festivals Imitates a dead person and delivers a message from the dead
Importance: Maintains a balance between heaven and earth, boundaries are thin and
can be crossed over
North American Plains Indians
Peoples who inhabited the middle section of what is now the USA.
Migrated from Asia over the Bering Strait and spread out over north and south America
Stretched from Canadian Alberta to the Gulf of Mexico, between Rocky Mountains and the Mississippi River.
More than 30 tribes, speaking different languages and forming many cultural groups
Representative of Native American religion in generalShared some basic beliefs such as the vision quest and
the Sun Dance.
Lakota
Inhabited Eastern Montana & Wyoming and the western part of the Dakotas and parts of Nebraska
Reknown for Custer’s defeat Massacre at Wounded knee
About 70,000 live on reservations in Manitoba, Montana, and the Dakotas.
Beliefs
Supreme Reality- Wakan Tanka, the Great Spirit or Great Mysterious 16 different deities (4x4)
Creation of the world and the arrival of the first human beings are explained in various myths that talk about several supernatural beings Inktomi, Lakota trickster figure, taught humans their ways and
customs. His mistakes and errors of judgment are used to teach children what not to do.
Death & Afterlife 4 souls depart from body, one journeys on a spirit path encounters
an old woman who judges it and directs it to the world of the ancestors or back to earth as a ghost. Others are reborn in unborn children or others new bodies.
Ritual
Vision Quest Common primal tradition To gain access to spiritual power that will insure success in
different undertakings Both genders can participate Supervised by a medicine man or woman Begins with purification in a sweat lodge Goes off alone to endure the elements, lack of food and water Performance of certain rituals Near the end the quester receives a vision in the form of an
animal, object or force of nature. Vision gives a message. Message is interpreted by medicine man or woman, that
interpretation influences the rest of the life of the quester. Occasionally the quester receives a guardian spirit
Ritual
Sun Dance: Common to all Plains’ tribes Benefits the tribe rather than the individual Part of the New Year celebration Overseen by a sacred leader (medicine man or a woman of
outstanding character), both an honor and a responsibility Held in a lodge that is carefully constructed and prepared for the
celebration Cotton tree is set upright in a chosen spot as the axis mundi Connects heaven and earth- represents the supreme being Around the tree, 28 poles to represent the 28days of the lunar month Dancing in the direction of the sun accompanied by music and
drumbeats Body mutilation as sacrifice
Populating the Americas
Crossing at Beringia
Mesoamerican Religion
Area includes present day Mexico and extended south to Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica
Natives arrived about 20,000 years ago?
From about 2000 BC to 1500 AD home to Olmecs, Maya, Toltec and Aztec civilizations
Aztecs
Defies the common or general description of primal religions- it was a highly civilized population of about 15,000,000.
Urban dwellers in lieu of rural. Lived in Tenochtitlahn, now Mexico City
Like other primal religions it intertwines ritual and myth, practices of human sacrifice
Pre dated Catholicism of 16th c. Aztec influence can be seen in some modern Mexican religious practices
Toltec Foundation
Toltec god “Quetzalcoatl” the feathered serpent presided over a golden age of brilliance
Prince Topiltzin, a priest-king of the Toltecs, was the role model for Aztec authority figures
Toltec myths and tradition influenced AztecsAztecs believed that Quetzalcoatl created and
ordered the world. City of Teotihuancan was origin of the cosmos. “Who will be the sun and bring on the dawn?”
Time and Space
The dawn of the sun was a new age and its destruction the end of that age. The only ;way to delay this destruction was to feed the sun, nourishing it through human sacrifices.
They believed that there had already been 4 suns and theirs was the last one. (center, west, north, south)
Time and space were interrelated.
4 quadrants with the axis mundi in center. Center connects earthly world with heavenly world.
Human Role
Human condition linked to cosmologyHuman is a sort of axis mundiHuman sacrifice was performed about every 20
days. Self sacrifice of the warrior would allow him to enter the highest heaven at his death
Two divine forces Heart
Was cut out of the chest on a sacrificial altar Head
Was severed from the body and strung on a skull rackMany human sacrifices were captive prisoners
Language
Religious power was conveyed through the mastery of language
Spoke Nahuatl, an expressive language with high achievements in poetry
Knowers of things could communicate with the gods and make offerings rather than sacrifice.
Being adept at making or solving riddles meant you came from a good family