1. Primal Religious Traditions
Chapter 2 Pg
Primal Religious Traditions

2. The Nature of Primal Religions
Primal religions were practiced by small groups of prehistoric people before contemporary religious traditions
Strong mythic and ritual dimensions
All contemporary religions stem from primal beginnings
Traditions of non-literate people, so they do not depend on scriptures or written teachings
Oral material passed down from generation to generation

3. Religion of the Australian Aborigines
The Aborigines are the native people of Australia
Maintained thousands of years old traditions still today
The foundation of Aboriginal religion is the concept of The Dreaming, or the mythic period of the Ancestors
The world was originally formless
Supernatural beings called Ancestors emerged and roamed the earth
Gave shape to the landscape and created the various forms of life, including humans
Left behind symbols of their presence (landmarks, rock paintings, etc.)

4. Religion of the Australian Aborigines
Aborigines believe the spiritual essence of the Ancestors remains
Sites where these symbols are found are thought to be charged with sacred power
Only certain people can visit these sites
Ritual approach by following the path originally taken by the Ancestors
Re-creating The Dreaming
The Aborigines inhabit a mythic geography, or every notable landmark has great religious significance

5. Religion of the Australian Aborigines
The spiritual essence of the Ancestors also resides in individuals
Ritual that connects an unborn child to an ancestor
Each Aborigine is a living representation of an ancestor
This relationship is symbolized by a totem, the natural form in which the ancestor appeared in The Dreaming
Animal, rock formation, etc.
This system of belief and ritual based on totems is called totemism
Aborigines seek to maintain harmony between the supernatural, the human world, and the world of nature.
Totems

6. Totem Project
In groups of 3 or 4, make a list of characteristics and qualities of each person. (Ex. hot tempered, patient, wise, silly, etc.)
After each person has a list of qualities, think of an animal, plant, inanimate object, or feature of the landscape that seems to strongly represent the character of the person you chose.
***Not just your favorite animal or plant.***
This image will be your personal totem.
As a group, put together a totem pole consisting of each person’s totem.
Use color and be creative!

7. Aboriginal Religious Life
Ritual is essential to a meaningful life
Only through ritual can the power of The Dreaming be experienced
Aboriginal society is carefully structured
Certain people are forbidden to participate in certain rituals
Taboo – certain things and activities, because of their sacred nature, are set aside for specific members of the group and are forbidden to others

8. Aboriginal Religious Life
Aboriginal society is carefully structured (continued)
Sites and rituals associated with certain Ancestors are for men only, others are only for women
There are also restrictions based on maturity
Initiation rituals awaken young people to their spiritual identity
Symbolic death of childhood and preparation or spiritual rebirth in adulthood
Initiation Ritual

9. The Men of the Fifth World

10. This is Our Country Too

11. An African Tradition: The Religion of the Yoruba
Today, the Yoruba society consists of about 10 million people
Western regions of central Africa (Nigeria, Benin, and Togo)
The city of Ife is the center of the Yoruba religion
In Ife, the god Orisha-nla first began to create the world

12. An African Tradition: The Religion of the Yoruba
Yoruba cosmology depicts reality as being divided into 2 separate worlds: Heaven and earth
Heaven is the invisible home of the gods and ancestors
Earth is the world of normal experience, the visible home of humans, who are descended from the gods
Earth also has witches and sorcerers who can destroy
The purpose of the Yoruba religion is to maintain the balance between the human beings of earth and that gods and ancestors of Heaven

13. An African Tradition: The Religion of the Yoruba
The supreme god of the Yoruba is Olorun
The many lesser gods are known as orishas
All life forms owe their existence to Olorun
Does not interact with humans
The orishas are mediators between Olorun and humans
Orishas can help or harm humans
Orisha-nla: creator of the earth
Ogun: god of war
Esu: both good and evil and mediates between heaven and earth
Trickster figure – mischievous supernatural being

14. An African Tradition: The Religion of the Yoruba
The Heavenly ancestors are deceased humans who have acquired supernatural status
family ancestors gained their supernatural status by earning a good reputation and living to an old age
Worshipped only by their own families
Deified ancestors were important human figures who are worshipped by large numbers of people

15. An African Tradition: The Religion of the Yoruba
Ritual practitioners help humans communicate with gods and ancestors
The head of a family is responsible for worshipping the family’s ancestors
The king/chief of a city is in charge of annual festivals
Priests oversee rituals at the shrines of each orisha
Diviners practice the art of divination, through which one’s future can be learned
Some wear ceremonial masks and costumes and become a living representation of an ancestor by dancing at festivals
Ifa Divination

16. Initiation - Scarification

17. Religion of the North American Plains Indians
The first inhabitants of America, or Native Americans, formed many cultural groups, each with its own religion
North American Plains – 30+ tribes and 7 distinct languages
The religion of the Plains serves as the model of pan-Indian religion, a movement uniting tribes across North America
The Lakota, or Western Sioux, inhabited the North American mid-west

18. Religion of the North American Plains Indians
The Lakota name for the supreme reality is Wakan Tanka, or Great Spirit
16 separate gods
4 is a sacred number which refers to the 4 directions (North, South, East, and West)
Inktomi, the Lakota trickster figure, taught the first humans their ways and customs
Four souls depart from a person at death
One journeys along the “spirit path” of the Milky Way and is judged by an old woman
The other souls enter unborn children and are reborn in new bodies

20. Religion of the North American Plains Indians
The vision quest is a primary means for an individual to gain access to spiritual power that will ensure success in hunting, warfare, healing, etc. (rite of passage/initiation)
Done under the supervision of a medicine man or woman
Purification ritual
Goes to a hilltop alone and lives kin the wilderness for a certain number of days without food or water
Eventually, a vision appears in the form of an animal, object, or force of nature and a message is communicated
May acquire a guardian spirit which protects and instructs

21. Religion of the North American Plains Indians
John Fire/Lame Deer ( ) was born on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota. In his lifetime he was a rancher, a rodeo cowboy, and a reservation police officer, but he is best known as a Lakota Sioux holy man. In this excerpt from his autobiography, Lame Seer describes his boyhood experience of a vision quest.
Page 30
Chief Talks About Vision Quest

22. Religion of the North American Plains Indians
The Sun Dance, a ritual that benefits the whole tribe, occurs at the beginning of summer as a celebration of the new year.
Led by a medicine man or woman
Construct a special lodge where the ceremony is held
A cottonwood tree becomes the axis mundi, or the center of the universe
Also represents the supreme being
Long periods of dancing in the direction of the sun
Bodily mutilation as sacrifice

23. Religion of the North American Plains Indians
The Sundance Ceremony
What Harm is in
Our Sundance?

24. A Mesoamerican Religion: The Aztecs and Their Legacy
Lived in the city of Tenochtitlan, which is now Mexico city
Aztec religion emphasized the interrelationship between myth and ritual
Believe that the Toltec god, QuetzaIcoatl presided over a golden age of culture
Model of an ideal civilization

25. A Mesoamerican Religion: The Aztecs and Their Legacy
City of Teotihuacan was the origin of the entire cosmos (space and time)
Must nourish the sun with human sacrifices
The Aztecs understood the spatial world as having tour quadrants extending outward from the center of the universe (the axis mundi)
In Teotihuacan, the center of their world, they built a great temple at the point where the four directions met
Serpent Mountain

26. A Mesoamerican Religion: The Aztecs and Their Legacy
Pyramid of the Sun – Temple of Quetzalcoatl at Teotihuacan

27. A Mesoamerican Religion: The Aztecs and Their Legacy
Two divine forces, one concentrated in the head, the other in the heart, were believed to nurture the human being with basic needs
Human sacrifice was common
Aztecs believed the human body and the divine forces within it nourished the sun and sky
Although the Aztecs were defeated and destroyed by explorers, there are still remnants of their religious culture
Dia de los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead, joins the living and the dead through festive and spiritually meaningful rituals
Coroner's Report
Aztec Temple of Blood Documentary

28. A Mesoamerican Religion: The Aztecs and Their Legacy
Dia de los Muertos – The Day of the Dead

29. Pg #1-7, 9-29, 32-40