Indigenous Religions Essay

1). Tribal religion is practiced by people in the tribe that has occupied that region of the world for centuries, possibly thousands of years. The indigenous religion may be something of a hybrid of religious beliefs or ideas because of the exposure to missionaries and other forms of indoctrination. Indigenous religion often is viewed as using witchcraft, magic, belief is spirits, and medicinal altering of the mind.

A great sense of trust supports this mutual ‘give-take’ relationship. ‘If you take care of country, country will take care of you.’ These beliefs are totemist and animist, which basically means Aboriginals perceive all natural objects to possess a spirit or soul. While totems are quite significant within Aboriginal culture as they act as symbols in a system of beliefs, signifying a relationship between an individual or group and an animal or plant. Thus, creating a link between the human, natural and supernatural worlds. As the word ‘totem’ comes from a Native American language where it represents group membership; and literally means is ‘he/she/it is a relative of mine’.

spirituality. Aboriginal spirituality is passed on orally by elders through myths and rituals. Without knowledge of their traditional languages, young people could not learn about the spiritual beliefs of their people. This spirituality was all encompassing, affecting not only their thoughts about the spirit world but also their knowledge of places, plants and animals and traditional skills such as fishing, trapping, and tanning (Blair et al., 2002, p. 96). As Steckley and Cummins have pointed out, without access to the elders’ knowledge of nature, young people lost access to the beliefs and practices their people had developed over thousands of years (2001, p. 17). Therefore, the loss of language led to the loss of traditional spiritual beliefs and

There are three key patterns seen in most Native American religions they are the human relationship with nature, framing of time and space and respect for gods/ancestors. The human relationship with nature known as animism, everything is seen as part of the same reality and every object has a spirt, is a practice where there is little distinction between humans and animals. Time and space is sacred, cyclical,

For many Indigenous people, spirituality is more than simply a belief in a higher being. Spirituality is the holistic belief that all living and nonliving things are interconnected and deserving of the highest respect.  In accordance with Medicine Wheel teachings, the East portion of the medicine wheel is synonymous with spirituality. By recognizing the importance of spirituality and how it helps shape cultural identity, one has the potential to be able to better understand how

The Europeans, therefore, described the indigenous people as savage, polytheistic pagans and heathens, who were doomed to damnation for the worship of animals and nature. The Europeans, within their understanding of the will of God, believed it their duty and their responsibility to teach these indigenous people the “correct” way to live, and were determined to impose their own religion upon the indigenous people by enforcing the worship of the God of the Christian Bible through any means deemed necessary, including slavery, coercion, and the threat of, or actual maiming or death. Europeans chose to dismiss the religious and cultural practices of the indigenous peoples because the indigenous peoples did not engage in scheduled worship services as the Europeans did, or call their deities by the names that the Europeans used, nor did the indigenous peoples perform their worship ceremonies in the same manner as the Europeans.

It is clear from these beliefs that spirituality and religion played a major role in the Aboriginal culture. There were many myths and rituals connected to both the tribe's ancestors and the creators of the world, none of whom ever died but merged with the natural world and thus remained a part of the present. These myths and rituals, signifying communion with nature and the past, were known as the Dreaming or the Dreamtime, and reflected a belief in the continuity of existence and harmony with the world.

While it is difficult to determine an exact definition for the term "indigenous peoples" due to the diversity of indigenous groups all over the world, there are a few traits that are common to most, if not all of them; indigenous peoples are descendants from the pre-colonial inhabitants of their respective regions, they maintain close ties with their land in both cultural and economic practices, they suffer from economic and political marginalization as a minority group, and if they define themselves as indigenous then they are considered to be as such (First Peoples Worldwide, n.d.). Indigenous groups are, perhaps more than any other group, deeply connected to their land. The connection between

Religion, often referring to a symbolic system, which is a social and cultural construction that involves rituals, that deeply connected with the social community. According to anthropologists, the term “Shaman” originates from the Tungus tribe in Siberia, it is used to refer spiritual and ritual leaders in the indigenous cultures. (www.shamanism.com) A shaman is both a spiritual leader also a healer that performs rituals that connected with the natural, and able to perform healing physically and mentally.

Indigenous religions are mainly tied to a particular geographic region. These religions are not practiced worldwide like Christianity and Catholicism are. Indigenous is just one term used to describe these religious traditions, other terms include, native, local and ethnic. Many of these groups are tribal in nature and place a great emphasis on their native land and environment. Specific language is also an important focus of many indigenous groups, the local language goes along with the native people and native lands. It's a native culture, you could say they are traditions that have been long held and have always been the same. Many indigenous regions and traditions are threatened by globalization and cultural change that inevitability

Defining the term “shamanism” is a difficult task, as to this day there exists no single agreed on definition among anthropologists. Therefore, this paper will attempt at creating its own definition applicable to the findings discussed, in order to eliminate any confusion. Etymologically, the word “shaman” is derived from the Evenki word “šamán,” which is thought to relate to the Tungus root “ša-,“ meaning “to know.” The Russians adopted the term after hearing it used by Tungusian tribes when they conquered eastern Siberia in the second half of the 20th Century. Thereafter, the word spread to western Europe via the Dutch, after accompanying a Russian Embassy to China.

Studying shamanism from the perspective of the insider is “legitimate and valuable kind of anthropology”, Turner states.7 The Western approach to study shamanism only focuses on the mechanics of the process and misses a variety of essential details that can significantly contribute to the research. Most often the teaching of anthropology revolves around practicality and materialism. Turner refers to some anthropologists who participated in shamanic rituals, but not fully. For instance, Clifford Geertz believes that the role of researchers should be in listening and interacting with another culture, but at a certain distance.8 This is the method of many researchers, but it leads to the distorted interpretation of rituals and spirit events because it does not capture the idea and essence of the experience.

Native religions take place throughout the world. Among Ainu in far northern Japan, the Inuit (Eskimo) in Canada; the aboriginal peoples of Australia, the Maori of New Zealand, and the many indigenous peoples of Africa and the Americas. The characteristics may live on in local stories and customs (Molloy, 2010). Stories and customs such as the people will continue to lose the fight for the protection of traditional cultural sites and properties. Indigenous people believe certain sites are occupied by the spirits of their ancestors, who continue to carry on the daily life as they did when they lived within these sites. People who support indigenous people argue that, despite their diversity, they share common problems and issues in dealing

Indigenous religions should not be considered as a primitive entity. A religion that does not have a doctrine should not mean that it should be considered uncivilized or in a sense, savage. Furthermore, a religion is not any less of a religion compared to any of its newer religion counterparts. It is sad that a lot of indigenous religions are being forgotten simply because of the ever growing, younger generation and their lack of traditions and beliefs. But most of these religions are still being practiced today, which in term could not be considered primitive. Our text book fully describes this type of behavior which has instructed society to categorize these various religions specific phrases such as: “non-literate, primal, and basic.” After reading the passages assigned, I was beginning to theorize that this type of categorization is somewhat a form of prejudice.

"Aboriginal spirituality is defined as at the core of Aboriginal being, their very identity. It gives meaning to all aspects of life including relationships with one another and the environment. All objects are living and share the same soul and spirit as Aboriginals. There is a kinship with the