In Chapter 2 and Chapter 3, the book highlights some interesting parts about indigenous religions of North America and Africa. For starters, in the indigenous religions, they have some interesting beliefs about how the world was created. Many of the beliefs they hold about the origin of the creation of man, is from ancient myths of North America. The belief that North America is the motherland for all creation. However, each native religion has different t how they describe their superman being. Another interesting aspect about the indigenous religions of the native American was the tale about how the coyote became a dirt color. At first, the coyote was green and was envious of the bluebird which was a beautiful blue. The coyote eventually asked the bluebird how it got its color and eventually, the coyote became …show more content…
An arrogant spirit filled the coyote and he walked proudly, so every creature would admire. The arrogant coyote wasn’t looking where he was going one day and tripped and fell in a pile of dirt. When the coyote got up, its color changed from the beautiful blue to a dirt color. I found this tale interesting because it shows the danger of arrogance and some of the moral teachings of humbleness in indigenous native American religions. I believe that religions that have tales about how their moral and ethical teaching came about are interesting because I can trace the source of how it came about. Chapter 3 described the indigenous religions of Africa and the myths, supernatural being’s history, and the incorporation of Islam and Christianity into the different indigenous religions. I found it interesting that many of the indigenous religions keep the tradition from their culture into Islam and Christianity. In Islam for instance, it has spread through North Africa and in West Africa where many of its followers retain beliefs about possession by spirits called
In chapter 3 (“Native and Christian”) of Joel Martin’s book, Native American Religion (1999), two distinct paths were discussed on how Christianity spread among the Natives in the 19th century and how this spread of Christianity impacted the Native people in different ways. The chapter focused mainly on the story of Catharine Brown, a Cherokee Indian that attended a missionary Christian boarding school (e.g., Brainerd) in New England, and various examples of Native people that criticized Christianity and believed that Christianity and the Native religions should be kept separate. The story of Catharine Brown is the central focus of the majority of the chapter, as compared to the Natives who rejected Christianity; Catharine Brown’s story is
The Huichol Indians are an indigenous group that lives “in the Sierra Madre Mountains of northwestern Mexico” (Woolcott). The Huichol religion is an animistic religion. According to Dr. Pamela Lindell, animistic religions are “religions that believe that all of nature – humans, animals, plants, rocks, the ocean, etc. - is animated by spirits and souls” (“Professor’s Notes 2” 3). To better understand the Huichol Indians and their religion, this paper examines Huichol myth, symbolism, rituals, religious specialists, and deities from various anthropological perspectives.
“One general truth that threads throughout the Native American spiritual beliefs is the belief of the Mother Earth spirituality” (Coll). They often called earth their mother and called father the air. The earth to the Natives is very sacred to them and is the most important thing to them. Most of the ceremonies were in some way revolving around the earth and they called earth “home.” Most of the ceremonies were practiced for many years and were passed down through generation to generation. The Native Americans didn’t have a book like the bible or any language that was written. One big thing they had was Totems. These were everywhere in their tribes and it was supposed to represent people and the animals that represented them. The Indians were supposed to have 7 spiritual animals and the many animals on the totems were supposed to represent all the person’s spiritual
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,
Indigenous religions exist in every climate around the world and exhibit a wide range of differences in their stories, language, customs, and views of the afterlife. Within indigenous communities, religion, social behavior, art, and music are so intertwined that their religion is a significant part of their culture and virtually inseparable from it. These religions originally developed and thrived in isolation from one another and are some of the earliest examples of religious practice and belief. The modern world; however, has taken its toll on these groups and many of their stories, customs, and beliefs have been lost to, or replaced by, those brought in as a result of popular culture and the missionary work of Christians and Muslims.
The Native Americans had settled in the land years before the arrival of the Euro-Americans. Hundreds of Native American groups occupied the land, each tribe with its separate culture, language, and spiritual way-of-life. Despite the many differences, “there was also considerable interaction and dialogue among tribes about spiritual concepts. Through the common language of sign-talk, ideas could be shared and compared among Indian tribes including the spiritual concepts that are an intricate part of the Indian’s everyday experience” (Treat). The Native American culture was primarily oral. Almost all tribes believed in a cosmology or creation myth regarding how this world and the things inhabiting it came to be. Most native peoples worshiped an all-powerful, all-knowing “Master Spirit.” They also revered and placated a host of lesser spirits in hopes of receiving assistance in their daily interactions with the world around them. Often times shamans, who were believed to have supernatural powers through visions, were called upon to communicate and implore the spirits to ensure a good harvest, or victory in warfare, or healing, or interpreting dreams, or other matters of great
Due to the wide range of habitats in North America, different native religions evolved to match the needs and lifestyles of the individual tribe. Religious traditions of aboriginal peoples around the world tend to be heavily influenced by their methods of acquiring food, whether by hunting wild animals or by agriculture. Native American spirituality is no exception. Traditional Lakota spirituality is a form of religious belief that each thing, plant and animal has a spirit. The Native American spirituality has an inseparable connection between the spirituality and the culture. One cannot exist without the other.
The term ‘indigenous’ means originating or occurring naturally in a country, region, etc. Indigenous religions do not constitute a “world religion” in the same way as, Buddhism, Islam or
This paper will also look at historical processes and relationship with indigenous cultures in relations to how these factors have led to the creation of these distinctive religions, despite the similarities in influences from West African religions and culture and
This paper will be looking at the creation myth(s) of the Inca Indians of Peru, South America, the Hopi Indians of North America and the Muslim farmers of Bangladesh. I will be looking for similarities and differences in these three groups’ mythological creation beliefs. When looking at the similarities I will be trying to see if there is one particular theme going between the three groups or if there is no relationship all.
The exchange of religion and ideas has been a common theme within the works that have been read. Many of the religious people studied mix their existing views of the world, which are often described as traditional “African” beliefs, with a mixture of the cosmology of Christianity, Islam, and other popularized, organized religion originating from across the world. Cosmological views held by different groups of people tend to vary, clash and change the way people go about their daily life.
The indigenous tribes of North America have much in common with the indigenous religions of Africa but there are also many differences in the belief of an afterlife, supreme deity, and the daily practices of each. Today many of these lesser known religions are hardly ever studied but they exist and are still practiced all over North America and Africa. We will discuss how these religions differ in their main beliefs and practices, and we will also discuss how they correlate with one another on smaller aspects.
When most western people think about Native American or African religions there is a certain stigma that comes with the topic. This is in part because there is a lot of misinformation in the world about Native American and African religions. When most westerners think of African religions they think of voodoo and black magic. Likewise, the view of Native American religions is still looked at through the lens of the pilgrims who wrote about Native Americans as being savages and less than human. These stereotypes were all formed from a lack of accurate information. African and Native American religions are very similar. It is difficult to find a lot of accurate information on African and Native American indigenous religions because of the lack of written history but there is a lot of oral history that has been passed down from generation to generation. From this information, it is clear that Native American and African religions have many more similarities than they do differences. Three of these similarities will be discussed in this paper. The first topic of discussion is the similarity between African and Native American people when it comes to their perception of the spirit world. Following this topic are the similarities between Native American and African views on the afterlife and finally, the diversity of beliefs within African and Native American religions.
Like in any religion the people have certain beliefs. In the african religions there is no single religion. Researchers try to identify similarities in world views and ritual processes across the african boundaries. African Religions are polytheistic; which means they believe in more than one god. They believe in one overall god, but also ancestral spirits. Most African religion’s creation story reveal the creation of humans more than
When Europeans first set foot upon the shores of what is now the United States they brought with them a social structure which was fundamentally based around their concept and understanding of Western European Christianity. That the indigenous peoples might already have a thriving civilization, including religious beliefs and practices, that closely paralleled the beliefs and practices of European civilization, was a concept not considered by these early explorers and settlers. This European lack of cultural understanding created tensions, between Native Americans and Europeans, and later between Native Americans and Euro-Americans, that eventually erupted into open warfare and resulted in great bloodshed between cultures. For the Lakota