Religious Beliefs And Practices Common Among Indigenous Religions

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.

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.

Religious belief and practices are deeply rooted in traditions and teachings from sacred scriptures and texts. Indigenous religions are specific to a tribe, region, and cultures that have had various influences in their core religion. Religion is a very personal issue for most people and therefore closely guarded. Studying religion is necessary to have an understanding of the connections and foundations that have been built throughout its history.

For the Aborigines their spiritually involves everyday objects such as plants and animals which are connected to their ancestors. Their spirituality and beliefs are kept alive by passing on their knowledge through ceremonies and “Dreamtime” stories. The “Dreamtime” stories are how the Aborigines explain the beginning of the Earth and the foundation of their core beliefs. In most of the stories, ancestral spirits came to the Earth and as they moved along they created the plants, animals and even rocks. One the spirits did their job, they morphed into stars, watering holes and other objects. An example of these “Dreamtime” stories is the “Rainbow serpent” which is about a serpent who “pushed out the land to make mountains, she spilled water over the land to make rivers, lakes and billabongs. She also made the sun and fire, and all colours of the rainbow.”

There is not just one Indigenous culture, instead there is a mixture of current and traditional thoughts, ways and practices.

Have you ever wonder how the world was created from another culture’s perspective? Native Americans used creation myths to explained to their people how the world was developed overtime. Creation myths are a big part of the Native American culture. they have been passed down from generation to generation. In the creation myths, harmony with nature, rituals, and strong social values are shown in each myths. The purpose of having strong social value in these myths is to teach younger Native Americans valuable lesson if they ever do something bad. These myths reveals how the rituals were created and their intentions for doing it. Creation myths has harmony with nature in it to show a very close kinship between them

With the major religions constantly crashing together, the principles and customs of each religion seem to always build similarities each time you study them. This is what occurred to me when i began reading “Living religions” studying practices and rites. Beginning with the traditional indigenous groups - descendants of the original inhabitants of lands now controlled by larger political systems in which they may have little influence (33) -, I observed the common rites performed by the different indigenous groups. Many groups lean on the word “spiritual”, rather than “religious”. There’s really no clarification as to why this is the case, but the author, Fisher addressed that religion has

Indigenous traditions represent the oldest cultures which associate the quest archetype with a search for real knowledge of the external world, which was otherwise unavailable to people with little technology to search the external environment empirically. Indigenous quest characteristics come through an active need to learn about a harsh world in order to survive adulthood. With such cultures having limited methods of acquiring knowledge of the external world, the quest then serves as a function to show the development of knowledge needed in order to survive in indigenous society

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

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,

Ceremonies and rituals are critical to the Native American culture. This culture also considers these rituals as a part of their religion. When referring to religion it’s not the same as the way

The land is the centre of aboriginal spirituality, it is the core of their religion. The land is the people and the people are the land. The land is where they believe the ancestors are. To aboriginals their “god” is not one singular god up in the sky but many ancestors that are part of the earth and formed and are part of everything natural that is seen today. They believe that the ancestors came through the earth

The Indigenous people believed the all living things were a part of nature and living things had a spirit. For many indigenous people, everything in the cosmos (whole universe) is intimately related and that there is kinship with all creations. According to Oren Lyons, an elder of the Onondaga Nation Wolf Clan, the indigenous people view their kinship with all creation consider themselves the caretakers of the earth, they saw "Everything as Alive": from rocks to water, to mountains, plants, and animals…and all things rely on each other. “That’s what we Indians believe”.

Most indigenous cultures had a profound respect for their environment. They believed that their relationship with nature was very sacred, they believed the earth needed to be treated with dignity and reverence, they believed in harmony with their surroundings. Speaking of indigenous religions, Lewis (1995) wrote,

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.