Nelson Mandela
 There is no passion to be found playing small - in
settling for a life that is less than the one you are
capable of living.
Tribal Religions
AP Human Geography
Mrs. Lacks
Primal Religions
 Oldest world religions
 This mode of religiosity continues in Africa,
Australia, Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands,
Siberia, and among the Indians of North and South
America.
Features that Primal
Religions Share
1. Orality - Literacy is unknown to the primal
religions
a. Exclusive orality protects human memory.
b. It increases the capacity to sense the sacred
through nonverbal channels such as virgin nature and
sacred art.
c. Not being written, information that is useless and
irrelevant is quickly weeded out.
Features that Primal
Religions Share
 2. Place versus Space
 Primal religion is embedded in place.
 No historical religion, not even Judaism and Shinto, is
embedded in place to the extent that tribal religions
are.
 The exact and rightful place is a feature of sanctity.
Features that Primal
Religions Share
 3. Eternal time
 Primal time is a temporal; an eternal now.
 For primal peoples, "past" means preeminently closer
to the originating Source of things.
 Closer-to-the-source means to be in some sense better.
Features that Primal
Religions Share
 4. The tribe is embedded in nature
 embedded in their world, starting with their tribe
 are related to their own tribe almost the way that a biological
organ is related to its host's body
 Viewed as polytheistic, but more pagan (some tribes had
different gods, but nature-based)
 Sometimes have a shaman, engaged in healing and sometimes
prediction of future
 Everything is alive, but not everything is a “being”
 No separation of this world from another world that stands
over and against it (everyone is in a single cosmos)
 No overriding goal of salvation
Australian Aboriginal
Tribal Religion
Australian Aboriginals
The Dreaming
 Aka the Creation Period
 The world was originally formless, but at a certain point,
supernatural beings called Ancestors emerged and
roamed about the earth.
 The Ancestors gave shape to the landscape and created
the various forms of life, including the first human
beings.
 They organized humans into tribes, specified the
territory each tribe was to occupy, and determined each
tribe’s language, social rules and customs.
 The Ancestors left behind symbols of their presence.
The Ancestors
 An unborn child becomes animated by a particular
Ancestor when the mother of another relative
makes some form of contact with a sacred site.
 This animation involves a ritual that draws the
Ancestor’s spiritual essence into the unborn child.
 Through this connection each Aborigine is a living
representation of an Ancestor.
The Totems
 Original form of an animal, plant, or other living
feature of the landscape
 Totems have evolved into different species over
time
Symbols left behind
 The Aborigines believe in a mythic geography
whereby every rock formation, a watering hole, or a
cave, is believed to have great religious significance.
 This is where sacred ancestral symbols lie; not
everyone can approach
Ayers Rock
 Called Uluru by Aboriginals
 Humans there 10,000 yrs ago
 Considered sacred
 Many myths surround
its creation
Aboriginal Art
Oldest continuing artistic
tradition
 fifty thousand years ago (early Europeans would
not decorate the caves for another 35 thousand
years)
 Varied by region:
 North – “X-ray” paintings of animal skeletons on bark
and rock
 Northwest - images of Wanjina, spiritual beings with
huge eyes and no mouths (observed all things but
passed no judgment)
Australian Aboriginals
 no priests, no congregations, no mediating
officiants, no spectators; only the Dreaming and
conformance to it.
 Do not worship, but “participate in” life
 Life is a ritual
Rituals
 essential if life is to have meaning.
 How the sacred power of the Dreaming is accessed
 were taught to the first humans by the Ancestors in
the Dreaming.
 Behind every ritual lies a myth that tells of certain
actions of the Ancestors during the Dreaming.
The Dreaming
 Ground paintings, a communal effort, were fashioned
directly on the sand.
 made during secret rites that celebrated the “creation
ancestors” - supernatural beings who formed every
detail of the landscape
 Each Aborigine inherited responsibility for a particular
Dreaming story and the parcel of land on which it took
place.
 This type of painting involved thousands of dots and
after the ceremony was over, the painting was destroyed.
Initiation: Symbolic death,
Sacred Rebirth.
 All men participate
 awaken young people to their spiritual identity
within the tribe by bringing about the “death of
childhood” and the maturity needed for adulthood.
 Examples:
 Usual – Walkabout: At some time during the period of
initiation, a young boy is left by himself in the
wilderness for several months to survive alone.
 Unusual addition - Dieri: Around a boy’s ninth birthday,
the initiate’s two lower middle teeth were knocked out
and buried in the ground
Death
 Dead’s spirit rises and resides with or merges with
an ancestral spirit
 Land of the Dead is usually consistent with the sky,
some smaller tribes refer to it as an island
African Tribal Religions
African Tribal Religions
 Few written records; oral tradition passed on by
griots (singing, story tellers).
 Most are polytheistic, but have one High God
 created and governs the universe
 too distant and has limited contact with daily human
life
 Can be appealed to in times of great need
Nuer Tribe of Sudan:
Exception with the High God
 Kwoth Nhial (High God)
continues to play an active role
in the lives of humans
 He rewards the just, punishes
the wicked, and blesses those
who uphold the moral values of
the Nuer people
 He loves and cares for His
creation and is asked for
blessing and assistance
High God
 Most Africans believe the High God is too powerful
to be appealed to for daily problems. He really isn’t
interested.
 Lesser deities or orishas control day-to-day
occurrences
 Even Nuer have a host of lesser deities
The Lesser Spirits
 Earth, water, and sky contain spiritual life similar to
human kind
 Mountains, forest, rivers and streams, many plants and
animals
 Storms, lightening, thunder
 Spirits can be beneficial or harmful
 They are influenced by prayer, flattery, and sacrifice.
 They have a direct influence on human life so Africans
seek to understand them and seek their favor
The Lesser Spirits
 They can be male or female.
 Earth is regarded as a mother goddess.
 Ex. Ashanti prayer for the Earth Mother:
“Earth, while I am yet alive,
It is upon you that I put my trust
Earth who receives my body,
We are addressing you,
And you will understand.”
Ancestors
 Most commonly recognized spiritual forces in
Africa
 Continue to live on in the spirit world and unlike
the High God take an active interest in the wellbeing of those who live in the world.
 Ancestors are consulted before the birth of a child,
beginning of an agricultural season, prior to battle,
or political conflicts.
 In some tribes, no one may eat the first fruit of the
harvest until it has been offered to the ancestors.
Ancestors
 While in China and Japan ancestors are loved and respected, in
Africa they are feared.
 They can be capricious (do whatever they want, fickle) and
unpredictable.
 Have free-will
 Despite many offerings, they can turn on you or the community.
 May cause sickness, death, childlessness (a major curse)
 Ancestors more than the gods are the enforcers of the moral
codes of the tribe.
Ancestors
 own the land and its products
 Portion of harvest must be offered to them
 When animals are born, some must be slaughtered
and offered to ancestors to ensure their blessings.
 Modern Africans living in cities, return to their
native villages to offer sacrifices
Sacrifice
 Pouring a bit of drink or tossing away bit of food Simple act that pleases spirits and ancestors
 Sacrifice of animals for more serious occasions –
dogs, birds, sheep, goats and cattle
Animal Sacrifice and Other
Sacrifice to Appease Gods
 Blood poured out on ground or altar




Before a battle or election campaign
Drought
Illness
Prior to engaging in a dangerous hunt
 Ogun
 Yoruba god of iron (In modern day, he is a god of
machinery).
 People who drive automobiles in dangerous streets
decorate their cars with his symbols
Partaking in the Sacrifice:
Communion with Spirits
 After animal is sacrificed, a portion is cut and
roasted or boiled and offered to the deity. A portion
is consumed by those in the sacrifice. This unites
them with the spirits.
 A long tradition with world religions to build
spiritual bond (Christianity and Holy Communion)
Rituals & Rites of Passage
 Important parts of life marked with rituals
 Rites of passage regulated by religious functionaries
 Birth of child – time for great rejoicing; great blessing
from the world of the spirits
 Twins – not a blessing, dangerous and evil. Sometimes,
regarded that women had two men and each were the
fathers (Occasionally, one or both are killed)
 Children not usually named during the first week of life
Circumcision = Rite of
Passage
 The man who performs the ceremony may wear a
mask representing the ancestors.
 Initiate is expected not to flinch or cry out in pain
(no anesthetics)
 Female circumcision is practiced in some African
societies although there is growing opposition
around the world
Marriage Rituals
 Virginity is highly prized
 Some tribes sew part of the female genitalia when
the girls are small for the future husband
 Frequently, husband may not have sexual relations
with wife while she is pregnant and nursing, which
altogether may be two years.
 Polygamy is practiced by elites of many traditional
African tribes
Rituals for the Dead
 Africa’s warm climate ---dead buried quickly
 Sometimes embalming and mummification; occasionally
offered to hyenas
 Burial with objects that will make their time in spirit world
more enjoyable
 In past, dead were allowed to identify their killers (hand
dropping)
Rituals for the Dead
 Funerals are to celebrate life instead of mourn death
 rituals to make the deceased comfortable; fear that
their ghosts will return to haunt the living; widows fear
that husbands will return to cause their wombs to die
 some go to extremes – Madagascar video
The Afterlife
 Most tribes do not have a concept of judgment and
retribution after death.
 Dead simply move into the world of the spirits and
continue to be interested in the world of the living.
 LoDagaa people of Ghana – exception
 Crossing a river with a ferryman (similar to Greek idea of
River Styx and Hades), easy if you were good, difficult
and up to three years if you were bad, making up for your
evil
Religious Leaders
 Not a major need for religious leaders; many activities can be
performed by individuals – offerings of food and drinks to
ancestors
 No complex theology or rituals like in Hinduism, Judaism, or
Christianity
 No requirement of a priesthood and temples are very rare
 Some communities in West Africa do have temples and altars;
people trained in African mythology, taboos, and rituals to
prepare them
Native American Tribal
Religions
Native American religion
• Difficult to define because they are so diverse (huntinggathering societies to agricultural societies, small
nomadic bands to towns, cities, and empires, in every
section of America)
• Estimated that there may have been as many as 2,000
different Native American cultures in North America
Limitations on sources
• First people came to Americas 15,000 to 20,000 years
ago (some Natives believe their ancestors were
created in Americas)
• 20,000 years of Native Americans in Americas
• Information only available from last 400 years
• Most sources were from Christian missionaries and
explorers
• Difficult to understand how much Native American
religion has been influenced by contact with
Europeans
Polytheistic
 All nature is alive with spirits
 Spirits take the forms of animals, plants, and appear in
visions
 Guardian spirits
 Spirits of the dead who live in the Land of the Dead
 Mother Earth – she provides the bounty of the Earth
 Lightening and thunder – individual deities
Monotheistic
 The Supreme Being or High God
 Separate from the concerns of Earth
 People pray to the nature spirits or ancestors for
matters of daily life
 The High God is appealed to only rarely and is seldom
mentioned in religious conversation
Exception: Huaoarni “the
Naked Ones”
 Peoples of the
Amazon
 Believe there is
no distinction
between the
physical and
spiritual worlds
and spirits are
present
throughout the
world.
Animism
 An animist is someone who believes that the trees, rocks,
rivers, plants, and animals are spiritually alive.
 Spirits in nature have the ability to help or harm.
 Animists offer some form of worship to these spirits.
 seek to maintain good relationships with spiritual beings
(forests, streams, and animals, among others) that share
the world with humans
Hunting
• Important to Native Americans; both a practical and religious
experience
• Native American hunters often prayed to the spirit of the animal
before the hunt.
• Only those animals absolutely needed were killed
• Hunters asked for forgiveness from the animal
• Every part of the animal was used
• Euro-American hunters slaughtered herds, took hides and
tongues leaving the bulk of the animal to rot.
Agriculture
 Native Americans revere the soil, plants, and trees
 The soil is personified as Mother Earth. Plants are
thought to have spirits.
 For many Native American people, farming is a
religious activity.
 Even gathering clay to make pottery is done with an
understanding of the life in the soil.
 If you cut down a tree, you must first make an offering
to it
Sacrifice
• Religious sacrifices were rare among tribes of the US and
Canada
• Human sacrifice was used by natives of Central and South
America (Maya of Guatemala, Aztecs of Central Mexico, Inca of
Peru, and communities of American Southwest).
Taboos
• One way that Native Americans protect themselves from
possible danger from the spirit world is through taboos.
• Taboos are actions, circumstances, persons, objects, etc.,
which owing to their dangerousness fall outside the
normal everyday categories of existence.
• Taboo is a kind of religious action that enables people to
avoid doing things that would offend the spirits of nature
and the ancestors.
TABOO: INTERACTING WITH
MENSTRUATING WOMEN
 Women participate in child production and thus have special
powers
 Menstruating women are seen as especially powerful
 Interacting with or even being looked at by a menstruating
women could ruin a hunter’s abilities for life; even weapons
could be rendered useless; wild game could be driven away
 Menstruating women were often kept separate
Taboo: Avoidance of the Dead
 Native Americans feared that the spirit of the dead would
remain for a time and attempt to take family and friends with it.
 Native Americans avoid the dead except in cases of extreme
emergency.
 Among the Navaho and other tribes of Arizona and New Mexico,
dead bodies, their clothing and belongings are greatly feared.
They are reluctant to touch the bodies of victims of automobile
and other accidents.
 Care of the dead is often left to non-native people
Concern About Final Resting
Place
 Steps taken to keep bodies away from contact with the
human world
 Sometimes, names of dead are not spoken for many
years after their deaths
 Dead buried by special members of tribe not
immediate family
 These people were ritually unclean for a time and
unable to partake of tribal meals
Dance Rituals
 The entire community participates
 Used to prepare for a hunt, agricultural season, or for
celebration; they were also used in the preparation for
war
 Used as a rite of passage
 accompanied by the beating of drums, singing of
songs, shaking of rattles, and playing of flutes
 Long hours of dancing in this atmosphere prepares the
participants to interact with the spirits
Pueblo Hunting Ritual
 Men dressed as deer and crawled around to the beat
of a drum and the singing of songs
 Hunters acted as if they were killing them and the
animal actors as if they were dying
 Sympathetic or imitative magic – persons imitating the
game animals in the ceremony were symbolically
called forth and killed in the belief that this would
occur during the real hunt
Globalization
 Greatly affected tribal life (including religion)
 Drugs
 Influx of Christianity/Islam
 Video: Voodoo Ceremony
Tribal Religions Project