Primal Religions
Primal religions originated first
They are generally the traditions of nonliterate peoplewhich means they do not depend on scriptures or written
teachings as do most other religions.
Primal religions tend to be the traditions of tribal peoples,
organized in small groups that dwell in villages as opposed to
large cities - exceptions are the Yoruba of Africa and
theAztecs of Mesoamerica.
Four examples of Primal religions
the Aborigines of Australia
the Yoruba of Africa
the Plain Indians of North America
the Aztecs
Religions of the Australian Aborigines
The foundation of Aboriginal religions is the concept of the
Dreaming.
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.
Symbols left behind
The site at which these symbols are found are thought to be
charged with sacred power.
Only certain individuals are allowed to visit them and they
must approach the symbols in a special way-following the path
believed to have originally been taken by the Ancestors.
The Aborigines believe in a mythic geography whereby
every rock formation, a watering hole, or a cave, is believed to
have great religious significance.
Ayers Rock

The Ayers Rock is considered very sacred for Aborigines
The Ancestors and people
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. This is symbolized by a totem.the natural form in which the Ancestor appeared in the
Dreaming.
Totems may be an animal, a rock formation or other feature
of the landscape.
The Aboriginal Social Structure
 Taboo: certain things and activities, owing to their sacred
nature, are set aside for specific members of the group and are
forbidden to others.
Violation of this principle has been punishable by death.
Restrictions are based on maturity and on an individual’s
degree of religious training.
Rituals
Ritual is essential if life is to have meaning.
Only through ritual can the sacred power of the Dreaming be
accessed and experienced.
Aborigines believe that the rituals themselves 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.
An example- the creation of the kangaroo, a chief food source,
spell out exactly how and where the act of creation took place.
Initiation:Symbolic death, Sacred
Rebirth.
These rituals awaken young people to their spiritual identity
within the tribe by bringing about the” death “of childhood and
the maturity needed for adulthood.
The Dieri tribe of south-central Australia had an unusual
initiation rite: Around a boy’s ninth birthday, the initiate’s two
lower middle teeth were knocked out and buried in the ground
At some time during the period of initiation, the young boy was
left by himself in the wilderness for several months. When he
returned, he was greeted with rejoicing and celebration and the
young boy had become a man.
Aboriginal Art
Oldest continuing artistic
tradition
Native Australians began painting rock walls fifty thousand
years ago; early Europeans would not decorate the caves for
another 35 thousand years.
Traditional Aboriginal art was immensely varied. In the
north, groups made elaborate “X-ray” paintings of animal
skeletons on bark and rock. In the northwest, they adorned cave
walls with images of Wanjina, spiritual beings with huge eyes
and no mouths. These powerful creatures, it was believed,
observed all things but passed no judgments.
The Dreaming
Ground paintings, a communal effort, were fashioned directly
on the sand.
They were made during secret rites that celebrated the “creation
ancestors” - supernatural beings who were thought to have formed
every detail of the landscape, from sandhill ro riverbank.
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.