Primal Religions Packet

1.      Forms of religion are considered primal because they existed prior to the universal or formal religions such as Christianity or Hinduism. Primal religions exhibits the basic feature found in all religions. Some characteristics of primal religions originated first,  they are usually traditions of non-literate people, they tend to be used by small groups of people, and they are very diverse because not all primal religions will be the same.

2.      During the period of dreaming the Ancestors created landscapes, various forms of life, and the first humans. They organized humans into tribes and gave them each specific languages, social rules, and customs.

3.      The spiritual essence of the Ancestors remains in the various symbols they left behind.

4.       A totem is a natural entity that symbolizes an individual or group and has special significance to the religious life of a group or individual. Taboo is the prohibition of certain behaviors or objects for fear of dangerous contact with spiritual powers.

5.      For Aborigines, ritual is essential if life is to have meaning because it is only through ritual that Dreaming can be accessed and experienced.

6.      The rituals originated from the Ancestors who created the world during dreaming and each ritual is a reenactment of a myth of the certain actions an Ancestor did during Dreaming.

7.      Initiation rituals awaken young people to the spiritual identity and redefine their social identify in a tribe.

8.      Two acts of the Dieri initiation ritual that symbolize death are the initiates two lower middle teeth were knocked out and buried in the ground, and the initiate is circumcised.

9.      The Yoruba live in the western regions of Africa including Nigeria, Benin, and Togo.

10.   The city of Ife has always been the center of Yoruba religion because the Yoruba believe that the god Orish-nla first began to create the world in Ife.

11.  Yoruba cosmological view of the world depicts reality being divided into two separate worlds which were heaven and earth. Human beings are descended from gods and earth is also populated by deviant forms of human beings call witches and sorcerers who can cause chaos. The purpose of this religion is to maintain balance between the gods and humans and also to keep the sorcerers and witches from doing evil deeds.

12.   Olorun is the supreme god of Yoruba religion and is the primary original source of power in the universe.    

13.  Orishas are lesser deities than the supreme Olorun however they can harm or help human beings depending on how a ritual is carried out. Orishas function as a mediator between Olorun and human beings.

14.  One Orisha is Orish-nla and Yoruba believe that he created the earth. Another one is Ogun, the god of war and iron who was once a human but then died and became a god.

15.  A trickster figure is a type of supernatural being who tends to disrupt the normal course of life.

16.  Family ancestors gained supernatural status by earning a good reputation and living to an old age. They are worshipped by their own families.  Diefied ancestors were important human figures in Yoruba society who are now worshiped in large numbers.

17.  The role of ritual practitioners is to mediate between the gods and ancestors in heaven, and human beings on earth.

18.  Divination is the use of various techniques for gaining knowledge about an individual’s future or about the cause of a problem. Divination is important because knowledge of one’s future is essential for determining how to proceed in one’s life.

19.  According to scholars human being came to North America either 20,000 or 30,000 years ago by migrating from Asia to the Bering Strait. They gradually spread out and inhibited both North and South America.

20.  The religion of the plains Indians is of vital interest among native peoples because their religion represents Native American religion in general.

21.  Wakan Tanka is the Lakota name for supreme reality and means most sacred. Wakan Tanka represents sixteen separate deities.

22.  Inktomi is means spider and is the Lakota trickster figure taught the first human beings their ways and customs.

23.  The Lakota believe that when someone dies one of their four souls goes on a journey along the spirit path of the Milky Way. The soul is judged and either becomes an ancestor or a ghost on earth. The remaining parts of the soul are reborn into new bodies.

24.  The primary goal of a vision quest is for an individual to gain spiritual power to ensure greater success in hunting and warfare.

25.  A sweat lodge is a dark hut made of saplings and covered in animal skins. The Lakota built it to represent the universe and they believe the sweating leads to purification.

26.  The vision arrives in the form of an animal, an object, or a force nature. A message is often communicated in these visions and the individual tells the medicine man who then explains the vision.

27.  In the Blackfeet tribe a woman with outstanding moral character presides over the Sun Dance.

28.  An axis mundi is an entity such as a tree or mountain that connects the heavens and earth. The axis mundi in the Sun Dance is the cottonwood tree.

29.  The participants of the Sun Dance believe that their bodies is the only true thing they own so body mutilation is the only suitable sacrifice one can offer to the supreme being

30.  The Aztec Traditions defy the description of a primal religion because they were highly developed and populated civilization with a population of about fifteen million. However the Aztecs were like other primal religions because they emphasized the interrelationship between myths and rituals.

31.  The geographical area of Mesopotamia included most of present day Mexico and extended south ward to present day Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica.

32.  The Aztec god who created and ordered the world was Quetzalcoatl. The ancient city Teotihuacan is said to be the origin of the entire cosmos.

33.  Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl is the god’s earthy devotee and he ruled as a priest-king. Quetzalcoatl is significant to the Aztecs because they believed he presided over the golden age of Aztec cultural brilliance and he provided the Aztecs a perfect role model for their own authority figures. 

34.  The Aztecs called their present age the Age of the Fifth Sun and they anticipated that their sun would be destroyed like the other four suns.

35.  The Aztecs understood the special world as having four quadrants extending outward from the center of the universe, which connected the earthly realm to the heavenly and underworld realm.

36.  Aztecs regarded each human being as a sort of axis mundi because the head and the heart are regarded as potent for the nourishment for the sun and the cosmos. This potency creates a link between the earthly and heavenly realms.

37.  The “Knower of Things” could communicate with the gods and make offerings through language which provided an alternative to sacrifice.

38.  The historical coincidence that contributed to the fall of Tenochtitlan was that in 1519 the Aztec king Quetzalcoatl was supposed to return. The general of the Spanish army Hernan Cortez arrived that same year in a feathered helmet and the Tenochtitlan believed that Cortez was the return of Quetzalcoatl. However they were severely disappointed when Cortex began to conquer them.

39.  The day of the dead shows the survival of Aztec religious culture because during this celebration modern day Aztecs set aside time each year to perform similar rituals devoted the same basic principle the ancient Aztecs used to practice.

40.  Three themes that are shared by the primal religions studied in this chapter are boundaries between the supernatural and human worlds are thin and easily crossed, religion is encompassing in every aspect the primal religions society, and lastly primal religions are always changing.