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Religions of early civilizations
Religions of early civilizations
Religions of early civilizations
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Primitivism - A Tribal Religion
"We regard them as the sons and daughters of the earth and sky, brothers and sisters of animals and plants, who live by nature’s ways and do not upset the delicate balances of their ecological zones; gentle hunting folk who are still in touch with the magic and myth that we ourselves so badly need" (Smith, 381). This quote from Huston Smith summarizes the Primitivism essence of its nature. Primitivism is an ancient religion, sometimes referred to as a tribal religion because groupings of its people were small in numbers. This religion continues today in parts of Africa, Australia, Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands, Siberia, and Indians of North and South America.
Primitivism is an oral religion, very few things were written down. Most of the writing was in the form of drawings and art. Being an exclusively oral society, the orality protected the memory of its practitioners making it possible to remember countless tales and stories to pass on to the next generation. The orality also enabled the capacity to sense the sacred through nonverbal channels.
Tribal religions are deep-rooted in place as opposed to space. Space is abstract, but place is concrete. For example, a square foot in Florida is the same as a square foot in China; however Florida and China are two very different places. The idea being: you are the rock, you are the tree, you are the river, you are the grass, etc… The analogy in “The World’s Religions” of the first Onondagan to enter college is a wonderful example. Oren Lyons returned to his reservation on his first break from college and went fishing with his uncle. His uncle started to question him, “Who are you?” Oren answered in many ways, “I am your nephew”, “I am an Onondagen”, “I am a human” and no answer satisfied his uncle. His uncle replied to him, “Do you see that bluff over there? Oren you are that bluff. And that giant pine on the other shore? Oren, you are that pine. And this water that supports our boat? You are this water.” (Smith, 371).
Another essential part of Primitivism is the presence of eternal time. Tribal people look toward the future as opposed to the past. Primal time is one that is hard for most people to comprehend, because it is not linear, but is temporal, an eternal now. Its focus is more of a casual sequence rather than a chronological one.
The Indigenous people of America are called Native Americans or often referred to as “Indians”. They make up about two percent of the population in the United States and some of them still live in reservations. They once lived freely in the wilderness without any sort of influence or exposure from the Europeans who later came in the year of 1492, and therefore their culture is very different from ours.. In the following essay we will discover some differences between the religious beliefs of the Native American Iroquois and Christianity to see if the culture and ways of living have an effect on the view of religion, but we will also get to know some similarities between them. I am going to be focusing on the Iroquois, which are the northeastern Native Americans who are historically important and powerful.
He makes a point of how American’s place an extreme emphasis on “lineal order”, we take pride in “lining things up, getting thing in line… We have it all neatly separated and categorized” (16). This statement is absolutely true, if we look about our society, the city we live in, the design of our houses, the way desks are arranged in a school, everything is in straight, orderly lines. In contrast, in Native American communities “the reverse is true… instead of separating into categories of the sort, family groups sit in circles, meeting are in circles” (17). These are examples of how the Native American culture places great value on coming together and including people in their traditions. In Toelken opinion, these differences in spatial systems also affect our relationships with
The Native American tribes of the American Rocky Mountain States were long characterized as being homogenous with little difference between them. In reality they are as diverse as European states, but like Europeans the religions that shaped their actions held a common theme. “[A]ll their religions had important characteristics in common… the Indian visionaries felt the universe about them and dedicated themselves to keeping man’s world in balance with the cosmos... All of them sought to communicate with the powers of nature.” (Hurdy 14) The words of Hopi chiefs and elders, declared in 1951, are true for all tribes: “Our land, our religion, and our life are one.” (Martin 15)
It is these people that lived in tribes, and to this day, most of them remain devoted to their principles and their people. This is because of the fact that they recognize the significance of such values; they know what matters more, and having calculated individuality and its risks most of them are aware untying themselves from their people.
Native Americans have had a long history of resistance to the social and cultural assimilation into white culture. By employing various creative strategies, Native Americans have attempted to cope with the changes stemming from the European colonial movement into the Americas. There are fundamental differences in world views and cultural and social orders between Indians and Europeans, which contributed to conservatism in Native American cultures. In this paper, two aspects of such cultural and institutional differences of Native American societies will be examined: holistic Native American beliefs versus dualistic world views and harmony versus domination. These two aspects are important in terms of explaining changes (or lack thereof) in Native American societies because they suggest that the Native American world view is more cyclical and its components are interlinked, while Western societies have a clear demarcation between cultural elements, such as religion, kinship, and morality. However, there are certain limitations to the theoretical frameworks that explain conservatism in Indian cultures because these theories are oriented around the Western world view and were developed based on the Western terms; therefore, indigenous population was not taken into account when these theories were developed.
Symbolist mentality is a pattern which can be observed in every Indigenous Religions; it offers an animistic view of the world which helped the tribal cultures to survive and be in balance with nature. Molloy argues that "In a world that is animated by spirits, human beings must treat all things with care. If a spirit is injured or insulted, it can retaliate." (Molloy, Michael. Experiencing the World's Religions: Tradition, Challenge, and Change. Boston: McGraw Hill Higher Education, 2008. Print.)
In George E. Tinker’s book, American Indian Liberation: A Theology of Sovereignty, the atrocities endured by many of the first peoples, Native American tribes, come into full view. Tinker argues that the colonization of these groups had and continues to have lasting effects on their culture and thus their theology. There is a delicate balance to their culture and their spiritual selves within their tightly knit communities prior to contact from the first European explorers. In fact, their culture and spiritual aspects are so intertwined that it is conceptually impossible to separate the two, as so many Euro-American analysts attempted. Tinker points to the differences between the European and the Native American cultures and mind sets as ultimately
Throughout ancient history, many indigenous tribes and cultures have shown a common trait of being hunter/gatherer societies, relying solely on what nature had to offer. The geographical location influenced all aspects of tribal life including, spirituality, healing philosophy and healing practices. Despite vast differences in the geographical location, reports show various similarities relating to the spirituality, healing philosophy and healing practices of indigenous tribal cultures.
In old, but not so ancient times, native americans populated our land widely with different tribes diverged. One of the most widely known and popular tribes was named the Cherokee tribe and was formed as early as 1657. Their history is vast and deep, and today we will zone into four major points of their culture: their social organizations and political hierarchy, the tribe’s communication and language, a second form of communication in their arts and literature, and the Cherokee’s religion.
Like many Americans I initially grouped all Native Americans into one melting pot. During the Haskell Indian Nations cultural day, on June 21,st 2010, the speakers talked about how different tribes are not the same; they have different beliefs...
Loftin, John D., and John D. Loftin. Religion and Hopi Life. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 2003.
Cultural relativism is powerful and unique, ascertaining and appreciating people cultural. Cultural relativism is unique but can be hard to understand, upsetting the views, morals, and outlines of culture from the standpoint of that civilization. When analyzing the hominid culture, it provides the luxury of understanding their philosophy from their viewpoint. Taking in another culture without being basis can be daunting. Anthropologist deliberated cultures by exploiting two methods, the emic perspective, and etic perspective.
Smart, Ninian. "Blackboard, Religion 100." 6 March 2014. Seven Dimensions of Religion. Electronic Document. 6 March 2014.
Their convictions were not comprehended and the intricacy of their religion was not seen. This was somewhat the aftereffect of not having a composed arrangement of rules. In the place of ministers and pastors were shaman and medicine men. These men were sometimes said to speak with the divine beings. They were astute and experienced and they delighted in a larger amount of status among their groups. They had essential parts in choices, functions, and customs. "The culture, values and traditions of native people amount to more than crafts and carvings. Their respect for the wisdom of their elders, their concept of family responsibilities extending beyond the nuclear family to embrace a whole village, their respect for the environment, their willingness to share - all of these values persist within their own culture even though they have been under unremitting pressure to abandon them(Berger, paragraph
I felt it was a good idea to ask my next question when I did because of the interest I got in Native Americans in a previous question. “Do you know anything about the religious beliefs of Native Americans?” For this question, I felt everyone had the same general idea about Native American beliefs. Many of them believed the Native Americans worshiped nature and had a deep respect for it. Lynne had said “I know they believed things had a spirit, everything is alive and that everything worships God. What I loved about them when I was younger was that if for example, if they were to hunt and kill something they would thank it for feeding them.” Very similarly Frank said, “They would thank nature, like if they had to kill an animal for food they would thank it for its services.” Marie had said “I think they believe in the sun and the seasons, I