The Importance Of Indigenous Religions

Indigenous religions are religions that originated naturally in a particular place, or region. Indigenous religion is often separated by scholars, from world religions such as Christianity or Buddhism. These religions do not, however, make up one large religion called indigenous. “The term “indigenous” is a generalized reference to the thousands of small scale societies who have distinct languages, kinship systems, mythologies, ancestral memories, and homelands. These different societies comprise more than 200 million people throughout the planet today” (The Forum). Any generalizations then, would likely be born out of imposed ideas and concepts placed upon them. The societies that carry the label indigenous, are quite diverse, and so are

They lived within what is known as bioregions (rainforest, mountain, plains, desert), and the specific regional environments affected the development of each group’s ideas of how the world began, leading to explanations of the “world and its origins” (WRRL) based on the environmental characteristics. While the stories vary, a common theme remains. People must respect nature and live harmoniously with it. Also there can be found great importance placed on ancestral lands and sacred geographical sites. These things seem to connect people with the past, with humanities beginning and a force greater than themselves. Next, sacred objects as well as rituals are also common among indigenous religions. Things like costumes, ceremonies, dances, and material objects that are animated by spiritual forces, produce cultural identity and social cohesion. Art, drama, myths, and stories are how wisdom and values pass from generation to generation. Also, there tends to be a central figure as well, such as a shaman, witch doctor or medicine man. Sacred knowledge is passed from one to the next, only given to those who have been chosen and have undergone some type of ritual trial or

A shaman mediates between people and the spirit realm. As we saw earlier in this paper, that having a central figure, such as a shaman, is one of the commonalities of Indigenous religion. Surprisingly, however, unlike most indigenous peoples, the Yup 'ik shamans choose this path rather than being chosen. Even if someone in the Yup’ik tribe is called by spirits to become a shaman, they can refuse. Once the decision is made to become a shaman, a difficult ritual, or test, called a vision quest must be undertaken. The ritual varies by region, but often includes out of body experiences.