religion and the supernatural

Religion

Derived from Latin word religio = an obligation in the sense of piety

Combined with superstitio= non Roman practices

The definition has changed with time

Religion (ANTH Definition)

Beliefs and patterns of behaviour by which humans try to deal with what they view as important problems that cant be solved with known technology or organizational techniques

Universality of religion

All cultures have a belief system to explain phenomena in the world around them and to give life meaning

Some religion this is an aspect of daily life others relegated to certain days of the week or year

Edward Tylor

Travelled to Central America 1850s

Took notes on what he saw and pushlished a book “primitive culture” in 1871

Book led to his appointment as the first professor of anthropology at Oxford

Unilineal Social Evolution

Tylor influenced by Darwin’s work and proposed all societies to move through stages in a unilinear sequence

Ex. Savagery-barbarism-civilization

Applications to study of religion

Believed each generation built on what the previous one had done

Religions moved simple to more complex with time

Prehistory: religion was a way to explain natural phenomena

Then ancestral spirits appear, Tylor coined term ‘animalism’ for this belief system

Then polytheism

Highest development was monotheism

James Frazer

Armchair anthropologist

Relied on ancient histories and reports, primary area of focus was mythology

The golden bough

12 volume encyclopedia on mythology and religion

Promotes idea of unilinear religious evolution

Early region based on magical practices aimed at solving practical problems

In particular sympathetic magic was used

Progression from magic to religion

Frazer- region replaces early magical practices

People start to assign power and control of natural world to deities in a more rational system of beliefs

This is when religious specialists appear

Supernatural beings

• gods or goddesses

• Ancestral spirits

• Other spirits

• Impersonal powers

Gods and goddesses

Greatest and most remote beings who control universe

One god= polytheism

Many gods= polytheism

*polytheism tends to have gods assigned to specific roles

Pantheons

Collections of gods and goddesses that may grow in sizes as the gods of conquered or other people added

Ex. Canaanite goddesses Astarte and Anat became wives of Egyptian god Seth

Gods can be arranged in hierarchies

Goddesses tend to be prominent in societies where women are large contributors to economy

Deities in Hawai’i

Hawaiians worshipped a vast number of gods who they believed had shaped the world and could inflict injury if angered

Divided into 2 categories:

Akua- natures elements and were personifications of natural forces

Aumakua- were the lineage or family’s ancestral protective gods

Cosmic gods

There are 4 cosmic akua:

1) Kane who created nature and men was concerned with procreation and life

2) Kanaloa sea and death

3) Ku aided in physical activities and god of war

4) Lono god of rain and agriculture most benevolent of all

Ku

means to stand or to strike

God of war

Human sacrifices were made to him

Has many names for him: Ku of the deep forest, Ku of the undergrowth, Ku of the adzing out the canoe

Received human sacrifices at the Luakini Heiau

Pele

Volcano Goddess

Has 5 brothers and eight sisters who do her bidding

Kamooalii (god of steam)

Keoahikamakaua ( child of war)

Keuakepo (god of rain of fire)

Hiiakawawahilani (the cloud holder)

She is known to be capricious

Fishing each fishermen had his own god a stone or image of his lineages guardian spirit which was prayed to or given offerings

Ancestral spirits

The idea the people have a body and a vital spirit that can be separate from the body and which lives on after death

Ancestral spirit example

In china sons were very important to maintain shrines for their ancestral spirits

Food incense and money would be offered on anniversaries of birth and death

Other spirits

Animism sees nature as being animated by all sorts of spirits, not just animals, but plants and places can have spirits

Tend to occur in food foraging cultures

Shinto

Native religion of Japan has roots over 1600 years old

Polytheistic

Almost any natural object (mountains, rivers, water, rocks, trees, to dead notables) venerated shrines have been erected in sacred spots throughout Japan the sun goddess is regarded as the principle deity of Shinto

Impersonal Powers

Animatism = belief in an impersonal power that animates things in the world

It isn’t physical but it can reveal itself in real world

Ex. The force of Star Wars

Mana in Melanesia

Mana can be present in men, wood, trees, animals, stone, or any object large or small

Living beings liberate mana through prayer, sacrifice, or charms

Certain things have mana for particular purposes

Ex. A stone will have mana for making yams grow big

Concept of mana in Hawaii

Power and prestige were defined in terms of mana

•The gods were the full embodiment of this sacredness

•Through their family ties to the gods, the nobles also had high mana

•Commoners possessed little mana and were forbidden to enter any of the holy places (heiau) where nobles and gods communicated

•Kauwa, slaves and those with no mana, could interact with commoners but could not approach anyone else

•One’s actions could increase or decrease their mana

Myths

myths are a body of stories that explain the system in a manner consistent with how people experience the world they live in

•all societies have myths, but not all are written down - some are preserved orally

What Myths are Not

The word myth refers to a sacred story

 

•Myths are not…

-falsehoods

-simply the stories of the gods of the ancient Greeks or Romans or of other ancient peoples

-the belief systems of indigenous peoples

-an incorrect form of science

Issues of Myth

The study of myth is a complex and controversial one

•Myths describe creation, explain natural phenomena, and lay ground rules for behaviour

•They have been interpreted as distorted versions of real events, allegories, etc.

•No single model for analyzing myth fits every culture

Personal and Social Functions

Myths answer questions like why are we here?

•They also give support for the way of life a culture follows and become ritualistic during times of crisis

•In the political sphere, succession to leadership can be legitimized by myth

Geography

Similar myths are found in widely separated areas

•Stories may have diffused from certain locations over time

•Alternatively, similar environments prompt similar cultural adaptations and explanations

•Other myths seem to be more limited in their distribution

Creation

Similarities in environment can yield similar myths

•Egypt, Mesopotamia, China, and South America all have creation myths which describe land emerging from water

•This is related to flooding in river valleys – the Nile, Tigris-Euphrates, Yangtze Rivers all flooded in the past

The Trickster

•The trickster is a mythological being who changes identity from prankster to creator and goes by many names

•He appears in many cultures and in many guises

•To the Norse, he was Loki, to indigenous peoples in British Columbia, coyote or raven

•Often he steals fire and gives it to man (eg Prometheus)

Religious Specialists

all cultures tend to have individuals who are especially skilled with dealing with supernatural powers, and who may assist other members of their society in doing so

 

   -priests and priestesses

   -shaman or medicine person

Priests

priests and priestesses are full-time religious specialists

•tend to be socially initiated, ceremonially inducted members of a recognised religious organisation, with a rank and function that are defined

Priestesses

full-time priestess are rare

•found in societies where women are economically important

•this is changing in Western society where women pastors and ministers, while not common, are not rare either.

kahuna in Hawai’i

Maintaining proper relations with the supernatural world required shrines, temples, images, rituals and prayers

•For family worship, the male head of household acted as the priest

•Professional kahuna presided at the temples of the chiefs, and kahuna pule oversaw each cult

•Only they  knew the proper rituals for winning the favor of the gods and obtaining the purity necessary to survive

•The kahuna were also politically powerful because of their direct contact with the gods and their ability to persuade the gods to intervene

•Outside of the spiritual realm, kahuna were healers

kahuna-nui

The kahuna-nui (high priest) conducted important religious ceremonies, observed and interpreted natural phenomena, performed oracles omens, and advised the king on how to remain in favor with the gods

•With the collapse of the traditional religion in 1819, the power of the priests was broken and the position of kahuna-nui abolished

•Today, it is a position with religious but no political power

Lineage and kahuna

Each major deity had its own hereditary priesthood

•Priestly families were devoted to the service of a particular god and could not officiate at the temple of any other deity

•The king was the only one with free access to all sacred sites

•On the island of Hawai'i, two hereditary orders of priests existed (for the gods Ku and Lono)

Temples (heiau)

People conducted daily rites at home, in the men's eating house,  a family heiau, or at small shrines

•Formalized worship took place in heiau (temples)

•Heiau could be as simple as a single house with a wooden fence, or complex as a massive open-air temple with terraces, extensive stone platforms, and numerous idols

Types of heiau

Agricultural or economy-related heiau were dedicated to Lono

•Offerings of pigs, vegetables, and bark cloth were made at these to guarantee rain and agricultural fertility and plenty

•The other temples were large sacrificial government war temples, luakini where human sacrifices took place

•The nobility or priests could construct agricultural temples, whose ceremonies were open to all

•War temples could only be built by the ali'i-'ai-moku,and entrance was restricted to the king, important chiefs and nobility, and members of the Ku priesthood

Shaman or Medicine Person

shamen are part-time religious specialists who acquire their religious power individually, usually in solitude or isolation when a mystery or great power is revealed to them

•these people receive certain gifts, eg. healing, divination

•anyone can become a shaman in many native cultures as there is no formal structure controlling religious practices

Shamans within their Society

there may be degrees of shaman, each achieved by passing through rituals of different degrees of difficulty, each proscribed by myth

•they act on behalf of a client by trying to influence supernatural powers to heal or for divination

•trance is an important component of the ritual

•a shaman can be a focal point in their society and wield great influence, but if they consistently fail, they may be driven out or killed

Perceptions and Reality

The romantic view of the shaman is of an exotic practitioner who bridges the divide between the real world and the supernatural

•For every individual, in each culture, experiences are different

•Shamanism is based in the experience of altered states of consciousness

Inventing Shamanism

Much of the perceptions we have about shamanism are Western inventions

•Shaman were poorly documented and discussed more as stereotypes than with a basis in reality

•At the worst, shaman were described as practitioners of ‘primitive’ animistic religions (Tylor, Frazer)

Modern Emphasis

Today the shaman is primarily studied in the context of healing and as a bridge between worlds

•A more recent focus has been on their role within the community in economic and political realms

•Shaman do not fit one neat set of criteria, and they operate within their cultures, in a particular social context

Where is Shamanism Found?

N and S America, Siberia, parts of Asia, Polynesia, and Africa still have traditional shaman in their societies

•It tends to be associated with hunter-gatherers, but sometimes pastoralists or horticulturalists also have shaman

•In environments where survival can be difficult, the shaman acts as a mediator between his group and the spirit world

Shamanic Training

A shaman’s ability to contact spirits might be inherited or they may be selected by the spirits after a traumatic incident (eg illness or accident)

•To accept the power or not is the individual’s choice

•The spirits act as tutors, but most shaman also learn from an older, more experienced shaman as well

•Songs, music, clothing styles, rituals, etc are all learned during a shaman’s lifetime

States of Consciousness

Altered states can be induced by using plants or fungi, alcohol, tobacco, rhythmic drumming, hyperventilation, meditation, and food deprivation

•The type of state of mind isn’t important, but how it enables the shaman to communicate with the spirits

Sacramental Actions

These are actions which are meant to positively help a patient or the community

•Sprinkling water, sucking illness from a person’s body, chanting, etc, with the aid of the shaman’s spirit helper(s) are examples of this

Empirical Observation

Shamanic practices are based in the shaman’s and their culture’s observations of the world they live in

•The body, soul, what is sacred or not all reflect the world view of those who define them

Psychology and Physiology

In the 1700s, shaman were considered to be mentally ill with neuroses, psychoses, or schizophrenia

•This reflects the belief at the time that shamanic practices were irrational

•The mental illness argument persisted into the 1960s when experience with altered states of consciousness became more common

Politics, Economics, and History

Cultures where shamanism still exists have been impacted by colonialism and development

•State, economic, and institutionalized religions have all affected shamanic practices

•Shaman have reacted, modifying what they do, so one can no longer speak of ‘pure’ shamanic traditions

•Current practices need to be seen from a historical perspective and in context

Siberia

This is referred to as the ‘classical’ form or example of shamanism

•Shamanism in Siberia was first studied by Mircea Eliade (1907-1986)

•There are two forms – hunting (Chungchee) and pastoral (Tungusic peoples)

•Both are closely tied to subsistence, social organization, residence patterns, and the type of spirits contacted (animal or ancestral)

Hunting Shamanism

Typical of tribal, noncentralized, forest-dwelling societies

•Spirits of animals are contacted by the shaman to supply people with good hunting

•There is an agreement that the animals supply food to humans in exchange for humans eventually supplying the same to the spirits in return

•Sickness is associated with animal spirits

•An effective shaman keeps this in balance

Pastoral Shamanism

The agreement between animal spirits and man is no longer necessary due to domesticated food sources

•The Tungusic peoples are patrilineal and patrilocal, and inheritance of land is important

•Sickness is associated with social transgressions and ancestral spirits

•The shaman ensures fertility for the domesticated animals (reindeer) and human villagers

Manipulating the Supernatural

religions tend to have prayers, songs, offerings, sacrifices - ways people manipulate the supernatural into doing what they want

•rituals are a means by which people relate to the sacred

Defining Ritual – Traditional Views

Ritual was/is often associated with mystical ceremonies by ‘primitive’ peoples

•Traditionally, ritual has been associated with non-Western societies, folklore, and superstition

Ritual – Traditional Anthropological Definition

Rituals are public events performed in sacred places or designated times

•Ritual can be religious or nonreligious in nature

•Ceremony, festivals, sports, etc. all have rituals but are not religious in nature

Ritual – Contemporary Anthropological Definition

In general, ritual is a formalized, socially prescribed symbolic behaviour

•What is done is predictable

•It occurs under a set of circumstances

•The acts which take place are symbolic in nature

Cockfights in Bali

Balinese cockfights from the outside appear to only be sporting events

•They have deeper meanings within Balinese society

•The roles of status and cultural values are evident if one looks at the event from the inside

•Participants experience the fight differently than one observing from the outside

Roosters as Symbols

In Balinese culture there is a strong aversion to any behaviours which are seen as animalistic in nature (eg filing the canine teeth)

•Roosters are a symbol of their owner’s animal-self and the animalistic demons in their belief system

•In the fight, good and evil, animal and man are pitted against one another in a symbolic sense

The Fight

There is a set ritual for where and how the rooster fights take place

•A man with a rooster he wants to fight enters the ring and negotiates whose rooster it will fight with

•The spurs are put on the roosters and they are placed in the center of the ring

•Normally they fly at one another immediately and after the first strike with a spur they are separated

•The winner is determined by which bird dies first

Betting and Social Rules

Men almost never bet against their kin and will show support for their kinsmen by betting for them

•This principle is applied to more distant kin and those from outside the village – you support your own

•Those who own the roosters will have backers

•Those who are openly hostile can become involved in ‘betting wars’

•When loyalties come into conflict, men will leave to avoid betting on a particular fight

•Thus Balinese cockfighting is less about sport and more about social standing and community and family ties

The Ritual Process

Ritual can accomplish a specific goal

•Ritual changes a person’s status, appeases the gods, …

•It also expresses the worldview of the group and communicates that view to the group primarily with vocal language

•Typically, social meanings are what is conveyed

Rites of Passage

rites of passage are rituals marking important stages in the life of a person such as birth, puberty, marriage, parenthood, advancement to higher class/status, death

Arnold Van Gennep

Coined the term ‘rites of passage’

•Was the first to recognize three stages in rituals – separation, transition, incorporation

•All cultures have some way to mark important transitions from one status to another

•Typically it is milestones in physical maturity which are associated with rites of passage

Stages in Rituals

there are three stages in the ceremonies around each rite of passage - separation, transition, incorporation

   -separation removes the person from society

   -transition isolates the person between separation and incorporation, there may be rituals involved, learning things needed for the new status, etc

   -incorporation brings the person back into society in his/her new status

Australian Aborigines

When the men decide boys are ready to be initiated into manhood, they are removed from the village while the women make a show of resistance (separation)

•They are taken to a secret location where rituals are performed that finish with circumcision or tooth removal (transition)

•On returning home, the boys (now men) are welcomed with further ceremonies which recognize their new status (incorporation)

The Hajj

When a muslim man goes on pilgrimage, he separates from his society and dresses in a proscribed manner to set himself apart

•During his journey to Mecca and while there performing the required rituals, he is in transition

•After he returns home, he is given the title haji

•Pilgrimages are present in many other religions

Rites of Intensification

rites of intensification = rites that mark crises in the life of a group rather than individual

•can be things like a lack of rain, famine, appearance of an enemy

•mass ceremonies are performed to allay the danger from the group, restore the balance

•deaths of public figures sometimes have a huge impact on a group and may fit into this category

Ndembu Healing

Illness or misfortune often exposed other social problems in a village as the affliction of the body reflected those

•Ritual was used to both cure the patient and settle the conflict

•As healing rites were public events with many in attendance, more than just individual disputes could be dealt with

Ritual Cannibalism

Among some Melanesian and Brazilian native peoples, cannibalism of the deceased was part of the funerary rite

•It was seen as an act of reverence and a way to maintain a tie to the deceased or to enable their soul to continue as part of the group

•Symbolic cannibalism is present in Christianity

Human Sacrifice in Hawai’i – Why?

Performed at a luakini at the death of a high chief, dedication of a luakini, when  success in combat was requested, or when a very grave state emergency, such as pestilence or famine required the Ku be asked for aid

•2-20 victims were taken from among captives, those breaking taboos, or those who offended the ali’i

•Many were blind, maimed, or crippled persons

•It was one way that ali’i could remove rivals as victims were often their relatives

Human Sacrifice – How?

Sometimes they were dispatched with a club, and their bodies dragged to the altar (lele)

•More often they were bound and taken alive into the luakini and killed in the outer court

•The priests were careful to avoid touching the bodies

•Once dead, victims were laid in a row with their faces down on the altar, and left to decay there

Cannibalism

The Hawaiians are not cannibals. They have been upbraided in Europe as eaters of human flesh, but such is not the case. They never killed a man for food. It is true that in sacrifice they eat certain parts of the victim, but there it was a religious rite, not an act of cannibalism. So also when they eat the flesh of their dearest chiefs, it was to do honor to their dearest chiefs, it was to do honor to their memory by a work of love: they never eat the flesh of bad chiefs.” – Jules Remy

Terminology

The terms ‘witch’ and ‘sorcerer’ are problematic

•Both are charged with culturally biased ideas from the Western world

•Typically, in Western literature, a witch is a female who practices harmful magic

•Magicians and sorcerers tend to be thought of as male and more benign in nature for the first, and malevolent for the second

Neutrality

In some cultures, magic and occult powers are more neutral in nature

•The Maka speak of a force they call djaambe which is neutral in nature, but can be used to kill or to heal

•The term occult force or magic has been suggested as a substitute for witchcraft which has negative connotations

Rules of Magic

Frazer was the first to describe the basic principles of magic

•Law of Sympathy = magic depends on the apparent association between things

•Law of Similarity = things that are alike are the same

•Law of Contagion = things which were once in physical contact continue to be connected after the physical contact is gone

Witchcraft
and Magic

imitative magic uses the idea that like produces like eg voodoo doll

•contagious magic relies on objects in contact with one another influencing each other eg treasuring objects touched by certain people

•witchcraft explains events based on the belief that certain individuals possess powers that they can use to inflict sickness and harm on others, or to help others

Ibibio

Ibibio

•among the Ibibio of Nigeria, any misfortune is due to witchcraft

•they believe witches get their power from other witches, and from swallowing a substance made of red, white and black needles and threads)

•power gives them the ability to cause harm whether they will it or not

Who is an Ibibio Witch?

anyone can be a witch, but they suspect those who are loners, walk around at night, are hardhearted, don't look after relatives, look mean and who are socially disruptive in their behaviour

•distinctions are made between harmful black witches and benign white witches

Dealing With Ibibio Witches

witch hunts look for the witch, but also bring up every socially unacceptable act by the members of the society since the last witchcraft outbreak

•this encourages people to suppress personality traits and behaviours that might get them labelled as a witch because if they don't they will be accused

Navajo Witchcraft

the Navajo recognize several types of witchcraft

-witchery  where witches meet at night to practice cannibalism and kill people at a distance

-sorcery where someone's hair and nail clippings are used to cast spells

-wizardry which injects a substance into a person from a distance

-divination allows one to determine the cause of a particular event, or tell the future

Managing Witches

Witches can assume other forms and become Skinwalkers

•accused witches are publicly interrogated until they confess, then exiled

•Navajo believe a confessed witch will have their own magic turn on them and that they will die within a year

Function of Witchcraft amoung the Navajo

witchcraft makes people look after their elderly relatives because if they don't the elders may become witches

•people who accumulate wealth may also be considered witches so this encourages them to share

•acts as a way of managing tensions in the society since expressing hostility is not encouraged outside of witchcraft accusations

Why Magic Works

Magic works because there is a perceived relationship between doing something and what appears to be the result of those actions

•Normally people do not ask impossible things of magic

•To have a garden, you must plant, water, and weed it

•Magic serves to keep forces which might harm your garden at bay

What is the ‘New Age’?

The term New Age came into use in the 1970s

•It refers to a loosely organized group of grass-roots religions

•The focus is on self-development, rejection of rigid moral values, scepticism about organized religion, and the seeking of inspiration in non-Western belief systems

•New Age beliefs are flexible

•It has been heavily denounced by more traditional groups

Statistics

Adults in the United States believe in many New Age ideas:

 

•8% use astrology as a means of divination

•7% think crystals are a source of healing or energizing power

•9% see Tarot Cards as a reliable base for life decisions

•11% consider God "a state of higher consciousness that a person may reach"

•8% define God as "the total realization of personal, human potential"

•3% believe that each person is God

Neo-paganism

This is an umbrella term for practices which include Wicca, the Craft, Goddess-focussed spirituality, and reconstructionist religions based on pre-Christian practices

•Neo-paganists are NOTSatanists

•Most neo-pagan religions emphasize the feminine creative forces (goddess)

Common Themes

Polytheistic, multiple spirits and forms of consciousness

•Union with nature rather than dominion over it

•Balance of masculine and feminine principles in ritual practice

•Celebration of the sensual, and rejection of perspectives which deny the reality of the flesh

Criticism of Other Systems

New Age and Christian practices have both been criticized by neo-pagan groups

•Pagan events focus on earthiness and long term commitment

•Neo-paganism has more to do with adapting ancient beliefs to a modern world than practicing those old ways as they were in the past

Wicca

revival of traditions dating to the 1950's

•wicca is a form of witchcraft and an amalgam of several old religions

•organized into covens headed (usually) by a high priestess

•Book of Shadows contains beliefs, rituals, invocations, charms

•ritual is an important component

Reconstructionist Religions

tend to be polytheistic

•rely on historical texts

•eg. Modern Druidism, Kemetism (Egypt), Hellenismos (Greece), Celtic, Slavic

Functions of Religion

religions serve to reduce anxiety by explaining the unknown and making it understandable

•provide comfort by having supernatural (divine) aid available in times of crisis

•provide controls on social behaviour in terms of what is right and wrong through guilt, sin, and moral codes

•provides social solidarity and education

Religion’s Role

Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of a spiritless situation. It is the opium of the people.’ - Karl Marx

•Religion was used by the upper classes as a means to control and placate those under them in Karl Marx’s opinion – it was a way to justify inequality and offer a better situation in the afterlife

Revitalization Movements

revitalisation movements seek to construct a more satisfying culture based on an idealised past

•tend to be led by a visionary or messiah-type figure

•reformation is of the entire culture, not just the religion

•if the group goes to far out of step with society, they may become disillusioned and the movement is doomed to failure eg Branch Davidians in US

Future Trends

The question was once raised as to whether religion had a place in the modern world

•19th century theorists predicted an abandonment of religion and faith in favor of science and rationalism

•Thus far, this hasn’t happened

•If anything, people have turned to religion, sometimes in a fundamentalist form, as a coping mechanism for dealing with the stresses in their lives

Impact of Globalization

Globalization, and in particular resistance to it, has driven the trend towards regional and cultural blocs

•The perceived clash between East and West, the West and Islam are examples of what can emerge under these circumstances

•It is important to note that belief systems change in response to current conditions just as cultures do