* Generally originated with non-literate people
* Don’t depend on scriptures or written teachings
* Instead, depend on the transmission of oral material (myths or stories) from generation to generation
* Tend to belong to tribal people organized in small groups that dwell in villages
* Share totemism, taboo, the trickster figure, the vision quest, & the *axis mundi*
* The secular & sacred aren’t separate
* Constantly change → very adaptable