Divination
The use of various techniques for gaining knowledge about an individual’s future or about the cause of a personal problem
Axis Mundi
The “center of the world”
Diviners
Ritual practitioners of the African Yoruba religion
Requires years of training
Role usually passed from parent to child
Inktomi
“Spider”
Trickster of the Native American Lakota tribe
Mediator between supernatural & human worlds
Taught the first humans their ways & customs
Its mistakes & errors of judgment offer important moral lessons for children
Esu
An orisha & trickster of the African Yoruba religion
Good & evil
Mediates between heaven & earth
Quetzalcoatl
The Toltec god of the Mesoamerican Aztec tradition
Believed to have presided over a Golden Age of cultural brilliance
Created & ordered the world, especially humans
AKA the “Feathered Serpent”
Invented the calendar
Sweat Lodge
Utilized by Native American people throughout North America
Used for ritual purification & cleansing of the body before someone goes on a vision quest
Also used for the Sun Dance
Taboo
A system of social ordering that dictates specific objects & activities used by the Australian Aborigines
Are set aside for specific groups & are strictly forbidden to others
Religion
Described as indigenous & “cosmic”
Is fully recreated in the present through myths & rituals
Tenochtitlan
Mesoamerican Aztecs lived here
Now present-day Mexico City
Designed to be the center of their world (AKA axis mundi)
Totem
A natural entity that symbolizes an individual or group & that has special significance for the religious life of that individual or religion
Trickster Figure (in general)
A mischievous supernatural being who tends to disrupt the normal course of life
Vision Quest
An indigenous religious tradition of the Native Americans
A means to seek spiritual power through an encounter with a guardian spirit or other medium, usually in the form of an animal or other natural entity
The Dreaming
The foundation of Australian Aboriginal religion
AKA Eternal Time of the Ancestors
The world was originally formless
Supernatural beings (Ancestors) emerged & roamed about the earth
Gave shape to the landscape & created various forms of life (including the first human beings)
When Ancestors had finished & departed from the earth, they left behind symbols of their presence in the form of natural landmarks, rock paintings, etc.
Orishas
The many lesser, but still significant, deities of the African Yoruba worship
Function as mediators, Olorun, & human beings
Are sources of sacred power & can help or harm human beings depending on how rituals are designed
Sun Dance
One of the Native Americans’ most important rituals
Occurs at the beginning of summer
A celebration of the new year
In the past, also functioned as a preparation for the great annual bison hunt
A sacred leader (a woman of outstanding moral character) presides over this ritual
To prepare, all tribes must build a Sweat Lodge made from a cottonwood tree, which is where the ceremony is held
What is the purpose of the African Yoruba religion?
To maintain the balance between the human beings of earth & the gods & ancestors of heaven while guarding against evil deeds of sorcerers & witches
What is the spiritual essence of the Ancestors for the Australian Aborigines?
Various symbols left behind by them
What is the Mesoamerican Aztec’s understanding of the axis mundi?
Perceived spatial world as having 4 quadrants extending outward from the center of the universe
What is the African Yoruba’s belief about heaven?
One of the 2 separated worlds
The invisible home of the Gods & ancestors
Briefly explain Wakan Tanka.
Great Spirit or the Great Mysterious
Translated to “most sacred”
Refers to 16 different deities of the Native American Lakota Tribe
For most indigenous religions, boundaries between human & supernatural realms are believed to be what?
Easily crossed over
Describe the role of religion in indigenous societies. What aspects do most indigenous religious traditions share?
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
What is the purpose of Australian Aboriginal initiation rituals? Give a specific example of such a ritual & explain its symbolism.
Awaken young people to the spiritual identity & redefine their social identity within the tribe
Bring about the symbolic death of childhood, which prepares for the spiritual rebirth that’s necessary for adulthood
Wilyaru - the main initiation ritual
The dried blood that’s caked on the initiate serves to connect the boy symbolically with his relatives
The boy’s scars from the strikes symbolize death as well
Describe the concept of the axis mundi, & explain how it functions in the cosmology of the Native American & Mesoamerican Aztec traditions.
ESSAY QUESTION
The “center of the world”
Native Americans
The cottonwood tree used to construct the Sweat Lodge, as part of the Sun Dance, is the axis mundi
Serves as the connecting link between the earth & the heavens as well as represents the supreme being
Sweat Lodge is constructed of 28 poles, representing the 28 days of the lunar month, placed in a circle around the tree
The finished Sweat Lodge presents the universe with its 4 compass directions
Mesoamerican Aztecs
Understood spatial world as having 4 quadrants extending outward from the center of the universe
Designed Tenochtitlan to be the center of their world
The point where the 4 directions met stood the Great Temple, known as the Serpent Mountain
Also is the Feathered Serpent Pyramid