Study Guide - Chapter 2

MC, matching, & short answer

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