World Religions-Voyage of Discovery: Primal Religions, Ch. 2

Primal Religions

Original religions with no written teachings; Focus on oral teachings, myths, rituals; Tend to live in rural areas

The Dreaming

The time when the Ancestors gave shape to the landscape and created the various forms of life including the first human beings

Symbols of the Ancestors

Natural landmarks, sacred sites; charged with sacred power

Totem

The natural form in which the Ancestor appeared in the Dreaming; May be an animal or a rock formation or another feature of the landscape

Taboo

System of social ordering that dictates that certain things and activities, owing to their sacred nature, are set aside for specific members of the group and forbidden to others

Initiation Rituals

Circumcision, knocking out teeth, vision quest, scarification; Rituals that mark the transition from childhood into adulthood

Cosmos according to the Yoruba

Two separate worlds: heaven (invisible home of the gods and ancestors) and the earth (visible home of the humans; descendants from the gods)

Olorun

Supreme god of the Yoruba, the primary, original source of power in the universe, to whom all other life-forms ultimately owe their existence

Orishas

Lesser deities who are sources of sacred power that can help or harm humans, depending on how well the rituals designed to appease them are carried out

Trickster Figure

Mischievous supernatural being; Attempts to get you to see the error of your ways/thoughts

Yoruba Ritual Practictioners

They mediate between the gods and ancestors in heaven and human beings on earth

Divination

Learning or interpreting someone's future; considered essential for one to determine how to proceed with life

Wakan Tanka

The Lakota name for the supreme reality, sometimes translated as Great Spirit or the Great Mysterious; Sixteen separate deities

Lakota Death and Afterlife

Four souls depart from a person at death; one along the Milky Way where it is judged; the others enter unborn children

Vision Quest

Attempting to gain spiritual power to ensue greater success in activities such as hunting, warfare and curing the ill; starts in a sweat lodge, followed by time in the woods

Sweat Lodge

A structure where heated stones are placed in the center and sprinkled with water to give off hot steam, causing profuse sweating, leading to physical and spiritual purification

The Sun Dance

Ritual for the Lakota marking the new year and prior to the annual buffalo hunt; involves drumming, dancing, and physical pain for some

Axis Mundi

Center of the universe; connecting point of heaven and earth

Why do Sun Dance participants skewer their flesh?

The bodies are the only things they truly own, so it is the only suitable sacrifice

Aztec Cosmology

The creation and ordering of the world are attributed to Quetzalcoatl

The Age of the Fifth Sun

The age of the present for the Aztecs; the last sun

Ritual

Ceremonies, dances and actions performed with religious functions or meanings

Material

Ordinary objects that symbolize or manifest the sacred or supernatural

Experiential

Dread, guilt, awe, mystery, devotion, inner peace, bliss--things you feel as a result of religion

Mythical

Stories that teach and interpret the universe and humans' place in it

Ethical

Rules about human behavior; right and wrong

Social

Belief systems and rituals practiced by a group; often includes rules for identifying community membership and participation