1.
Totem pole
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Totem poles are monumental sculptures, a type of Northwest Coast art, consisting of poles, posts or pillars, carved with symbols or figures. They are usually made from trees, mostly western red cedar. The word totem derives from the Algonquian word odoodem, his kinship group, the carvings may symbolize or commemorate cultural beliefs that recount familiar legends, clan lineages, or notable events. The poles may also serve as architectural features, welcome signs for village visitors, mortuary vessels for the remains of deceased ancestors. Given the complexity and symbolic meanings of totem pole carvings, their placement and importance lies in the observers knowledge, Totem pole carvings were likely preceded by a long history of decorative carving, with stylistic features borrowed from smaller prototypes. Renewed interest from tourists, collectors, and scholars in the 1880s and 1890s helped document and collect the remaining totem poles, twentieth-century revivals of the craft, additional research, and continued support from the public have helped establish new interest in this regional artistic tradition. Totem poles primarily serve as symbol to the animistic peoples of western North America reflecting their submission to a pantheon. Makers of these include the Haida, Tlingit, Tsimshian, Kwakwaka’wakw, Nuxalk. Totem poles are carved from the highly rot-resistant trunks of Thuja plicata trees. Because of the climate and the nature of the materials used to make the poles. Noteworthy examples, some dating as far back as 1880, include those at the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria and the Museum of Anthropology at UBC in Vancouver. Totem poles are the largest, but not the objects that coastal Pacific Northwest natives use to depict worship, family legends, animals, people. The freestanding poles seen by the regions first European explorers were likely preceded by a history of decorative carving. Stylistic features of these poles were borrowed from smaller prototypes, or from the support posts of house beams. Before iron and steel arrived in the area, natives used crude tools made of stone, shells, the process was slow and laborious, axes were unknown. By the late century, the use of metal cutting tools enabled more complex carvings. The tall monumental poles appearing in front of homes in coastal villages probably did not appear until after the beginning of the nineteenth century. The scholar Eddie Malin has proposed that totem poles progressed from house posts, funerary containers, malins theory is supported by the photographic documentation of the Pacific Northwest coasts cultural history and the more sophisticated designs of the Haida poles
2.
Ottawa
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Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It stands on the bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of southern Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, the two form the core of the Ottawa–Gatineau census metropolitan area and the National Capital Region. The 2016 census reported a population of 934,243, making it the fourth-largest city in Canada, the City of Ottawa reported that the city had an estimated population of 960,754 as of December 2015. Founded in 1826 as Bytown, and incorporated as Ottawa in 1855, the city name Ottawa was chosen in reference to the Ottawa River nearby, the name of which is derived from the Algonquin Odawa, meaning to trade. The city is the most educated in Canada, and is home to a number of post-secondary, research, and cultural institutions, including the National Arts Centre, Ottawa also has the highest standard of living in the nation and low unemployment. It ranked second out of 150 worldwide in the Numbeo quality of life index 2014–2015, with the draining of the Champlain Sea around ten thousand years ago the Ottawa Valley became habitable. The area was used for wild harvesting, hunting, fishing, trade, travel. The Ottawa river valley has archaeological sites with arrow heads, pottery, the area has three major rivers that meet, making it an important trade and travel area for thousands of years. The Algonquins called the Ottawa River Kichi Sibi or Kichissippi meaning Great River or Grand River, Étienne Brûlé, the first European to travel up the Ottawa River, passed by Ottawa in 1610 on his way to the Great Lakes. Three years later, Samuel de Champlain wrote about the waterfalls of the area and about his encounters with the Algonquins, the early explorers and traders were later followed by many missionaries. The first maps of the area used the word Ottawa to name the river, philemon Wright, a New Englander, created the first settlement in the area on 7 March 1800 on the north side of the river, across from Ottawa in Hull. He, with five other families and twenty-five labourers, set about to create a community called Wrightsville. Wright pioneered the Ottawa Valley timber trade by transporting timber by river from the Ottawa Valley to Quebec City, the following year, the town would soon be named after British military engineer Colonel John By who was responsible for the entire Rideau Waterway construction project. Colonel By set up military barracks on the site of todays Parliament Hill and he also laid out the streets of the town and created two distinct neighbourhoods named Upper Town west of the canal and Lower Town east of the canal. Similar to its Upper Canada and Lower Canada namesakes, historically Upper Town was predominantly English speaking and Protestant whereas Lower Town was predominantly French, Irish, bytowns population grew to 1,000 as the Rideau Canal was being completed in 1832. In 1855 Bytown was renamed Ottawa and incorporated as a city, William Pittman Lett was installed as the first city clerk guiding it through 36 years of development. On New Years Eve 1857, Queen Victoria, as a symbolic, in reality, Prime Minister John A. Macdonald had assigned this selection process to the Executive Branch of the Government, as previous attempts to arrive at a consensus had ended in deadlock
3.
Ontario
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Ontario, one of the 13 provinces and territories of Canada, is located in east-central Canada. It is Canadas most populous province by a margin, accounting for nearly 40 percent of all Canadians. Ontario is fourth-largest in total area when the territories of the Northwest Territories and it is home to the nations capital city, Ottawa, and the nations most populous city, Toronto. There is only about 1 km of land made up of portages including Height of Land Portage on the Minnesota border. Ontario is sometimes divided into two regions, Northern Ontario and Southern Ontario. The great majority of Ontarios population and arable land is located in the south, in contrast, the larger, northern part of Ontario is sparsely populated with cold winters and is heavily forested. The province is named after Lake Ontario, a thought to be derived from Ontarí, io, a Huron word meaning great lake, or possibly skanadario. Ontario has about 250,000 freshwater lakes, the province consists of three main geographical regions, The thinly populated Canadian Shield in the northwestern and central portions, which comprises over half the land area of Ontario. Although this area mostly does not support agriculture, it is rich in minerals and in part covered by the Central and Midwestern Canadian Shield forests, studded with lakes, Northern Ontario is subdivided into two sub-regions, Northwestern Ontario and Northeastern Ontario. The virtually unpopulated Hudson Bay Lowlands in the north and northeast, mainly swampy. Southern Ontario which is further sub-divided into four regions, Central Ontario, Eastern Ontario, Golden Horseshoe, the highest point is Ishpatina Ridge at 693 metres above sea level located in Temagami, Northeastern Ontario. In the south, elevations of over 500 m are surpassed near Collingwood, above the Blue Mountains in the Dundalk Highlands, the Carolinian forest zone covers most of the southwestern region of the province. A well-known geographic feature is Niagara Falls, part of the Niagara Escarpment, the Saint Lawrence Seaway allows navigation to and from the Atlantic Ocean as far inland as Thunder Bay in Northwestern Ontario. Northern Ontario occupies roughly 87 percent of the area of the province. Point Pelee is a peninsula of Lake Erie in southwestern Ontario that is the southernmost extent of Canadas mainland, Pelee Island and Middle Island in Lake Erie extend slightly farther. All are south of 42°N – slightly farther south than the border of California. The climate of Ontario varies by season and location, the effects of these major air masses on temperature and precipitation depend mainly on latitude, proximity to major bodies of water and to a small extent, terrain relief. In general, most of Ontarios climate is classified as humid continental, Ontario has three main climatic regions
4.
Afterlife
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The afterlife is the concept of a realm, or the realm itself, in which an essential part of an individuals identity or consciousness continues to exist after the death of the body. Belief in an afterlife, which may be naturalistic or supernatural, is in contrast to the belief in oblivion after death, in this latter view, such rebirths and deaths may take place over and over again continuously until the individual gains entry to a spiritual realm or Otherworld. Major views on the afterlife derive from religion, esotericism and metaphysics, in metaphysical models, theists generally believe some type of afterlife awaits people when they die. Members of some generally non-theistic religions, tend to believe in an afterlife, the Sadducees were an ancient Jewish sect that generally believed that there was a God but no afterlife. Reincarnation refers to a concept found among Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs, Rosicrucians, Theosophists, Spiritists. Reincarnation is also a belief described in Kabbalistic Judaism as gilgul neshamot and this succession leads toward an eventual liberation. One consequence of reincarnationist beliefs is that our current lives are both afterlife and a beforelife, according to those beliefs events in our current life are consequences of actions taken in previous lives, or Karma. In most denominations, heaven is a condition of reward for the righteous to go after they die, traditionally defined as eternal union with God. In contrast to heaven, hell is a condition of punishment and torment for the wicked, traditionally defined as eternal separation from God and confinement with other sinful souls and fallen angels. So they are seen as existing in a state of natural. In other Christian denominations it has described as an intermediate place or state of confinement in oblivion. The notion of purgatory is associated particularly with the Catholic Church, the tradition of the church, by reference to certain texts of scripture, speaks of a cleansing fire although it is not always called purgatory. Anglicans of the Anglo-Catholic tradition generally also hold to the belief, traditional African religions are diverse in their beliefs in an afterlife. For each soul remains distinct and each represents a new soul. In some societies like the Mende, multiple beliefs coexist, the Mende believe that people die twice, once during the process of joining the secret society, and again during biological death after which they become ancestors. However, some Mende also believe that people are created by God they live ten consecutive lives. One cross-cultural theme is that the ancestors are part of the world of the living, interacting with it regularly, the afterlife played an important role in Ancient Egyptian religion, and its belief system is one of the earliest known in recorded history. When the body died, parts of its known as ka
5.
Animism
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Animism is the worlds oldest religion. Animism teaches that objects, places, and creatures all possess distinctive spiritual qualities, potentially, animism perceives all things—animals, plants, rocks, rivers, weather systems, human handiwork, and perhaps even words—as animate and alive. Animism is the oldest known type of system in the world that even predates paganism. It is still practiced in a variety of forms in traditional societies. Although each culture has its own different mythologies and rituals, animism is said to describe the most common, foundational thread of indigenous peoples spiritual or supernatural perspectives. The currently accepted definition of animism was only developed in the late 19th century by Sir Edward Tylor, Animism may further attribute souls to abstract concepts such as words, true names, or metaphors in mythology. Some members of the world also consider themselves animists. Earlier anthropological perspectives – since termed the old animism – were concerned with knowledge surrounding what is alive, the old animism assumed that animists were individuals who were unable to understand the difference between persons and things. Critics of the old animism have accused it of preserving colonialist and dualist worldviews, according to Tylor, animism often includes an idea of pervading life and will in nature, i. e. a belief that natural objects other than humans have souls. This formulation was little different from that proposed by Auguste Comte as fetishism, thus, for Tylor, animism was fundamentally seen as a mistake, a basic error from which all religion grew. The earliest known usage in English appeared in 1819, Tylors definition of animism was a part of a growing international debate on the nature of primitive society by lawyers, theologians, and philologists. The debate defined the field of research of a new science – anthropology and their religion was animism – the belief that natural species and objects had souls. With the development of property, these descent groups were displaced by the emergence of the territorial state. These rituals and beliefs eventually evolved over time into the vast array of developed religions, in 1869, the Edinburgh lawyer, John Ferguson McLellan, argued that the animistic thinking evident in fetishism gave rise to a religion he named Totemism. Primitive people believed, he argued, that they were descended of the species as their totemic animal. Subsequent debate by the armchair anthropologists remained focused on totemism rather than animism, indeed, anthropologists have commonly avoided the issue of Animism and even the term itself rather than revisit this prevalent notion in light of their new and rich ethnographies. Certain indigenous religious groups such as the Australian Aboriginals are more typically totemic, stewart Guthrie saw animism – or attribution as he preferred it – as an evolutionary strategy to aid survival. He argued that humans and other animal species view inanimate objects as potentially alive as a means of being constantly on guard against potential threats
6.
Communitas
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Communitas is a Latin noun commonly referring either to an unstructured community in which people are equal, or to the very spirit of community. It also has significance as a loanword in cultural anthropology. Communitas refers to a state in which all members of a community are equal allowing them to share a common experience. Communitas is characteristic of people experiencing liminality together and this term is used to distinguish the modality of social relationship from an area of common living. There is more than one distinction between structure and communitas, the most familiar is the difference of secular and sacred. Every social position has something sacred about it and this sacred component is acquired during rites of passages, through the changing of positions. Part of this sacredness is achieved through the transient humility learned in these phases, Communitas is an acute point of community. It takes community to the level and allows the whole of the community to share a common experience. This brings everyone onto a level, even if you are higher in position, you have been lower. Turner distinguishes between, existential or spontaneous communitas, the transient personal experience of togetherness, e. g. that which occurs during a counter-culture happening. Normative communitas, which occurs as communitas is transformed from its state to being organized into a permanent social system due to the need for social control. Ideological communitas, which can be applied to many utopian social models, Communitas as a concept used by Victor Turner in his study of ritual has been criticized by anthropologists. See John Eade & Michael J. Communitas is also the title of a book published in 1947 by the 20th-century American thinker and writer Paul Goodman and his brother, Percival Goodman. Their book examines three kinds of societies, a society centered on consumption, a society centered on artistic and creative pursuits. In 1998, Italian philosopher Roberto Esposito published a book under the name Communitas challenging the traditional understanding of this concept and it was translated in English in 2010 by Timothy Campbell. Rather, it is a void, a debt, a gift to the other that also reminds us of our constitutive alterity with respect to ourselves. Here we find the final and most characteristic of the associated with the alternative between public and private, those in other words that contrast communitas to immunitas. He can completely preserve his own position through a vacatio muneris, whereas the communitas is bound by the sacrifice of the compensatio, the immunitas implies the beneficiary of the dispensatio
7.
Comparative religion
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Comparative religion is the branch of the study of religions concerned with the systematic comparison of the doctrines and practices of the worlds religions. In general the comparative study of religion yields a deeper understanding of the fundamental concerns of religion such as ethics, metaphysics. Studying such material is meant to give one a richer and more sophisticated understanding of human beliefs and practices regarding the sacred, numinous, spiritual, other religions that fit this description are sometimes included but are often omitted. The original belief in the One God of Abraham eventually became strictly monotheistic present-day Rabbinic Judaism, christians believe that Christianity is the fulfillment and continuation of the Jewish Old Testament. Christians believe that Jesus is the Messiah foretold in the Old Testament prophecy and this signaled a break with Islam and started a new religious system, that also represents the predecessor of the Baháí Faith. Christianity and Judaism are two other Abrahamic religions that diverge in theology and practice, the historical interaction of Islam and Judaism started in the 7th century CE with the origin and spread of Islam. There are many common aspects between Islam and Judaism, and as Islam developed, it became the major religion closest to Judaism. There are many traditions within Islam originating from traditions within the Hebrew Bible or from post-biblical Jewish traditions and these practices are known collectively as the Israiliyat. The historical interaction between Christianity and Islam connects fundamental ideas in Christianity with similar ones in Islam, Islam accepts many aspects of Christianity as part of its faith - with some differences in interpretation - and rejects other aspects. Islam believes the Quran is the revelation from God and a completion of all previous revelations. Several important religions and religious movements originated in Greater Iran, that is and they include Mithraism, Zoroastrianism, Ætsæg Din, Yazdanism, Ahl-e Haqq, Zurvanism, Mandaeism, Manichaeism, and Mazdakism. Indian religions refers to a number of religions that have originated on the Indian subcontinent and they encompass Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. Buddhism and modern Hinduism are both post-Vedic religions, gautama Buddha is mentioned as an Avatar of Vishnu in the Puranic texts of Hinduism. Prominent Hindu reformers such as Gandhi and Vivekananda acknowledge Buddhist influence, Gandhi, like Hindus, did not believe Buddha established a non-Hindu tradition. He writes, I do not regard Jainism or Buddhism as separate from Hinduism, a Taoic religion is a religion, or religious philosophy, that focuses on the East Asian concept of Tao. This forms a group of religions including Taoism, Confucianism, Jeung San Do, Shinto, I-Kuan Tao, Chondogyo. In large parts of East Asia, Buddhism has taken on some taoic features, Tao can be roughly stated to be the flow of the universe, or the force behind the natural order. It is believed to be the influence that keeps the universe balanced and ordered and is associated with nature, the flow of Chi, as the essential energy of action and existence, is compared to the universal order of Tao
8.
Divination
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Divination is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic, standardized process or ritual. Divination can be seen as a method with which to organize what appear to be disjointed. Fortune-telling, on the hand, is a more everyday practice for personal purposes. Particular divination methods vary by culture and religion, divination is dismissed by the scientific community and skeptics as being superstition. Psychologist Julian Jaynes categorized divination into the four types, Omens. Chinese history offers scrupulously documented occurrences of births, the tracking of natural phenomena. Chinese governmental planning relied on this method of forecasting for long-range strategies and it is not unreasonable to assume that modern scientific inquiry began with this kind of divination, Joseph Needhams work considered this very idea. This consists of the casting of lots, or sortes, whether with sticks, stones, bones, beans, coins, modern playing cards and board games developed from this type of divination. This ranks a set of given possibilities and it can be qualitative, for example, dowsing developed from this type of divination. The Romans, in times, used Etruscan methods of augury such as hepatoscopy. Augury is normally considered to refer to divination by studying the flight patterns of birds. An unconstrained form of divination, free from any particular medium, the answer comes from whatever object the diviner happens to see or hear. Some religions use a form of bibliomancy, they ask a question, riffle the pages of their holy book, other forms of spontaneous divination include reading auras and New Age methods of feng shui such as intuitive and fuzion. In this practice, the examines the hands of a person for whom they are divining for indications of their future. The Oracle of Amun at the Siwa Oasis was made famous when Alexander the Great visited it after delivering Egypt from Persian rule in 332 BC, deuteronomy 18, 10-12 or Leviticus 19,26 can be interpreted as categorically forbidding divination. However, some would claim that divination is indeed practiced in the Bible, such as in Exodus 28, communicating with God through prayer is not the same as divination, though both are open, typically two-way conversations with God. Both oracles and seers in ancient Greece practiced divination, oracles were the conduits for the gods on earth, their prophecies were understood to be the will of the gods verbatim. Because of the demand for oracle consultations and the oracles’ limited work schedule
9.
Evolutionary origin of religions
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Humanity’s closest living relatives are common chimpanzees and bonobos. These primates share an ancestor with humans who lived between six and eight million years ago. It is for this reason that chimpanzees and bonobos are viewed as the best available surrogate for this common ancestor, Barbara King argues that while non-human primates are not religious, they do exhibit some traits that would have been necessary for the evolution of religion. These traits include high intelligence, a capacity for symbolic communication, a sense of social norms, realization of self, there is inconclusive evidence that Homo neanderthalensis may have buried their dead which is evidence of the use of ritual. The use of rituals is thought to be evidence of religious activity. Some evidence suggests that many species grieve death and loss, in this set of theories, the religious mind is one consequence of a brain that is large enough to formulate religious and philosophical ideas. During human evolution, the hominid brain tripled in size, peaking 500,000 years ago, much of the brains expansion took place in the neocortex. This part of the brain is involved in processing higher order cognitive functions that are connected with human religiosity, the neocortex is associated with self-consciousness, language and emotion. According to Dunbars theory, the relative size of any species correlates with the level of social complexity of the particular species. The neocortex size correlates with a number of variables that include social group size. In chimpanzees the neocortex occupies 50% of the brain, whereas in humans it occupies 80% of the brain. Robin Dunbar argues that the event in the evolution of the neocortex took place at the speciation of archaic homo sapiens about 500,000 years ago. His study indicates that only after the event is the neocortex large enough to process complex social phenomena such as language. The study is based on an analysis of neocortex size plotted against a number of social behaviors of living. Lewis Wolpert argues that causal beliefs that emerged from tool use played a role in the evolution of belief. The manufacture of complex tools requires creating an image of an object which does not exist naturally before actually making the artifact. Furthermore, one must understand how the tool would be used, accordingly, the level of sophistication of stone tools is a useful indicator of causal beliefs. Wolpert contends use of tools composed of more than one component, such as axes, represents an ability to understand cause
10.
Fetishism
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A fetish is an object believed to have supernatural powers, or in particular, a man-made object that has power over others. Essentially, fetishism is the attribution of inherent value or powers to an object. William Pietz, who conducted an extensive study of the fetish. According to Pietz, the concept of fetish emerged from the encounter between Europeans and Africans in a very specific historical context and in response to African material culture. Stallybrass concludes that Pietz shows that the fetish as a concept was elaborated to demonize the supposedly arbitrary attachment of West Africans to material objects, the European subject was constituted in opposition to a demonized fetishism, through the disavowal of the object. Initially, the Portuguese developed the concept of the fetish to refer to the used in religious cults by West African natives. The concept was popularized in Europe circa 1757, when Charles de Brosses used it in comparing West African religion to the aspects of ancient Egyptian religion. Later, Auguste Comte employed the concept in his theory of the evolution of religion, wherein he posited fetishism as the earliest stage, however, ethnography and anthropology would classify some artifacts of monotheistic religions as fetishes. For example, the Holy Cross and the consecrated host or tokens of communion found in forms of Christianity, are here regarded as examples of fetishism. The theory of fetishism was consecrated at the end of the century by G. W. F Hegel in Lectures on the Philosophy of History. This they saw as a problem historically and sociologically. for a particular. In refusing to see his mothers lack of penis, the boy disavows what he sees and this compromise results in a substitute. It remains a token of triumph over the threat of castration, the use of the concept in the study of religion derives from studies of traditional West African religious beliefs, as well as from Voodoo, which in turn derives from those beliefs. Fetishes were commonly used in Native American religion and practices, the bear represented the shaman, the buffalo was the provider, the mountain lion was the warrior, and the wolf was the pathfinder. Made and used by the BaKongo people of western Zaire, a nkisi is an object that provides a local habitation for a spiritual personality. As Europeans tend to think of spirits as objects of worship, in this way, Europeans regarded minkisi as idols on the basis of false assumptions. Europeans often called nkisi fetishes and sometimes idols because they are rendered in human form. Modern anthropology has generally referred to these objects either as objects or as charms
11.
Great Spirit
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According to Lakota activist Russell Means, a better translation of Wakan Tanka is the Great Mystery. The Great Spirit was not always what Native Americans believed in, the Great Spirit is a God-like entity that was adopted by Native American religion in the 18th century. The Great Spirit is a celestial deity who personally ruled the world. He is the God of creation, history and eternity, before contact with Europeans there was no word in any Native American language that represented a God or a supreme being. Anthropologists have determined that the idea of a Great Spirit is wholly an invention of the white man, there are many different prophets of the Great Spirit. While each prophet is made up of different myths each one has the same goal, each prophet aims at restoration and preservation of a way of Native American life that is diminishing. The Great Spirit is used to guide individuals and their communities with the lessons through the prophets, the Great Spirit is expressed through multiple Native American Tribes which is why each story regarding the Great Spirit is different- they are products of various cultures. Some prophets call for war, while others call for peace, certain prophets call for acculturation between the Native Americans and whites, while others call for complete segregation. Two of the most well known prophets prophecies took place in the early 1800s, the Shawnee Prophet occurred in 1824. Tenskwatawa, a religious and political leader of the Shawnee tribe, warned The Governor of Michigan, Lewis Cass and this flame would end the world as it was between the Native Americans and Whites. Once the destruction was complete, the Great Spirit would restructure, another well-known story happened in 1827 and involves William Clark and Kennekuk, a spiritual leader of the Kickapoo nation. This is known as the Kickapoo Prophet, kennebunk informed Clark that he must be careful while exploring the land that is now Illinois. This warning was so that the relocation of Kennekuk’s tribe would be delayed and he proclaimed that the Great Spirit would give a sign when it was safe to continue traveling. Other popular prophets include The Delaware Prophet and The Red Sticks Prophet, the Great Spirit is portrayed in American Indian history as a powerful force that guides the people in wisdom and survival. In the various tribes, The Great Spirit might be called Earthgrasper, Earthmaker, Gisha Munetoa, Gitchi Manido, an Algonquin legend speaks of a Delaware Indian called Eroneniera that travels to meet The Great Spirit. Upon meeting, The Great Spirit tells Eroneniera that he is the “Maker of Heaven and Earth…because I love you…the land on which you are, the Great Spirit teaches him a prayer to share with his people that they should repeat it every morning and night. The stories of the Native American helped explain mysteries and abstract ideas, the stories also explained weather, animals, and land formations. The Great Spirit and many deities are mentioned in the mythology of the Native American
12.
Henotheism
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Henotheism is the worship of a single god while not denying the existence or possible existence of other deities. Friedrich Schelling coined the word, and Friedrich Welcker used it to depict primordial monotheism among ancient Greeks, Friedrich Schelling coined the term henotheism, from heis which literally means single, one. The term refers to a form of theism focused on a single god, related terms are monolatrism and kathenotheism. The latter term is an extension of henotheism, from καθ ἕνα θεόν — one god at a time, Henotheism refers to a pluralistic theology wherein different deities are viewed to be of a unitary, equivalent divine essence. Another term related to henotheism is equitheism, referring to the belief that all gods are equal, further, the term henotheism does not exclude monism, nondualism or dualism. Various scholars prefer the term monolatry to henotheism, to discuss religions where a god is central. According to Christoph Elsas, henotheism in modern usage connotes a syncretic stage in the development of religions in late antiquity. A henotheist may worship a god from a pantheon of deities at a given time, depending on his or her choice, while accepting other deities. Henotheism and inclusive monotheism are terms that refer to a position between unlimited polytheism and exclusive monotheism. Ahura Mazda is the god, but Zoroastrianism does not deny other deities. Ahura Mazda has yazatas some of which include Anahita, Sraosha, Mithra, Rashnu, Richard Foltz has put forth evidence that Iranians of Pre-Islamic era worshiped all these figures, especially Mithra and Anahita. Prods Oktor Skjærvø states Zoroastrianism is henotheistic, and a dualistic and polytheistic religion, but with one supreme god, who is the father of the ordered cosmos. Other scholars state that this is unclear, because historic texts present a picture, ranging from Zoroastrianisms belief in one god. Henotheism was the used by scholars such as Max Muller to describe the theology of Vedic religion. The Vedic era conceptualization of the divine or the One, states Jeaneane Fowler, is more abstract than a monotheistic God, it is the Reality behind and of the phenomenal universe. The Vedic hymns treat it as limitless, indescribable, absolute principle, an example of the questioning of the concept of God, in addition to henotheistic hymns found therein, are in later portions of the Rigveda, such as the Nasadiya Sukta. Hinduism calls the metaphysical absolute concept as Brahman, incorporating within it the transcendent and immanent reality, different schools of thought interpret Brahman as either personal, impersonal or transpersonal. Ishwar Chandra Sharma describes it as Absolute Reality, beyond all dualities of existence and non-existence, light and darkness, while Greek and Roman religion began as polytheism, during the Classical period, under the influence of philosophy, differing conceptions emerged
13.
Initiation
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Initiation is a rite of passage marking entrance or acceptance into a group or society. It could also be an admission to adulthood in a community or one of its formal components. In an extended sense it can signify a transformation in which the initiate is reborn into a new role. A person taking the initiation ceremony in traditional rites, such as depicted in these pictures, is called an initiate. Mircea Eliade discussed initiation as a religious act by classical or traditional societies. He defined initiation as a change in existential condition, which liberates man from profane time. Initiation recapitulates the history of the world. And through this recapitulation, the world is sanctified anew. Can perceive the world as a work, a creation of the Gods. Eliade differentiates between types of initiations in two ways, types and functions and this real valuation of ritual death finally led to conquest of the fear of real death. Function is to reveal the meaning of existence to the new generations and to help them assume the responsibility of being truly men. It reveals an open to the trans-human, a world that, in our philosophical terminology. Puberty Rites- collective rituals whose function is to effect the transition from childhood or adolescence to adulthood and they represent above all the revelation of the sacred. Entering into a Secret Society- Mystical Vocation- the vocation of a man or a shaman. This is limited to the few who are destined to participate in an intense religious experience than is accessible to the rest of the community. These can be broken into two types, puberty rites, by virtue of which adolescents gain access to the sacred, to knowledge, specialized initiations, which certain individuals undergo in order to transcend their human condition and become protégés of the Supernatural Beings or even their equals. Dissonance is then thought to produce feelings of group attraction among initiates after the experience. Rewards during initiations have important consequences in that initiates who feel more rewarded express stronger group identity, as well as group attraction, initiations can also produce conformity among new members
14.
Liminality
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During a rituals liminal stage, participants stand at the threshold between their previous way of structuring their identity, time, or community, and a new way, which the ritual establishes. The concept of liminality was first developed in the early 20th century by folklorist Arnold van Gennep, more recently, usage of the term has broadened to describe political and cultural change as well as rituals. The dissolution of order during liminality creates a fluid, malleable situation that enables new institutions, the term has also passed into popular usage, where it is applied much more broadly, undermining its significance to some extent. Van Gennep, who coined the term liminality, published in 1906 his Rites de Passage, van Gennep began his book by identifying the various categories of rites. He distinguished between those that result in a change of status for an individual or social group, Liminal rites, Two characteristics are essential to these rites. First, the rite “must follow a prescribed sequence, where everybody knows what to do. Second, everything must be done “under the authority of a master of ceremonies”, the destructive nature of this rite allows for considerable changes to be made to the identity of the initiand. This middle stage “implies an actual passing through the threshold that marks the boundary between two phases, and the term ‘liminality’ was introduced in order to characterize this passage. ”Postliminal rites, During this stage, the initiand is re-incorporated into society with a new identity, as a “new” being. Turner confirmed his nomenclature for the three phases of passage from one culturally defined state or status to another. preliminal, liminal, van Gennep considered rites of initiation to be the most typical rite. In such rites of passage, the experience is highly structured, the first phase requires the child to go through a separation from his family, this involves his/her “death” as a child, as childhood is effectively left behind. In the second stage, initiands must pass a “test” to prove they are ready for adulthood, if they succeed, the third stage involves a celebration of the “new birth” of the adult and a welcoming of that being back into society. By constructing this three-part sequence, van Gennep identified a pattern he believed was inherent in all ritual passages, by suggesting that such a sequence is universal, van Gennep made an important claim. An anthropological ritual, especially a rite of passage, involves some change to the participants, and in the first phase comprises symbolic behaviour signifying the detachment of the individual. from an earlier fixed point in the social structure. Turner, who is considered to have “re-discovered the importance of liminality”, in 1967 he published his book The Forest of Symbols, which included an essay entitled Betwixt and Between, The Liminal Period in Rites of Passage. Within the works of Turner, liminality began to wander away from its application to ritual passages in small-scale societies. He became aware that liminality “, the attributes of liminality or of liminal personae are necessarily ambiguous. Ones sense of identity dissolves to some extent, bringing about disorientation, however, Turner’s approach to liminality has two major shortcomings. However, Agnes Horvath argues that the term can be applied to historical events
15.
Magic (paranormal)
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Magic or sorcery is the use of rituals, symbols, actions, gestures, and language with the aim of exploiting supernatural forces. The term magic has a variety of meanings, and there is no agreed upon definition of what it is or how it can be used. Religious scholars have defined magic in many different ways, one approach, associated with the anthropologists Edward Tylor and James G. Frazer, has magic and science be opposites. Many scholars of religion have rejected the utility of the term magic, the term magic comes from the Old Persian magu, a word that applied to a form of religious functionary about which little is known. This meaning of the term was adopted by Latin in the first century BCE. The concept was incorporated into Christian theology during the first century CE. This concept was pervasive throughout the Middle Ages, although in the modern period Italian humanists reinterpreted the term in a positive sense to establish the idea of natural magic. Both negative and positive understandings of the term were retained in Western culture over the following centuries, throughout Western history, there have been examples of individuals claiming to be practitioners of magic and referring to themselves as magicians. This trend has proliferated in the period, with a growing number of magicians appearing within the esoteric milieu. Scholars of religion have failed to agree on a definition of magic is. The subject has one of intense dispute, with some scholars criticizing the validity of the term in the first place. Even among those throughout history who have described themselves as magicians, there has been some debate among scholars as to whether to use the term magic at all. The scholar of religion Jonathan Z. Smith for example argued that it had no utility as a term that scholars should use. Religious historian Wouter Hanegraaff agreed, stating that the magic is an important object of historical research. Since the 1990s its usage among scholars has declined, within Western culture, magic has been linked to the idea of the Other. Using the term magic when discussing non-Western cultures or pre-modern forms of Western society raises problems, alternately, this term implies that all categories of magic are ethnocentric and that such Western preconceptions are an unavoidable component of scholarly research. Magic is one of the most heavily theorized concepts in the study of religion, the intellectualist approach to defining magic is associated with two prominent British anthropologists, Edward Tylor and James G. Frazer. This was an approach that viewed magic as being the theoretical opposite of science, in his 1871 book Primitive Culture, Tylor characterized magic as beliefs based on the error of mistaking ideal analogy for real analogy
16.
Mana
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Mana is a word found in Austronesian languages meaning power, effectiveness, prestige, where in most cases the power is understood to be supernatural. The exact semantics depends on the language, the concept is a major one in Polynesian cultures. It is part of contemporary Pacific Islander culture, the term came to the attention of western anthropologists through the reports of missionaries in the islands. Its study was included in the topic of anthropology, specifically in the anthropology of religion. Links were seen between it and a phase of western religion, animism at first, then pre-animism. In recent decades, the method, has been enhanced by the application of phylogenetic method. In it, as applied to linguistics, linguistic features take the place of molecular sequences, in linguistic phylogenetic comparisons, the desired result is percentages of similarity between languages, from which a tree structure may be reconstructed. Each branch may be termed a level and represents a proto-language, the method begins with a database of features to be compared. Software exists to make various types of comparisons, the results depend to a large degree of the type of data selected and the method of comparison. The Polynesian Lexicon Project, initiated in 1965 by Bruce Biggs, by comparison of words from the oceanic languages collected in the lexicon, it assesses levels of proto-language in the phylogenetic tree. According to the POLLEX project, a protoform for mana, noted in historical linguistic convention as *mana-, existed in a Proto-Oceanic language, the exact path through the tree from Proto-Oceanic to any specific language of the group is not always clear. The word and concept, however, about as they are today, are thousands of years old, as Oceanic-speaking peoples spread eastward, the notion of an unseen supernatural agency became detached from the physical forces of nature that had inspired it and assumed a life of its own. Robert Codrington, a missionary, travelled widely in Melanesia, publishing several studies of the language and this idea was arriving in a milieu that had already defined animism, the concept that the energy, or life, in an object comes from a spiritual component, the anima. Georg Ernst Stahls animismus of the 18th century had adopted by the founder of cultural anthropology. He had presented his ideas on the history of religion in ’Researches into the Early History of Mankind’,1865. He developed them more fully in ’Primitive Culture’, Volume I, in Tylors time, the major themes of evolution were rapidly replacing earlier views based on Biblical scholarship. Biological evolution, proposed by Darwin and Wallace, hypothesized a gradual modification of species to new species. By the methods of comparative anatomy, it concluded to a progression from simpler and generally less capable forms to more complex
17.
Monotheism
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Monotheism has been defined as the belief in the existence of only one god that created the world, is all-powerful and interferes in the world. Another, more broad definition of monotheism, is the belief in one god, a distinction may be made between exclusive monotheism, and both inclusive monotheism and pluriform monotheism which, while recognising various distinct gods, postulate some underlying unity. There are also monotheistic parody religions, such as Pastafarianism, the word monotheism comes from the Greek μόνος meaning single and θεός meaning god. The English term was first used by Henry More, according to Jewish, Christian and Islamic tradition, monotheism was the original religion of humanity. Scholars of religion largely abandoned that view in the 19th century in favour of a progression from animism via polytheism to monotheism. Austrian anthropologist Wilhelm Schmidt had postulated an Urmonotheismus, original or primitive monotheism in the 1910s and it was objected that Judaism, Christianity, and Islam had grown up in opposition to polytheism as had Greek philosophical monotheism. Some writers believe that the concept of monotheism sees a gradual development out of notions of henotheism and monolatrism, quasi-monotheistic claims of the existence of a universal deity date to the Late Bronze Age, with Akhenatens Great Hymn to the Aten. A possible inclination towards monotheism emerged during the Vedic period in Iron-Age South Asia, the Rigveda exhibits notions of monism of the Brahman, in particular, in the comparatively late tenth book, dated to the early Iron Age, e. g. in the Nasadiya sukta. While all adherents of the Abrahamic religions consider themselves to be monotheists, Judaism does not consider Christianity to be monotheistic, Judaism is one of the oldest monotheistic religions in the world. God in Judaism is strictly monotheistic, a one, indivisible. The Babylonian Talmud references other, foreign gods as non-existent entities to whom humans mistakenly ascribe reality, One of the best-known statements of Rabbinical Judaism on monotheism is the Second of Maimonides 13 Principles of faith, God, the Cause of all, is one. This does not mean one as in one of a pair, nor one like a species, nor one as in an object that is made up of many elements, rather, God is a unity unlike any other possible unity. Judaism and Islam reject the Christian idea of monotheism, Judaism uses the term shituf to refer to the worship of God in a manner which Judaism does not deem to be monotheistic. During the 8th century BCE, the worship of YHWH in Israel was in competition with other cults. Some scholars hypothesize that Judaism was originally a form of monolatrism or henotheism, in this hypothesis both the Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah had YHWH as their state god, while also acknowledging the existence of other gods. Shema Yisrael are the first two words of a section of the Torah, and is the title of a prayer that serves as a centerpiece of the morning and evening Jewish prayer services. Observant Jews consider the Shema to be the most important part of the service in Judaism. It is traditional for Jews to say the Shema as their last words, despite at least one earlier local synod rejecting the claim of Arius, this Christological issue was to be one of the items addressed at the First Council of Nicaea
18.
Polytheism
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Polytheism is the worship of or belief in multiple deities, which are usually assembled into a pantheon of gods and goddesses, along with their own religions and rituals. Polytheism is a type of theism, within theism, it contrasts with monotheism, the belief in a singular God, in most cases transcendent. Polytheists do not always worship all the gods equally, but they can be henotheists, other polytheists can be kathenotheists, worshiping different deities at different times. Polytheism was the form of religion during the Bronze Age and Iron Age up to the Axial Age and the development of Abrahamic religions. Important polytheistic religions practiced today include Chinese traditional religion, Hinduism, Japanese Shinto, the term comes from the Greek πολύ poly and θεός theos and was first invented by the Jewish writer Philo of Alexandria to argue with the Greeks. When Christianity spread throughout Europe and the Mediterranean, non-Christians were just called Gentiles or pagans or by the pejorative term idolaters. The modern usage of the term is first revived in French through Jean Bodin in 1580, a central, main division in polytheism is between soft polytheism and hard polytheism. Hard polytheism is the belief that gods are distinct, separate, real divine beings, hard polytheists reject the idea that all gods are one god. Hard polytheists do not necessarily consider the gods of all cultures as being equally real, Polytheism cannot be cleanly separated from the animist beliefs prevalent in most folk religions. The gods of polytheism are in cases the highest order of a continuum of supernatural beings or spirits. In some cases these spirits are divided into celestial or chthonic classes, since divinity is intellectual, and all intellect returns into itself, this myth expresses in allegory the essence of divinity. Myths may be regarded physically when they express the activities of gods in the world, the psychological way is to regard the activities of the soul itself and or the souls acts of thought. The material is to regard material objects to actually be gods, for example, to call the earth Gaia, ocean Okeanos, Some well-known historical polytheistic pantheons include the Sumerian gods and the Egyptian gods, and the classical-attested pantheon which includes the ancient Greek religion and Roman religion. Post-classical polytheistic religions include Norse Æsir and Vanir, the Yoruba Orisha, the Aztec gods, an example of a religious notion from this shared past is the concept of *dyēus, which is attested in several distinct religious systems. In many civilizations, pantheons tended to grow over time, deities first worshipped as the patrons of cities or places came to be collected together as empires extended over larger territories. Conquests could lead to the subordination of the elder cultures pantheon to a one, as in the Greek Titanomachia. Most ancient belief systems held that gods influenced human lives, epicurus believed that these gods were material, human-like, and that they inhabited the empty spaces between worlds. Though it is suggested that Hestia stepped down when Dionysus was invited to Mount Olympus, robert Graves The Greek Myths cites two sources that obviously do not suggest Hestia surrendered her seat, though he suggests she did
19.
Rite of passage
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A rite of passage is a celebration of the passage which occurs when an individual leaves one group to enter another. It involves a significant change of status in society, in cultural anthropology the term is the Anglicisation of rite de passage, a French term innovated by the ethnographer Arnold van Gennep in his work Les rites de passage, The Rites of Passage. The term is now fully adopted into anthropology as well as into the literature, in English, Van Genneps first sentence of his first chapter begins, Each larger society contains within it several distinctly separate groupings. In addition, all these groups break down into still smaller societies in subgroups, the population of a society belongs to multiple groups, some more important to the individual than others. Van Gennep uses the metaphor, as a kind of house divided into rooms, a passage occurs when an individual leaves one group to enter another, in the metaphor, he changes rooms. Van Gennep further distinguishes between the secular and the sacred sphere, many groups in modern industrial society practice customs that can be traced to an earlier sacred phase. Passage between these requires an ceremony, or ritual hence rite of passage. He is able to find some universals, mainly two, the separation between men and women, and the magico-religious separation between the profane and the sacred. He refuses credit for being the first to recognize type of rites, in the work he concentrates on groups and rites individuals might normally encounter progressively, pregnancy, childbirth, initiation, betrothal, marriage, funerals and the like. He mentions some others, such as the passage, a crossing of borders into a culturally different region. Rites of passage have three phases, separation, liminality, and incorporation, as van Gennep described, in the first phase, people withdraw from their current status and prepare to move from one place or status to another. The first phase comprises symbolic behavior signifying the detachment of the individual or group, from an earlier fixed point in the social structure. There is often a detachment or cutting away from the self in this phase. For example, the cutting of the hair for a person who has just joined the army and he or she is cutting away the former self, the civilian. The transition phase is the period between states, during which one has one place or state but has not yet entered or joined the next. The attributes of liminality or of liminal personae are necessarily ambiguous, in the third phase the passage is consummated the ritual subject. Having completed the rite and assumed their new identity, one society with ones new status. Laboratory experiments have shown that severe initiations produce cognitive dissonance and it is theorized that such dissonance heightens group attraction among initiates after the experience, arising from internal justification of the effort used
20.
Ritual
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A ritual is a sequence of activities involving gestures, words, and objects, performed in a sequestered place, and performed according to set sequence. Rituals may be prescribed by the traditions of a community, including a religious community, Rituals are characterized but not defined by formalism, traditionalism, invariance, rule-governance, sacral symbolism, and performance. Rituals are a feature of all human societies. Even common actions like hand-shaking and saying hello may be termed rituals, the field of ritual studies has seen a number of conflicting definitions of the term. One given by Kyriakidis is that a ritual is an outsiders or etic category for a set activity that, to the outsider, seems irrational, non-contiguous, or illogical. The term can be used also by the insider or emic performer as an acknowledgement that this activity can be seen as such by the uninitiated onlooker, the English word ritual derives from the Latin ritualis, that which pertains to rite. In Roman juridical and religious usage, ritus was the way of doing something, or correct performance. The word ritual is first recorded in English in 1570, there are hardly any limits to the kind of actions that may be incorporated into a ritual. Catherine Bell argues that rituals can be characterized by formalism, traditionalism, invariance, rule-governance, sacral symbolism, Ritual utilizes a limited and rigidly organized set of expressions which anthropologists call a restricted code. Maurice Bloch argues that ritual obliges participants to use this formal oratorical style, which is limited in intonation, syntax, vocabulary, loudness, in adopting this style, ritual leaders speech becomes more style than content. Because this formal speech limits what can be said, it induces acceptance, compliance, Bloch argues that this form of ritual communication makes rebellion impossible and revolution the only feasible alternative. Ritual tends to support forms of social hierarchy and authority. Rituals appeal to tradition and are concerned to repeat historical precedents accurately. Traditionalism varies from formalism in that the ritual may not be yet still makes an appeal to historical. An example is the American Thanksgiving dinner, which may not be formal, thus, the appeal to history is important rather than accurate historical transmission. Catherine Bell states that ritual is also invariant, implying careful choreography and this is less an appeal to traditionalism than a striving for timeless repetition. The key to invariance is bodily discipline, as in prayer and meditation meant to mold dispositions. This bodily discipline is frequently performed in unison, by groups, Rituals tend to be governed by rules, a feature somewhat like formalism
21.
Sacred language
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A sacred language, holy language or liturgical language is a language that is cultivated for religious reasons by people who speak another language in their daily life. Once a language associated with religious worship, its believers may ascribe virtues to the language of worship that they would not give to their native tongues. In the case of sacred texts, there is a fear of losing authenticity and accuracy by a translation or re-translation, a sacred language is typically vested with a solemnity and dignity that the vernacular lacks. In some cases, the language is a dead language. In other cases, it may simply reflect archaic forms of a living language, in more extreme cases, the language has changed so much from the language of the sacred texts that the liturgy is no longer comprehensible without special training. The concept of sacred languages is distinct from that of divine languages, the concept, as expressed by the name of a script, for example in Devanāgarī, the name of a script that means of city of deities. Theravada Buddhism uses Pali as its liturgical language, and prefers its scriptures to be studied in the original Pali. In Thailand, Pali is written using the Thai alphabet, resulting in a Thai pronunciation of the Pali language, Mahayana Buddhism makes little use of its original language, Sanskrit. In some Japanese rituals, Chinese texts are read out or recited with the Japanese pronunciations of their constituent characters, in Tibetan Buddhism, the Tibetan language is used, but mantras are in Sanskrit. Christian rites, rituals, and ceremonies are not celebrated in one single sacred language, the Churches which trace their origin to the Apostles continued to use the standard languages of the first few centuries AD. The continuous use of Greek in the Roman Liturgy came to be replaced in part by Latin by the reign of Pope Saint Damasus I, gradually, the Roman Liturgy took on more and more Latin until, generally, only a few words of Hebrew and Greek remained. The adoption of Latin was further fostered when the Vetus Latina version of the Bible was edited and parts retranslated from the original Hebrew, Latin continued as the Western Churchs language of liturgy and communication. One simply practical reason for this may be there were no standardized vernaculars throughout the Middle Ages. Church Slavonic was used for the celebration of the Roman Liturgy in the 9th century, in the mid-16th century the Council of Trent rejected a proposal to introduce national languages as this was seen, among other reasons, as potentially divisive to Catholic unity. From the end of 16th century, in coastal Croatia, the vernacular was gradually replacing Church Slavonic as liturgical language, for example, vernacular was used in the inquiry of bride and bridegroom as to whether they accepted their marriage-vows itself. Jesuit missionaries to China had sought, and for a short time, among the Algonquin and Iroquois, they received permission to translate the propers of the Mass into the vernacular. In the 20th century, Pope Pius XII granted permission for a few vernaculars to be used in a few rites, rituals and this did not include the Roman Liturgy of the Mass. In the 20th century, Vatican II set out to protect the use of Latin as a liturgical language, to a large degree, its prescription was initially disregarded and the vernacular became not only standard, but generally used exclusively in the liturgy
22.
Shamanism
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The word shaman probably originates from the Tungusic Evenki language of North Asia. The term was introduced to the west after Russian forces conquered the shamanistic Khanate of Kazan in 1552, Mircea Eliade writes, A first definition of this complex phenomenon, and perhaps the least hazardous, will be, shamanism = technique of religious ecstasy. Shamanism encompasses the premise that shamans are intermediaries or messengers between the world and the spirit worlds. Shamans are said to treat ailments/illness by mending the soul, alleviating traumas affecting the soul/spirit restores the physical body of the individual to balance and wholeness. The shaman also enters supernatural realms or dimensions to obtain solutions to problems afflicting the community, Shamans may visit other worlds/dimensions to bring guidance to misguided souls and to ameliorate illnesses of the human soul caused by foreign elements. The shaman operates primarily within the world, which in turn affects the human world. The restoration of balance results in the elimination of the ailment, hundreds of books and academic papers on the subject have been produced, with a peer-reviewed academic journal being devoted to the study of shamanism. The word shaman probably originates from the Evenki word šamán, most likely from the dialect spoken by the Sym Evenki peoples. The Tungusic term was adopted by Russians interacting with the indigenous peoples in Siberia. It is found in the memoirs of the exiled Russian churchman Avvakum, adam Brand, a merchant from Lübeck, published in 1698 his account of a Russian embassy to China, a translation of his book, published the same year, introduced the word shaman to English speakers. The etymology of the Evenki word is sometimes connected to a Tungus root ša- to know, other scholars assert that the word comes directly from the Manchu language, and as such would be the only commonly used English word that is a loan from this language. This proposal has been thoroughly critiqued since 1917, ethnolinguist Juha Janhunen regards it as an anachronism and an impossibility that is nothing more than a far-fetched etymology. Ethnolinguists did not develop as a discipline nor achieve contact with these communities until the late 19th century, there is no single agreed-upon definition for the word shamanism among anthropologists. The English historian Ronald Hutton noted that by the dawn of the 21st century, the first of these uses the term to refer to anybody who contacts a spirit world while in an altered state of consciousness. The second definition limits the term to refer to those who contact a spirit world while in a state of consciousness at the behest of others. Problematically, scholars advocating the third view have failed to agree on what the defining technique should be, the fourth definition identified by Hutton uses shamanism to refer to the indigenous religions of Siberia and neighboring parts of Asia. According to the Golomt Center for Shamanic Studies, a Mongolian organisation of shamans, Shamans are normally called by dreams or signs which require lengthy training. However, shamanic powers may be inherited, turner and colleagues mention a phenomenon called shamanistic initiatory crisis, a rite of passage for shamans-to-be, commonly involving physical illness and/or psychological crisis
23.
Theories about religions
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Sociological and anthropological theories about religion generally attempt to explain the origin and function of religion. These theories define what they present as universal characteristics of religious belief, from presocratic times, ancient authors advanced prescientific theories about religion. Herodotus saw the gods of Greece as the same as the gods of Egypt, euhemerus regarded gods as excellent historical persons whom admirers eventually came to worship. Scientific theories, inferred and tested by the method, emerged after data from tribes and peoples all over the world became available in the 18th and 19th centuries. Max Müller has the reputation of having founded the study of religion. Subsequently, Clifford Geertz and others questioned the validity of abstracting a general theory of all religions, theories of religion can be classified into, Substantive theories that focus on the contents of religions and the meaning the contents have for people. This approach asserts that people have faith because beliefs make sense insofar as they hold value and are comprehensible, the theories by Tylor and Frazer, by Rudolf Otto and by Mircea Eliade offer examples of substantive theories. Functional theories that focus on the social or psychological functions that religion has for a group or a person. This approach tends to be static, with the exception of Marx theory, and unlike e. g. Webers approach and they relied heavily on reports made by missionaries, discoverers, and colonial civil servants. These were all investigators who had a religious background themselves, thus they looked at religion from the inside, typically they did not practice investigative field work, but used the accidental reports of others. This method left them open to criticism for lack of universality, the theories could be updated, however, by considering new reports, which Robert Ranulph Marett did for Tylors theory of the evolution of religion. Field workers deliberately sent out by universities and other institutions to collect specific cultural data made available a much greater database than random reports, for example, the anthropologist E. E. Evans-Pritchard preferred detailed ethnographical study of tribal religion as more reliable. He criticised the work of his predecessors, Müller, Tylor, a second methodology, functionalism, seeks explanations of religion that are outside of religion, i. e. the theorists are generally atheists or agnostics themselves. As did the essentialists, the functionalists proceeded from reports to investigative studies and their fundamental assumptions, however, are quite different, notably, they apply what is called methodological naturalism. When explaining religion they reject divine or supernatural explanations for the status or origins of religions because they are not scientifically testable, the dichotomy between the two classifications is not bridgeable, even though they have the same methods, because each excludes the data of the other. The functionalists and some of the later essentialists have criticized the view as neglecting social aspects of religion. Such critics go so far as to brand Tylors and Frazers views on the origin of religion as unverifiable speculation, the view of monotheism as more evolved than polytheism represents a mere preconception, they assert. There is evidence that monotheism is more prevalent in hunter societies than in agricultural societies, the view of a uniform progression in folkways is criticized as unverifiable, as the writer Andrew Lang and E. E. Evans-Pritchard assert
24.
Veneration of the dead
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The veneration of the dead, including ones ancestors, is based on love and respect for the deceased. In some cultures, it is related to beliefs that the dead have a continued existence, the social or non-religious function of ancestor veneration is to cultivate kinship values, such as filial piety, family loyalty, and continuity of the family lineage. Ancestor veneration occurs in societies with every degree of social, political, and technological complexity, ancestor reverence is not the same as the worship of a deity or deities. In some Afro-diasporic cultures, ancestors are seen as being able to intercede on behalf of the living, as spirits who were once human themselves, they are seen as being better able to understand human needs than would a divine being. In other cultures, the purpose of ancestor veneration is not to ask for favors, some cultures believe that their ancestors actually need to be provided for by their descendants, and their practices include offerings of food and other provisions. Others do not believe that the ancestors are even aware of what their descendants do for them, most cultures who practice ancestor veneration do not call it ancestor worship. In English, the word usually refers to the reverent love. However, in cultures, this act of worship does not confer any belief that the departed ancestors have become some kind of deity. Rather, the act is a way to respect, honor, in this regard, many cultures and religions have similar practices. Some may visit the graves of their parents or other ancestors, leave flowers and pray to them in order to honor and remember them, however, this would not be considered as worshipping them since the term worship shows no such meaning. This is consistent with the meaning of the veneration in English. Although there is no accepted theory concerning the origins of ancestor veneration. Although some historians claim that ancient Egyptian society was a “death cult” because of its tombs and mummification rituals. The philosophy that “this world is but a vale of tears” and this was not to say that they were unacquainted with the harshness of life, rather, their ethos included a sense of continuity between this life and the next. Tombs were housing in the Hereafter and so they were constructed and decorated. Mummification was a way to preserve the corpse so the ka of the deceased could return to receive offerings of the things s/he enjoyed while alive, if mummification was not affordable, a “ka-statue” in the likeness of the deceased was carved for this purpose. The Blessed Dead were collectively called the akhu, or “shining ones” and they were described as “shining as gold in the belly of Nut and were indeed depicted as golden stars on the roofs of many tombs and temples. If the heart was in balance with the Feather of Maat, at this point only was the ka deemed worthy to be venerated by the living through rites and offerings
25.
Coral Gardens and Their Magic
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It concentrates on the cultivation practices the Trobriand Islanders used to grow yams, taro, bananas and palms. It describes the gardens in which the Trobrianders grew food as more than merely utilitarian spaces, in 1988 Alfred Gell called the book still the best account of any primitive technological-cum-magical system, and unlikely ever to be superseded in this respect. The book has been described as Malinowskis magnum opus, the book consists of seven parts divided over two volumes. Volume I, The Description of Gardening, contains the introduction and it also considers the methodological limitations of various approaches to ethnographic fieldwork, especially in relation to terminology. Part Four, An ethnographic theory of language and some practical corollaries This part considers language as a tool, a document, and it discusses the difficulties of translation and the overlap and boundaries of concepts, and brings context to bear on interpretation. For the anthropologist and for the speakers, part Six, An ethnographic theory of the magical word This part advances a theory of magical language, both in the Trobriand case specifically and in general terms. Malinowski argues that Trobriand magic spells, like all forms of language, must be understood in context, as verbal acts, Language, including magical language, is intended primarily not to communicate thought, but to bring about practical effects. This theory of a function of language as a functional aspect of human behaviour, is an early anthropological contribution to the theory of pragmatics. Part Seven, Magical formulae This section presents some Trobriand magical spells, the work continues to receive attention from contemporary anthropologists. Its assessment of the Trobriand chiefs role as that of a glorified brother-in-law to the community is one with which later anthropologists have taken issue. Malinowski was also praised for his serious engagement with the realities of Trobriand agriculture, its emphasis on its ceremonial aspects notwithstanding, in favour of a simpler, the work is also regarded as a pioneering text in the interdisciplinary study of pragmatics. Its analysis of the context and contents of Trobriand spells was one of the first to bring ethnography to bear on the subject of language. In a letter written around February 1929, Malinowski wrote that he was basing the monograph partly upon a manuscript on gardening he had written during 1916 and 1917. The book was published by Routledge in 1935 and it has been through several editions, including a 1966 second edition by Allen and Unwin. US editions were published in 1965 and 1978, Coral Gardens and their Magic, Volume I at Google Books Coral Gardens and their Magic, Volume II at Google Books
26.
Angakkuq
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The angakkuq is the intellectual and spiritual figure among the Inuit who corresponds to a medicine man. Other Alaskan Native cultures have traditionally had similar spiritual mediators, although Alaskan Native religion has many forms, both women and men could become an angakkuq, although it was more rare for women to do so. The process for becoming an angakkuq varied widely, the son of a current angakkuq might be trained by his father to become one as well. Alternatively, a man or woman who exhibited a predilection or power that made them stand out might be trained by an experienced mentor. There are also instances of angakkuit claiming to have called to the role through dreams or visions. Mistreated orphans or people who had survived hard times might also become angakkuit with the help of the spirits of their loved ones. During their training, the angakkuq would also gain a familiar or spirit guide who would be only to them. This guide, called a tuurngaq, would at times give them extraordinary powers, Inuit stories tell of agakkuit who could run as fast as caribou, or who could fly, with the assistance of their tuurngaq. In some traditions, the angakkuq would be stabbed or shot, receiving no wound because of the intervention of their tuurngaw. Until spiritual guidance or assistance was needed, an angakkuq lived a life for an Inuit. But when sickness needed to be cured, or divination of the causes of various misfortunes was needed, the services of an angakkuit might also be required to interpret dreams. If they were called to perform actions that helped the entire village, but if they were called to help an individual or family, they would usually receive remuneration for their efforts. Breaking these laws or taboos was seen as the cause of misfortune, such as bad weather, accidents, in order to pinpoint the cause of such misfortune, the angakkuq would undertake a spirit-guided journey outside of their body. They would discover the cause of the misfortune on this journey and this confession alone could be declared the solution to the problem, or acts of penance such as cleaning the urine pots or swapping wives might be necessary. The angakkuit of the central Inuit participate in a ceremony to appease the mythological figure Sedna. According to myth, this was of assistance to Sedna because she lacks fingers. After returning from this journey, communities in which the rite was practiced would have communal confessions. An elders workshop on angakkuuniq- by Jarich Oosten and Frédéric Laugrand,2002 Shamanism - the powers of the angakkuq- SILA,2005
27.
Bobohizan
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A Bobohizan or Bobolian is a high priestess or a spirit medium in Kadazan-Dusun pagan rites. One of the roles of a Bobohizan is to appease the rice spirit Bambaazon during harvest festival or Kaamatan. A Bobohizan also plays a role as a mediator between the spirits and the people, one of the commonest duties of a Bobohizan is to heal and cure illnesses with herbal remedies and rites. Bobohizan is said to stem from the first ancestors of the Kadazan-Dusun people, Kingaan, long after their passing to Hibabou, the rites, prayers, and incantations were lost and forgotten. This is when Suminundu sent a spirit to earth to teach the people about the rinait, the spirit came every evening, calling upon anyone brave enough to learn. The call was repeated for years but no one was enough to come forth until one day a brave woman went out. She soon learned the art of rinait and rites from the spirit, according to legend, because it was the woman who were brave enough to meet the spirit, all Bobohizan in Penampang was by custom, women only. A Bobohizan plays a role in a daily life of the Kadazan people before the advent of Christianity. Bobohizans are also involved in charms, reading omens and to a lesser extent augury
28.
Bora (Australian)
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Bora is an initiation ceremony of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of Australia, descended from groups that existed in Australia and surrounding islands before European colonisation. The word bora also refers to the site on which the initiation is performed, at such a site, boys, having reached puberty, achieve the status of men. During the rites, the youths who were to be initiated were taught traditional sacred songs, the secrets of the tribes religious visions, dances, many different clans would assemble to participate in an initiation ceremony. Women and children were not permitted to be present at the sacred bora ground where these rituals were undertaken. The word Bora was originally taken from the Gamilaraay language spoken by the Kamilaroi people who lived in the north of the Hunter Valley in New South Wales to southern Queensland. It was then adorted broadly to describe similar ritual sites and the associated with them performed throughout Eastern Australia. Many other terms exist across Australia to denote similar initiatory rites on a ground, such as burbung. The specific word is said to come from the belt worn by initiated men, the appearance of the site varies among cultures, but it is often associated with stone arrangements, rock engravings, or other art works. Typically, bora ground comprised a circle with a diameter of between 20–30 metres, and a smaller ring around 10–15 metres in diameter. The former was a public space while the latter was sacred. In south-east Australia, the Bora is often associated with the creator-spirit Baiame, in the Sydney region, large earth mounds were made, shaped as long bands or simple circles. Matthews gives an excellent eye-witness account of a Bora ceremony, one very fine example of a two ring bora ceremonial site used to exist in Alberton till it was destroyed, and made way for a pineapple plantation in the late 1950s. The smaller southern ring contained a dolmen-like structure, the rings are joined by a sacred walkway. While most are confined to south-east Queensland and eastern New South Wales, five earth rings have been recorded near the Victorian town of Sunbury, Bora rings in the form of circles of individually placed stones are evident in Werrikimbe National Park in northern New South Wales
29.
Dukun
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A dukun is an Indonesian-Malay term for shaman. In Malaysia, they are referred to as bomoh. Their societal role is that of a healer, spirit medium, custom and tradition experts. In common usage the dukun is often confused with another type of shaman and it is often mistranslated into English as witch doctor or medicine man. The dukun is the epitome of the kejawen or kebatinan belief system indigenous to Java. Beneath the thin superficial practice of Islam, very strong and ancient beliefs of animism, ancestor worship, in the pre-colonial past, dukun were exempt from paying taxes, as with Hindu priests and Buddhist monks. Many highly prominent and highly educated Indonesians, Malaysians and Singaporeans, even those with Western doctorate and masters levels degrees will still consult dukun or soothsayers. Dukun are most common on the island of Java, though the island of Madura is especially feared for being very powerful practitioners of dark magic, the Dayak people of Kalimantan are also feared for their use of dukun when head-hunting. In Sabah, the Kadayan community are renowned for their dukun who are said to look waif-like with red eyes, in common practice, a dukun is consulted when a person perceives they have an issue that has a supernatural or paranormal association. If a dukun is not known to the individual, their family or friends, word of mouth often creates a situation where the dukun will appear as if summoned, the dukuns knowledge is passed down orally, but the specific customs differ from one community to another. Initiates may voluntarily decide to learn the craft, or the position might be inherited. Proto-Malay dukun often serve the role of both shaman and village chief, known as a tok batin. Dukun who inherited their knowledge from their parent or grandparent is held in higher esteem than one who served as another dukuns disciple, typically the initiation ritual involves meditation at a mountain, waterfall, cemetery or some other location away from people. In some communities, such as the Kadayan of Sabah, dukun are also required to learn silat before they can be initiated, the purpose is both for the purpose of self-defence and for the spiritual training. The dukuns primary role is that of a healer and they may use herbalism, incantations, chants, animal parts, inanimate objects, spiritual communication or guidance, prayers, offerings, the keris or any combination to effect their curatives. Dukun are believed to be able to communicate directly with malevolent and benevolent spirits, spirits are said not to resist the dukun in their removal from their host, as they are enthralled that a living being can communicate with them. Dukun are most famous for prophetic visions and this is often the result of consulting spirits relating to one’s deceased family who often provide insight into what is likely to happen. Dukun will occasionally bless an individual or a business, to keep away termites or spirits or demons, dukun are alleged to see normally invisible spirits and communicate as easily as though the spirit were physically present
30.
Miko
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In Shinto, a miko is a shrine maiden or a supplementary priestess. The traditional attire of a miko would be a pair of red hakama or a long, red, slightly pleated skirt tied with a bow, a white haori, in Shintoism, the color white symbolizes purity. Traditional Miko tools include azusayumi the tamagushi and the gehōbako, the miko also use bells, drums, candles, and bowls of rice in ceremonies. The Japanese words miko and fujo are usually written 巫女 as a compound of the kanji 巫, Miko was archaically written 神子 and 巫子. Miko once performed spirit possession and takusen as vocational functions in their service to shrines, as time passed, they left the shrines and began working independently in secular society. Miko at shrines today do no more than sit at reception counters, Miko are known by many names, Fairchild lists 26 terms for shrine-attached Miko and 43 for non-shrine-attached Miko. Other names are ichiko meaning female medium, fortuneteller, and reibai meaning spirit go-between, in English, the word is often translated as shrine maiden, though freer renderings often simply use the phrase female shaman or, as Lafcadio Hearn translated it, Divineress. Some scholars prefer the transliteration, contrasting the Japanese Mikoism with other Asian terms for female shamans, as Fairchild explains, Women played an important role in a region stretching from Manchuria, China, Korea and Japan to the Ryukyu Islands. In Japan these women were priests, soothsayers, magicians, prophets and shamans in the folk religion and these women were called Miko, and the author calls the complex Mikoism for lack of a suitable English word. The early Miko was an important social figure who was “associated with the ruling class. ”“In addition to her performances of ecstatic trance, ” writes Kuly, “ performed a variety of religious and political functions. ”One traditional school of Miko, Kuly adds, “claimed to descend from the Goddess Uzume. ”During the Nara period and Heian period. As Fairchild notes, In 780 A. D. and in 807 A. D. official bulls against the practice of ecstasy outside of the authority of the shrines were published. These bulls were not only aimed at ecstasy, but were aimed at magicians, priests, sorcerers and it was an attempt to gain complete control, while at the same time it aimed at eradicating abuses which were occurring. Disassociated from a context, her performance moved further away from a religious milieu. The travelling Miko, known as the aruki Miko, became associated with prostitution, during in the Edo period, writes Groemer, “the organizational structures and arts practiced by female shamans in eastern Japan underwent significant transformations. As a result, official discourse increasingly repeated negative views of Miko, there was an edict called Miko Kindanrei enforced by security forces loyal to Imperial forces, forbidding all spiritual practices by miko, issued in 1873, by the Religious Affairs Department. The position of a shaman passed from generation to generation, to achieve this, such a person had to have some potential. Several characteristics could be seen as a sign a person was called towards shamanism, neurosis, hallucinations, unusual behavior and these conditions are still referred to as ‘shamanistic sicknesses’. To become a shaman, the girl had to undergo intensive training specific to the kuchiyose miko
31.
Pawang
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A pawang is a type of shaman from Malaysia and Indonesia. The pawang deals with magic involving weather, wild animals and spirits, pawang are usually associated with rivers in contrast to the traditional healers who are most often linked to mountains. Some specialise in controlling weather such as the pawang hujan, others prevent attacks from animals such as the pawang harimau and the pawang buaya. Particular rituals and chants exist for ensuring a good hunt, a trip through the jungle. A pawang is said to control elements and entity by chanting, practitioners believe the spirits can perform healings, seek missing persons and things or even investigate reasons for bad luck. They further claim that spirits can be used to people, cause sickness and miseries. The British colonial administrator Frank Swettenham wrote about the role of the pawang in late nineteenth century Malaya in a chapter on Malay Superstitions in his volume of essays Malay Sketches, animism in Malaysia Bomoh Dukun Shaman
32.
Slametan
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The slametan is the communal feast from Java, symbolizing the social unity of those participating in it. Clifford Geertz considered it the core ritual in Javanese religion, in particular the abangan variant, the feast is common among the closely related Javanese, Sundanese and Madurese people. A slametan can be given to celebrate almost any occurrence, including birth, marriage, death, moving to a new house, depending on the intention, the mood and emphasis may vary somewhat, but the main structure is the same. This is what the host intends for himself and his guests, by experiencing the egalitarian structure of the slametan and the petitions of supernatural protection from spirits. In Geertzs fieldwork in Mojokuto in the 1950s, he found that costs of slametans varied from 3 to 5,000 Indonesian rupiahs, depending on the type, slametans are generally held in the evening, after evening prayer is finished. The date is determined either by the occurrence it is celebrating, the guests, always men, are always close neighbors, and the selection of guests is based entirely on proximity, and not whether they are friends or relatives. They are called by a messenger of the host only five or ten minutes before the slametan is to begin, when they arrive, the guests sit on floor mats around the food which has been placed in the center, while incense fills the room. The ceremony begins with a speech in high Javanese. During pauses in the speech, the audience responds with solemn inggih, following the speech, somebody present gives an Arabic chant-prayer. Many will not know how, but the host makes sure that there had attended a religious school. Fragments of the Koran, especially the al-Fatiha, are most commonly used, at pauses the audience says amen. The prayer leader receives a small payment, at last, the food is served. While the ceremony is strictly for men, the food preparation falls upon the women in the family, each guest receives a cup of tea and a banana-leaf dish containing each sort of food in the center of the room. The food is fancier than average, and each variety has a symbolic meaning, the host himself does not eat, nor does he serve the food, which one or two of the guests does. When everybody has a dish, the host invites them to eat, after a few minutes, and before eating most of the food, the guests excuse themselves, and finish eating the food in their own homes, with their own wives and children. The whole ceremony usually lasts only ten or fifteen minutes, around birth, there are four major slametans and a number of minor ones. Funerals generally take place as soon as possible after the death, and inevitably involve the religious specialist of the village. Slametans are held the day of the death, and then repeated in increasing size three, seven, forty, and 100 days after the death, the first and second anniversaries, and 1000 days after the death
33.
Wu (shaman)
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Wu are spirit mediums who have practiced divination, prayer, sacrifice, rainmaking, and healing in Chinese traditions dating back over 3,000 years. The Chinese word wu 巫 spirit medium, shaman, shamaness, sorcerer, doctor, proper names was first recorded during the Shang Dynasty, during the late Zhou Dynasty wu was used to specify female shaman, sorceress as opposed to xi 覡 male shaman, sorcerer. Other sex-differentiated shaman names include nanwu 男巫 for male shaman, sorcerer, wizard, and nüwu 女巫, wunü 巫女, wupo 巫婆, and wuyu 巫嫗 for female shaman, sorceress, witch. Wu is used in compounds like wugu 巫蠱 sorcery, cast harmful spells, wushen 巫神 or shenwu 神巫 wizard, sorcerer, the word tongji 童乩 shaman, spirit-medium is a near-synonym of wu. Chinese uses phonetic transliteration to distinguish native wu from Siberian shaman, saman 薩滿 or saman 薩蠻, Shaman is occasionally written with Chinese Buddhist transcriptions of Shramana wandering monk, ascetic, shamen 沙門, sangmen 桑門, or sangmen 喪門. Joseph Needham suggests shaman was transliterated xianmen 羨門 in the name of Zou Yans disciple Xianmen Gao 羨門高. Needham compares two later Chinese terms for shaman, shanman 珊蛮, which described the Jurchen leader Wanyan Xiyin, and sizhu 司祝, which was used for imperial Manchu shamans during the Qing Dynasty. Shaman is the common English translation of Chinese wu, but some maintain that the Siberian shaman. Taking wu to mean female shaman, Edward H. Schafer translates it as shamaness, the transliteration-translation wu shaman or wu-shaman implies Chinese specifically and shamanism generally. Wu, concludes Falkenhausen, may be rendered as shaman or, perhaps, the Modern Standard Chinese pronunciation of 巫 is wu, which phonologically descends from Middle Chinese and Old Chinese. Compare these Middle and Old Chinese reconstructions of wu 巫, myu < *mywo, mjuo < *mjwaɣ, *mjag, mju < *ma, linguists disagree whether wu had an Old Chinese velar final -g or -ɣ. This 巫 is pronounced mouh in Cantonese, vu in Vietnamese, mu in Korean, the contemporary Chinese character 巫 for wu combines the graphic radicals gong 工 work and ren 人 person doubled. This 巫 character developed from Seal script characters that depicted dancing shamans, the first Chinese dictionary of characters, the Shuowen Jiezi defines wu as zhu 祝 sacrifice, prayer master, invoker, priest and analyzes the Seal graph, An Invoker. A woman who can serve the Invisible, and by posturing bring down the spirits, depicts a person with two sleeves posturing. This Seal graph for wu is interpreted as showing the 工 work of two dancing figures set to each other – a shamanistic dance or two figures facing some central object. This dictionary also includes a variant Great Seal script that elaborates wu 巫, Schafer compares the Shang Dynasty oracle graphs for wu and nong 弄 play with, cause that shows hands elevating a piece of jade inside an enclosure, possibly a tent. The Seal and modern form 巫 may well derive from this original, tu Baikui 塗白奎 believes the wu oracle character was composed of two pieces of jade and originally designated a tool of divination. The latter three proper name meanings of apply to mountains, places, and people, Wushan 巫山 Wu Mountain is located near Chongqing in Sichuan Province
34.
Cargo cult
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A cargo cult is a millenarian movement first described in Melanesia which encompasses a range of practices and occurs in the wake of contact with more technologically advanced societies. Cargo cults often develop during a combination of crises, under conditions of social stress, such a movement may form under the leadership of a charismatic figure. This leader may have a vision of the future, often linked to an ancestral efficacy thought to be recoverable by a return to traditional morality. This leader may characterize the present state as a dismantling of the old order, meaning that social hierarchy. Contact with colonizing groups brought about a transformation in the way indigenous peoples of Melanesia have thought about other societies. However, many of these practitioners actually focus on the importance of sustaining and creating new social relationships, since the late twentieth century, alternative theories have arisen. The indigenous societies of Melanesia were typically characterized by a big man system in which individuals gained prestige through gift exchanges. The more wealth a man could distribute, the people in his debt. Those who were unable to reciprocate were identified as rubbish men, faced, through colonialism, with foreigners with a seemingly unending supply of goods for exchange, indigenous Melanesians experienced value dominance. That is, they were dominated by others in terms of their own value system and these goods are intended for the local indigenous people, but the foreigners have unfairly gained control of these objects through malice or mistake. Thus, a feature of cargo cults is the belief that spiritual agents will, at some future time, give much valuable cargo. Symbols associated with Christianity and modern Western society tend to be incorporated into their rituals, the term cargo cult was first used in print in 1945 by Norris Mervyn Bird, repeating a derogatory description used by planters and businessmen in the Australian protectorate of Papua. The term was adopted by anthropologists, and applied retroactively to movements in a much earlier era. Discussions of cargo cults usually begin with a series of movements that occurred in the nineteenth century. The earliest recorded cargo cult was the Tuka Movement that began in Fiji in 1885 at the height of British colonial plantation era. Tuka was a leader who witnessed a loss of efficacy in his social group, a loss of land. The movement began with a return to a golden age of ancestral potency. Minor alterations to priestly practices were undertaken to update them and attempt to recover some kind of ancestral efficacy, colonial authorities saw Tuka as a rebel, and he was exiled, although he kept returning
35.
Ghost Dance
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The Ghost Dance was a new religious movement incorporated into numerous American Indian belief systems. The practice swept throughout much of the Western United States, quickly reaching areas of California, as the Ghost Dance spread from its original source, Indian tribes synthesized selective aspects of the ritual with their own beliefs. The Ghost Dance was associated with Wilsons prophecy of an end to white expansion while preaching goals of living, an honest life. Practice of the Ghost Dance movement was believed to have contributed to Lakota resistance to assimilation under the Dawes Act, in the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890, U. S. Army forces killed at least 153 Miniconjou and Hunkpapa from the Lakota people. The Lakota variation on the Ghost Dance tended towards millenarianism, an innovation that distinguished the Lakota interpretation from Jack Wilsons original teachings, the Caddo Nation still practices the Ghost Dance today. The Northern Paiutes living in Mason Valley, in what is now the U. S. state of Nevada, were known collectively as the Tövusi-dökadö at the time of European contact. The Northern Paiute community at time was thriving upon a subsistence pattern of fishing, hunting wild game. The Tövusi-dökadö during this period lacked any permanent political organization or officials, community events centered on the observance of seasonal ceremonies such as harvests or hunting. In 1869, Hawthorne Wodziwob, a Paiute man, organized a series of community dances to announce a vision and he spoke of a journey to the land of the dead and of promises made to him by the souls of the recently deceased. They promised to return to their loved ones within a period of three to four years, Wodziwobs peers accepted this vision, likely due to his reputable status as a healer. He urged the populace to dance the common circle dance as was customary during a time of celebration and he continued preaching this message for three years with the help of a local weather doctor named Tavibo, father of Jack Wilson. Prior to Wodziwobs religious movement, a typhoid epidemic struck in 1867. This and other European diseases killed approximately one-tenth of the total population, the disruption brought disorder to the economic system and society. Many families were prevented from continuing their nomadic lifestyle, a round dance is a circular community dance held, usually around an individual who leads the ceremony. Round dances may be ceremonial or purely social, usually the dancers are accompanied by a group of singers who may also play hand drums in unison. The dancers join hands to form a large circle, the dancers move to their left with a side-shuffle step to reflect the long-short pattern of the drum beat, bending their knees to emphasize the pattern. Spier studied peoples of the Columbia plateau, Jack Wilson, the prophet formerly known as Wovoka, was believed to have had a vision during a solar eclipse on January 1,1889. It was reportedly not his first time experiencing a vision, but as an adult, he claimed that he was then better equipped, spiritually
36.
Handsome Lake
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Handsome Lake was a Seneca religious leader of the Iroquois people. He was a half-brother to Cornplanter, a Seneca war chief, Handsome Lake, a leader and prophet, played a major role in reviving traditional religion among the Haudenosaunee, or Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy. This message was published as the Code of Handsome Lake and is still practiced today. Handsome Lake was born as Hadawako around 1735 in the Seneca village of Canawaugus, on the Genesee River near present-day Avon, New York. Very little is known of his parents, his mother, Gahonnoneh, later had an affair with a Dutch fur trader and gunsmith, Handsome Lake was born into the Turtle clan of his mother, as the Iroquois have a matrilineal kinship system. He was eventually adopted and raised by the Wolf clan people, born during a time when the Seneca nation was at its peak of prosperity through fur trading, Handsome Lake witnessed the gradual deterioration of his society. Other well-known relatives in Handsome Lakes family included Governor Blacksnake, Red Jacket, in 1794 he signed the U. S. treaty with the Six Nations. He visited Washington, D. C. with Cornplanter in 1802, several factors contributed to the erosion of morale and spiritual welfare of the Iroquois/Haudenosaunee. This dislocation followed years of social disruption due to epidemics of infectious disease, alcohol was introduced to the tribes in this time frame, a substance to which numerous Haudenosaunee began consuming in excess, exacerbating the erosion of the traditional family unit. This situation was a result of the clash between the fledgling United States and the once equally powerful Six Nations people. The traditional religious rituals were no longer applicable to the environment in which the Haudenosaunee people found themselves, in 1799, after a period of illness due to many years of excessive alcoholism, Handsome Lake had the visions that gave him the power to become a prophet. In his vision, he was warned by three spiritual messengers presented him with ideals that he must enforce among his people and they told him of concerns he must enforce, like learning the English language and preservation of their land. Shortly after Handsome Lakes first vision, he ceased drinking alcohol, when he regained his health, he began bringing a message of Gaiwiio to his people. He preached against drunkenness and other evil practices and his message outlined a moral code that was eventually referred to as the Code of Handsome Lake. Today it is called the Longhouse Religion, Handsome Lake abolished societal sins, attempting to cleanse the tribes of all immoral actions. He threatened his people in order to them the error of their ways. The rise of Handsome Lakes religion was more successful than most religions during that time because his code combined traditional Iroquois religion with Quaker values. Despite the clear presence of Christian values in his teachings, it is unclear how much contact with Christianity Handsome Lake had previous to his visions
37.
The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life
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The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, published by French sociologist Émile Durkheim in 1912, is a book that analyzes religion as a social phenomenon. Durkheim attributes the development of religion to the emotional security attained through communal living and his study of Totemic societies in Australia led to a conclusion that the animal or plant that each clan worshipped as a sacred power was in fact that society itself. Halfway through the text, Durkheim inquisites that, So if is at once the symbol of the god and of the society, is not because the god. According to Durkheim, early humans associated such feelings not only one another. This, Durkheim believed, led to the ascription of human sentiments and superhuman powers to these objects, the essence of religion, Durkheim finds, is the concept of the sacred, that being the only phenomenon which unites all religions. Durkheim Concludes, In summing up, then, we must say that society is not at all the illogical or a-logical, incoherent, quite on the contrary, the collective consciousness is the highest form of the psychic life, since it is the consciousness of the consciousnesses. Being placed outside of and above individual and local contingencies, it sees only in their permanent and essential aspects. It does not create these moulds artificially, it finds them within itself, it does nothing, Durkheim means that the symbolization of the collective consciousness is done through the totemic animal. It is through this flag that Australian Aboriginals become conscious of themselves within a system of given by the group itself. Durkheim examined religion using such examples as Pueblo Indian rain dances, the religions of aboriginal tribes in Australia, the Division of Labour in Society Rules of the Sociological Method Suicide Elementary Forms of the Religious Life, Newly Translated By Karen E. Fields. ISBN 0-02-907937-3 The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, Translated by Carol Cosman, ISBN 0-19-954012-8 Inglis, David and Roland Robertson. The Elementary Forms of Globality, Durkheim on the Emergence and Nature of Global Life, journal of Classical Sociology 8,1, 5-25 Lukes, Steven. Émile Durkheim, His Life and Work, A Historical and Critical Study, london, Allen Lane and the Penguin Press. Elementary Forms of the Metaphorical Life, Tropes at Work in Durkheim’s Theory of the Religious, journal of Classical Sociology, vol 14, no. Durkheims Sociology of Religion, Themes and Theories, the New Durkheim New Brunswick, Rutgers University Press The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life on the Internet Archive DD - Digital Durkheim
38.
Purity and Danger
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Purity and Danger, An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo is a 1966 book by the anthropologist and cultural theorist Mary Douglas. It is her best known work, in 1991 the Times Literary Supplement listed it as one of the hundred most influential non-fiction books published since 1945. It has gone through numerous reprints and re-editions, in 2003 a further edition was brought out as volume 2 in Mary Douglas, Collected Works. The line of inquiry in Purity and Danger traces the words, what is regarded as dirt in a given society is any matter considered out of place. She attempted to clarify the differences between the sacred, the clean and the unclean in different societies and times, but this does not entail judging religions as pessimistic or optimistic in their understanding of purity or dirt—e. g. as dirt-affirming or otherwise. Through a complex and sophisticated reading of ritual, religion, and lifestyle, Douglas challenged Western ideas of pollution, making clear how the context, instead, Douglas argued that the laws were about symbolic boundary-maintenance. Prohibited foods were those that did not seem to fall neatly into any category, for example, pigs place in the natural order was ambiguous because they shared the cloven hoof of the ungulates, but did not chew cud. Later in a 2002 preface to Purity and Danger, Douglas went on to retract this explanation of the kosher rules, instead, she proposed that the dietary laws intricately model the body and the altar upon one another. For instance, among land animals, Israelites were only allowed to eat animals that were allowed to be sacrificed. Douglas concluded from this that animals that are abominable to eat are not in fact impure and she claimed that later interpreters had misunderstood this. In Powers of Horror, where Julia Kristeva elaborates her theory of abjection, she recognizes the influence of Douglas’s “fundamental work, edwin Ardener in Man, New Series,2,1, p.139. Melford Spiro in American Anthropologist, New Series,70,2, william McCormack in Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion,6,2, pp. 313–314. Tamney in Sociological Analysis,28,1, pp. 56–57, phillip R. Kunz in Review of Religious Research,10,2, pp. 114–115. Albert James Bergesen, review essay in American Journal of Sociology,83,4, P. H. Gulliver in Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 30,2, Fiftieth Anniversary Volume, pp. 462–464. Sacred contagion Richard Fardon, Mary Douglas, An Intellectual Biography,2002 edition on google books Leonore Davidoff, Speaking Volumes, Purity and Danger, Times Higher Education Supplement 19 May 1995
