THE
RELIGIONS
BOOK
THE
RELIGIONS
BOOK
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CONTRIBUTORS
SHULAMIT AMBALU ANDREW STOBART
Rabbi Shulamit Ambalu MA studied at Leo Baeck College, London, The Rev. Dr. Andrew Stobart is a Methodist minister. He studied
where she was ordained in 2004 and now lectures in Pastoral Care Christian theology to the doctoral level at the London School of
and Rabbinic Literature. Theology and Durham and Aberdeen universities, and has taught
and written in the areas of theology, church history, and the Bible,
MICHAEL COOGAN contributing to Dorling Kindersley’s The Illustrated Bible.
One of the leading biblical scholars in the United States, Michael MEL THOMPSON
Coogan is Director of Publications for the Harvard Semitic
Museum and Lecturer on the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible at Dr. Mel Thompson BD, M.Phil, PhD, AKC was formerly a teacher,
Harvard Divinity School. Among his many works are The Old lecturer, and examiner in Religious Studies, and now writes on
Testament: A Historical and Literary Introduction and The philosophy, religion, and ethics. Author of more than 30 books,
Illustrated Guide to World Religions. including Understand Eastern Philosophy, he blogs on issues of
religious belief, and runs the “Philosophy and Ethics” website at
EVE LEVAVI FEINSTEIN www.philosophyandethics.com.
Dr. Eve Levavi Feinstein is a writer, editor, and tutor in Palo Alto, CHARLES TIESZEN
California. She holds a PhD on the Hebrew Bible from Harvard
University, and is the author of Sexual Pollution in the Hebrew Bible Dr. Charles Tieszen completed his doctorate at the University of
as well as articles for Jewish Ideas Daily and other publications. Birmingham, where he focused on medieval encounters between
Muslims and Christians. He is currently a researcher and adjunct
PAUL FREEDMAN professor of Islamic studies, specializing in topics related to Islam,
Christian–Muslim relations, and religious freedom.
Rabbi Paul Freedman studied Physics at Bristol University and
Education at Cambridge. Following a career in teaching, he gained MARCUS WEEKS
rabbinic ordination and an MA in Hebrew and Jewish studies at
Leo Baeck College, London. A writer and musician, Marcus Weeks studied philosophy
and worked as a teacher before embarking on a career as an
NEIL PHILIP author. He has contributed to many books on the arts, popular
sciences, and ideas, including the Dorling Kindersley title
Neil Philip is the author of numerous books on mythology and The Philosophy Book.
folklore, including the Dorling Kindersley Companion Guide to
Mythology (with Philip Wilkinson), The Great Mystery: Myths
of Native America, and the Penguin Book of English Folktales.
Dr. Philip studied at the universities of Oxford and London,
and is currently an independent writer and scholar.
CONTENTS
10 INTRODUCTION 36 Our ancestors will
guide us
PRIMAL BELIEFS The spirits of the dead live on
FROM PREHISTORY 38 We should be good
Living in harmony
20 Unseen forces are at work 39 Everything is connected
Making sense of the world A lifelong bond with the gods
24 Even a rock has a spirit 40 The gods desire blood 60 The triumph of good over
Animism in early societies Sacrifice and blood evil depends on humankind
offerings The battle between good
26 Special people can visit and evil
other worlds 46 We can build a
The power of the shaman sacred space 66 Accept the way of
Symbolism made real the universe
32 Why are we here? Aligning the self with the dao
Created for a purpose 48 We are in rhythm with
the universe 68 The Five Great Vows
33 Why do we die? Man and the cosmos Self-denial leads to
The origin of death spiritual liberation
50 We exist to serve the gods
34 Eternity is now The burden of observance 72 Virtue is not sent
The Dreaming from heaven
51 Our rituals sustain Wisdom lies with the
the world superior man
Renewing life through ritual
78 A divine child is born
The assimilation of myth
ANCIENT AND 79 The oracles reveal the
CLASSICAL BELIEFS will of the gods
Divining the future
FROM 3000 BCE
80 The gods are just like us
Beliefs that mirror society
56 There is a hierarchy
of gods and men 82 Ritual links us to our past
Beliefs for new societies Living the Way of the Gods
58 The good live forever in 86 The gods will die
the kingdom of Osiris The end of the world as we
Preparing for the afterlife know it
HINDUISM BUDDHISM
FROM 1700 BCE FROM 6TH CENTURY BCE
92 Through sacrifice we 130 Finding the Middle Way
maintain the order of The enlightenment
the universe of Buddha
A rational world
136 There can be an end
100 The divine has a to suffering
female aspect Escape from the eternal cycle
The power of the
great goddess 144 Test Buddha’s words
as one would the quality
101 Sit up close to your guru of gold
Higher levels of teaching The personal quest for truth
102 Brahman is my self 145 Religious discipline
within the heart is necessary
The ultimate reality The purpose of monastic vows
106 We learn, we live, we 146 Renounce killing and JUDAISM
withdraw, we detach good will follow
The four stages of life Let kindness and FROM 2000 BCE
compassion rule
110 It may be your duty 168 I will take you as my
to kill 148 We cannot say what a people, and I will be
Selfless action person is your God
The self as constantly God’s covenant with Israel
112 The practice of yoga leads changing
to spiritual liberation 176 Beside me there is no
Physical and mental discipline 152 Enlightenment has other God
many faces From monolatry
114 We speak to the gods Buddhas and bodhisattvas to monotheism
through daily rituals
Devotion through puja 158 Act out your beliefs 178 The Messiah will
The performance of ritual redeem Israel
116 The world is an illusion and repetition The promise of a new age
Seeing with pure
consciousness 160 Discover your 182 Religious law can be
Buddha nature applied to daily life
122 So many faiths, so Zen insights that go Writing the Oral Law
many paths beyond words
God-consciousness
124 Nonviolence is the 184 God is incorporeal,
weapon of the strong indivisible, and unique
Hinduism in the political age Defining the indefinable
186 God and humankind are CHRISTIANITY 228 This is my body, this
in cosmic exile is my blood
Mysticism and the kabbalah FROM 1ST CENTURY CE The mystery of the Eucharist
188 The holy spark dwells 204 Jesus is the beginning of 230 God’s word needs no
in everyone the end go-betweens
Man as a manifestation Jesus’s message to the world The Protestant Reformation
of God
208 God has sent us his Son 238 God is hidden in the heart
189 Judaism is a religion, not Jesus’s divine identity Mystical experience
a nationality in Christianity
Faith and the state 209 The blood of the
martyrs is the seed 239 The body needs saving
190 Draw from the past, live of the Church as well as the soul
in the present, work for Dying for the message Social holiness and
the future evangelicalism
Progressive Judaism 210 The body may die but the
soul will live on 240 Scientific advances do not
196 If you will it, it is Immortality in Christianity disprove the Bible
no dream The challenge of modernity
The origins of modern 212 God is three and God
political Zionism is one 246 We can influence God
A divine trinity Why prayer works
198 Where was God during
the Holocaust? 220 God’s grace never fails ISLAM
A challenge to the covenant Augustine and free will
FROM 610 CE
199 Women can be rabbis 222 In the world, but not of
Gender and the covenant the world 252 Muhammad is God’s
Serving God on behalf final messenger
of others The Prophet and the origins
of Islam
224 There is no salvation
outside the Church 254 The Qur’an was sent
Entering into the faith down from heaven
God reveals his word and
his will
262 The Five Pillars of Islam
The central professions
of faith
270 The imam is God’s
chosen leader
The emergence of
Shi‘a Islam
MODERN RELIGIONS 317 We have forgotten our
true nature
FROM 15TH CENTURY Clearing the mind with
Scientology
296 We must live as 318 Find a sinless world
saint-soldiers through marriage
The Sikh code of conduct Purging sin in the
Unification Church
272 God guides us with shari‘a 302 All may enter our
The pathway to gateway to God 319 Spirits rest between lives
harmonious living Class systems and faith in Summerland
Wicca and the Otherworld
276 We can think about 304 Messages to and
God, but we cannot from home 320 Negative thoughts are
comprehend him The African roots of just raindrops in an
Theological speculation Santeria ocean of bliss
in Islam Finding inner peace
306 Ask yourself: “What through meditation
278 Jihad is our religious duty would Jesus do?”
Striving in the way of God Following the example 321 What’s true for me is
of Christ the truth
A faith open to all beliefs
279 The world is one stage 308 We shall know him
of the journey to God through his messengers 322 Chanting Hare Krishna
The ultimate reward for The revelation of Baha’i cleanses the heart
the righteous Devotion to the Sweet Lord
310 Brush away the dust
280 God is unequaled of sin 323 Through qigong we access
The unity of divinity Tenrikyo and the Joyous Life cosmic energy
is necessary Life-energy cultivation in
311 These gifts must be Falun Dafa
282 Arab, water pot, and meant for us
angels are all ourselves Cargo cults of the 324 DIRECTORY
Sufism and the Pacific islands
mystic tradition 340 GLOSSARY
312 The end of the world
284 The latter days have is nigh 344 INDEX
brought forth a new Awaiting the Day
prophet of Judgment 351 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The origins of Ahmadiyya
314 The lion of Judah has
286 Islam must shed the arisen
influence of the West Ras Tafari is our savior
The rise of Islamic revivalism
316 All religions are equal
291 Islam can be a Cao Ðài aims to unify
modern religion all faiths
The compatibility of faith
INTRODU
CTION
12 INTRODUCTION
T here is no simple definition increasingly deployed as a political of finding significance and
of the concept of religion tool. Military conquests were often meaning, and providing a starting
that fully articulates all followed by the assimilation of the point for all of life’s endeavors,
its dimensions. Encompassing pantheon of the defeated people by it appears to be fundamental at
spiritual, personal, and social the victors; and kingdoms and a personal as well as a social level.
elements, this phenomenon is empires were often supported by
however, ubiquitous, appearing their deities and priestly classes. Beginnings
in every culture from prehistory We know about the religions of the
to the modern day—as evidenced A personal god earliest societies from the relics
in the cave paintings and elaborate Religion met many of the needs they left behind and from the stories
burial customs of our distant of early people and provided of later civilizations. In addition,
ancestors and the continuing templates by which they could isolated tribes in remote places,
quest for a spiritual goal to life. organize their lives—through rites, such as the Amazonian forest in
rituals, and taboos. It also gave South America, the Indonesian
For Palaeolithic people—and them a means by which they islands, and parts of Africa, still
indeed for much of human history could visualize their place in the practice religions that are thought to
—religion provided a way of cosmos. Could religion therefore have remained largely unchanged
understanding and influencing be explained as a purely social for millennia. These primal
powerful natural phenomena. artifact? Many would argue that religions often feature a belief in
Weather and the seasons, creation, it is much more. Over the centuries, a unity between nature and the
life, death and the afterlife, and the people have defied opposition to spirit, linking people inextricably
structure of the cosmos were all their faiths, suffering persecution with the environment.
subject to religious explanations or death to defend their right to
that invoked controlling gods, or a worship their God or gods. And All men have need
realm outside the visible inhabited even today, when the world is of the gods.
by deities and mythical creatures. arguably more materialistic than Homer
Religion provided a means to ever before, more than three-
communicate with these gods, quarters of its population consider
through ritual and prayer, and themselves to hold some form of
these practices—when shared by religious belief. Religion would
members of a community—helped seem to be a necessary part of
to cement social groups, enforce human existence, as important to
hierarchies, and provide a deep life as the ability to use language.
sense of collective identity. Whether it is a matter of intense
personal experience—an inner
As societies became more awareness of the divine—or a way
complex, their belief systems
grew with them and religion was
INTRODUCTION 13
As the early religions evolved, Other belief systems were new religions began to appear,
their ceremonies and cosmologies developing in the east. From the especially in the 19th and 20th
became increasingly sophisticated. 17th century BCE, the Chinese centuries, but these invariably
Primal religions of the nomadic and dynasties established their nation bore the traces of the faiths that
seminomadic peoples of prehistory states and empires. There emerged had come before.
gave way to the religions of the traditional folk religions and
ancient and, in turn, of the classical ancestor worship that were later Elements of religion
civilizations. Their beliefs are now incorporated into the more Human history has seen the rise
often dismissed as mythology, philosophical belief systems and fall of countless religions,
but many elements of these ancient of Daoism and Confucianism. each with its own distinct beliefs,
narrative traditions persist in rituals, and mythology. Although
today’s faiths. Religions continued In the eastern Mediterranean, some are similar and considered
to adapt, old beliefs were absorbed ancient Egyptian and Babylonian to be branches of a larger tradition,
into the religions of the society religions were still being practiced there are many contrasting and
that succeeded them, and new when the emerging city-states contradictory belief systems.
faiths emerged with different of Greece and Rome developed
observances and rituals. their own mythologies and Some religions, for example,
pantheons of gods. Further east, have a number of gods, while
Ancient to modern Zoroastrianism—the first major others, especially the more modern
It is hard to pinpoint the time when known monotheistic religion—had major faiths, are monotheistic;
many religions began, not least already been established in Persia,
because their roots lie in prehistory and Judaism had emerged as the There is no use disguising
and the sources that describe their first of the Abrahamic religions, the fact, our religious needs
origins may date from a much later followed by Christianity and Islam.
time. However, it is thought that are the deepest. There is
the oldest surviving religion today Many religions recognized the no peace until they are
is Hinduism, which has its roots particular significance of one or satisfied and contented.
in the folk religions of the Indian more individuals as founders of
subcontinent, brought together in the faith: they may have been Isaac Hecker,
the writing of the Vedas as early embodiments of god, such as Jesus Roman Catholic priest
as the 13th century BCE. From this or Krishna, or recipients of special
Vedic tradition came not only the divine revelation, such as Moses
pluralistic religion we now know and Muhammad.
as Hinduism, but also Jainism,
Buddhism, and, later, Sikhism, The religions of the modern
which emerged in the 15th century. world continued to evolve with
advances in society, sometimes
reluctantly, and often by dividing
into branches. Some apparently
14 INTRODUCTION
and there are major differences of or a more sophisticated set of ancillary texts have themselves
opinion between religions on such scriptures, but often includes a acquired canonical status. There
matters as the afterlife. We can, creation story and a history of is also often an ethical element,
however, identify certain elements the gods, saints, or prophets, with rules of conduct and taboos,
common to almost all religions in with parables that illustrate and and a social element that defines
order to examine the similarities reinforce the beliefs of the religion. the institutions of the religion and
and differences between them. Every existing faith has a collection of the society it is associated with.
These aspects—the ways in which of sacred texts that articulates its Such rules are typically concise—
the beliefs and practices of a central ideals and narrates the the Ten Commandments of
religion are manifested—are what history of the tradition. These Judaism and Christianity, or the
the British writer and philosopher texts, which in many cases are Noble Eightfold Path of Buddhism,
of religion Ninian Smart called the considered to be have been passed for example.
“dimensions of religion.” directly from the deity, are used in
worship and education. Religion and morality
Perhaps the most obvious The idea of good and evil is also
elements we can use to identify In many religions, alongside this fundamental to many faiths, and
and compare religions are the narrative, is a more sophisticated religion often has a function of
observances of a faith. These and systematic element, which offering moral guidance to society.
includes such activities as prayer, explains the philosophy and doctrine The major religions differ in their
pilgrimage, meditation, feasting of the religion, and lays out its definitions of what constitutes a
and fasting, dress, and of course distinctive theology. Some of these good life—and the line between
ceremonies and rituals. Also moral philosophy and religion is far
evident are the physical aspects What religion a man shall from clear in belief systems such
of a religion: the artifacts, relics, have is a historical accident, as Confucianism and Buddhism—
places of worship, and holy places. but certain basic moral codes have
Less apparent is the subjective quite as much as what emerged that are almost universal.
element of the religion—its language he shall speak. Religious taboos, commandments
mystical and emotional aspects, George Santayana, and so on not only ensure that the
and how a believer experiences Spanish philosopher will of the God or gods is obeyed,
the religion in achieving ecstasy, but also form a framework for society
enlightenment, or inner peace, for and its laws to enable people to live
example, or establishing a personal peaceably together. The spiritual
relationship with the divine. leadership that in many religions
was given by prophets with divine
Another aspect of most religions guidance was passed on to a
is the mythology, or narrative, that priesthood. This became an
accompanies it. This can be a
simple oral tradition of stories,
INTRODUCTION 15
essential part of many communities, Conflict and history a result there arose communist
and in some religions has wielded Just as religions have created states that were explicitly
considerable political power. cohesion within societies, they atheistic and antireligious.
have often been the source—or
Death and the afterlife the banner—of conflict between New directions
Most religions address the central them. Although all the major Responding to societal change
human concern of death with the traditions hold peace as an and scientific advances, some of
promise of some kind of continued essential virtue, they may also the older religions have adapted
existence, or afterlife. In eastern make provision for the use of force or divided into several branches.
traditions, such as Hinduism, the in certain circumstances, for Others have steadfastly rejected
soul is believed to be reincarnated example, to defend their faith or to what they see as a heretical
after death in a new physical form, extend their reach. Religion has progress in an increasingly rational,
while other faiths hold that the soul provided an excuse for hostility materialistic, and godless world;
is judged after death and resides in between powers throughout fundamentalist movements in
a nonphysical heaven or hell. The history. While tolerance is also Christianity, Islam, and Judaism
goal of achieving freedom from considered a virtue, heretics and have gained many followers who
the cycle of death and rebirth, or infidels have often been persecuted reject the liberal values of the
achieving immortality encourages for their beliefs, and religion has modern world.
believers to follow the rules of been the pretext for attempted
their faith. genocides such as the Holocaust. At the same time, many people
recognize a lack of spirituality in
All religions, arts, and Challenges to faith modern society, and have turned to
sciences are branches Faced with the negative aspects of charismatic denominations of the
religious belief and equipped with major religions, or to the many new
of the same tree. the tools of humanist philosophy religious movements that have
Albert Einstein and science, a number of thinkers appeared in the past 200 years.
have questioned the very validity
of religion. There were, they argued, Others, influenced by the New
logical and consistent cosmologies Age movement of the late 20th
based on reason rather than faith— century, have rediscovered ancient
in effect, religions had become beliefs, or sought the exoticism
irrelevant in the modern world. of traditional religions with no
New philosophies, such as connection to the modern world.
Marxism-Leninism considered Nevertheless, the major religions
religions to be a negative force of the world continue to grow and
on human development, and as even today very few countries in
the world can be seen as truly
secular societies.
PRIMAL
BELIEFS
FROM PREHISTORY
18 INTRODUCTION
Primal religions—so-called because
they came first—were practiced by people
throughout the world and are key to the
development of all modern religions.
Some are still active today.
By building miniature Through their
versions of the cosmos, bond with the gods,
the Pawnee created the Warao believe
sacred places. that everything
is connected.
Rituals to renew life The Quechua and
and sustain the world Aymara believed the For the Dogon
people, every thing
were a central part spirits of their dead contains the universe
of the religion of ancestors lived on
the Hupa. in microcosm.
to guide them.
The Aztecs and
Mayans offered
human sacrifices to
satisfy their gods’
desire for blood.
O ur early hunter-gatherer phenomena. The rising of the goddess gave birth to the world,
ancestors considered the sun each day, for example, might be which was in some cases fathered
natural world to have a seen as a release from the darkness by another god. Sometimes these
supernatural quality. For some, of the night, controlled by a sun parental deities were personified as
this was expressed in a belief god; similarly, natural cycles such animals, or natural feature, such
that animals, plants, objects, and as the phases of the moon and the as rivers or the sea, or in the form
forces of nature possess a spirit, seasons—vital to these people’s of mother earth and father sky.
in the same way that people do. way of life—were assigned their
In this animistic view of the world, own deities. As well as creating Rites and rituals
humans are seen as a part of a cosmology to account for the The belief systems of most primal
nature, not separate from it, and workings of the universe, most religions incorporated some form
to live in harmony with it, must cultures also incorporated some of afterlife, one that was typically
show respect to the spirits. form of creation story into their related to the existence of a realm
belief system. Often this was in separate from the physical world
Many early peoples sought to the form of an analogy with human —a place of gods and mythical
explain the world in terms of deities reproduction, in which a mother creatures—to which the spirits
associated with particular natural
The Sami people According to the Baiga, PRIMAL BELIEFS 19
believed their shamans the gods created us to
had the power to visit For the Ainu,
act as guardians of everything, even a rock,
other worlds. the earth.
has a spirit.
The Maori and
Polynesian people
explain the origin
of death.
The Chewong believe
that our purpose is to
lead good lives and
live in harmony.
The natural and In the Dreaming, In the ritual
supernatural worlds are Aboriginal Australians Work of the Gods,
intertwined in the religion the Tikopians fulfilled
see the creation as their obligation to
of the San bushmen. ever-present. serve the gods.
of the dead would travel. In some ensure good fortune in hunting or in the image of the cosmos. A few
religions, it was thought possible to farming inspired rituals of worship, of these primal religions survive to
communicate with this other realm and, in some cultures, sacrifices the present day among dwindling
and contact the ancestral spirits for to offer life to the gods in return for numbers of tribespeople around
guidance. A particular class of holy the life they had given to humans. the world untouched by Western
person—the shaman or medicine civilization. Some attempts have
man—was able to journey there Symbolism also played a key been made to revive them by
and derive mystical healing powers role in the religious practices of indigenous peoples who are
from contact with, and sometimes early cultures. Masks, charms, trying to reestablish lost cultures.
possession by, the spirits. idols, and amulets were used Although their belief systems
in ceremonies, and spirits were may seem at first glance to be
Early peoples also marked life’s believed to occupy them. Certain primitive to modern eyes, traces
rites of passage; these, along with areas were thought to have of them can still be seen in the
the changing of the seasons, religious significance, and some major religions that have evolved
developed into rituals associated communities set aside holy places in the modern world, or in the
with the spirits and the deities. and sacred burial grounds, while New Age search for spirituality. ■
The idea of pleasing the gods to others made buildings or villages
20 IN CONTEXT
UNSEEN KEY BELIEVERS
FORCES ARE /Xam San
AT WORK
WHEN AND WHERE
MAKING SENSE OF THE WORLD From prehistory,
sub-Saharan Africa
AFTER
44,000 BCE Tools almost
identical to those used by
modern San are abandoned
in a cave in KwaZulu–Natal.
19th century German
linguist Wilhelm Bleek sets
down many of the ancestral
stories of the San.
20th century Government-
sponsored programs are
set up to encourage San
peoples to switch from hunter-
gathering to settled farming.
1994 San leader and healer
Dawid Kruiper takes the
growing campaign for San
rights and land claims to
the United Nations.
T he question of why human
beings first develop the
idea of a world beyond
the visible one in which we live
is complex. Motivated by an urge
to make sense of the world around
them—particularly the dangers
and misfortunes they faced, and
how the necessities of life were
provided—people in early societies
sought explanations in a realm
that was invisible to them, but
had an influence over their lives.
The idea of a spirit world is
also associated with notions of
sleep and death, and the interface
between these and consciousness,
which can be likened to the natural
phenomenon of night and day.
PRIMAL BELIEFS 21
See also: Animism in early societies 24–25 ■ The power of the shaman 26–31 ■ Created for a purpose 32
■ Living the Way of the Gods 82–85 ■ A rational world 92–99
In this twilight zone between themselves represent a permeable Since prehistoric times, the San
sleep and waking, life and death, veil between the physical and the have renewed their rock paintings,
light and dark, lie the dreams, spirit worlds. transmitting the stories and ideas
hallucinations, and states of altered they depict down the generations.
consciousness that suggest that It is impossible to ask the
the visible, tangible world is not Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers of Natural phenomena
the only one, and that another, Europe about the beliefs and rituals such as the
supernatural world also exists— that lie behind their cave paintings, weather and
and has a connection with our but in the 19th century it was
own. It is easy to imagine how the still possible to record the cultural the seasons are
inhabitants of this other world were and religious beliefs of the /Xam out of our control.
thought to influence not only our of southern Africa, a now-extinct
own minds and actions, but also clan of San hunter-gatherers who
to inhabit the bodies of animals made cave paintings reminiscent of
and even inanimate objects, and those of the Stone Age, for similar
to cause the natural phenomena reasons. The spiritual life of the
affecting our lives. /Xam San offered a living parallel to
the religious ideas archaeologists
A meeting of worlds have attributed to early modern
The figures of humans, animals, humans. Even the clicks of the
and human-animal hybrids in /Xam San language (represented ❯❯
Palaeolithic cave paintings are
often decorated with patterns that There is danger
are now thought to represent the around us that
involuntary back-of-the-retina causes sickness
patterns known as entoptic
phenomena—visual effects such as and death.
dots, grids, zigzags, and wavy lines,
which appear between waking
and sleep, or between vision and
hallucination. The paintings
Unseen forces
are at work.
The Storm Bird blows Spirits seem to Our food
his wind into the chests of appear to us in the supply, the plants
man and beast, and without
sky, the earth, and animals,
this wind we would not the animals, is sometimes
be able to breathe. or the fire.
African fable plentiful,
sometimes
scarce.
22 MAKING SENSE OF THE WORLD
by marks such as /, indicating shape, transform, and create. The My mother told me that the
a dental click rather like a tut of /Xam believed that these beings girl [of the Early Race] put
disapproval), are thought to survive were the first to inhabit the earth. her hands in the wood ash
from humankind’s earliest speech. and threw it into the sky, to
Elemental forces become the Milky Way.
Levels of the cosmos In /Xam myth, elements of the
The mythology of all San peoples natural environment were given African fable
is modeled closely on their local supernatural significance or
environment and on the idea personified as spirits. Supernatural trickster, many of the myths
that there are both natural and figures could take the form of the surrounding him and his family are
supernatural realms that are deeply animals they shared their lands comic rather than reverent; even
intertwined. In their three-tiered with, such as the eland (a type of the key myth of the creation of the
world, spirit realms lie both above antelope), the meerkat, and the first eland includes a scene in
and below the middle, or natural, praying mantis. The creator which an ineffectual /Kaggen is
world in which humans live; each is /Kaggen, who dreamed the world beaten up by a family of meerkats.
accessible to the other, and into being, usually took human
whatever happens in one directly form but could transform into Important elemental forces
affects what happens in the other. almost anything, most often a and celestial bodies also became
Humans with special powers could praying mantis or an eland. While characters in stories that explained
visit the upper or sky realm, and he was the protector of game how they came to be, and why
travel underwater and underground animals, he would sometimes they behave in the way that they
in the lower spirit realm. transform himself into one in order do. The children of the Early Race,
to be killed and feed the people. for example, threw the sleeping sun
For the /Xam San, the world up into the sky, so that the light
above was inhabited by the creator The people of the Early Race that shone from his armpit would
and trickster deity /Kaggen (also were regarded with awe and illuminate the world. It was a girl
known as Mantis) and his family. respect, but not worshipped. Not from the Early Race who made the
They shared this world with an even /Kaggen the Mantis was stars by throwing the ashes of a fire
abundance of game animals, prayed to, although a San shaman into the sky of the Milky Way. Rain
and with the spirits of the dead, such as //Kabbo (see box, facing was not thought of as a natural
including the spirits of the Early page) might hope to intercede with phenomenon, but as a large animal.
Race—a community of hybrid /Kaggen to ensure a successful A fierce thunderstorm was a
animal-humans, with powers to hunt. Because /Kaggen is a rain-bull, and a gentle rain was
a rain-cow. Special people who had
the power to summon the rain,
such as //Kabbo, would make a
supernatural journey to a full
Natural phenomena such as eclipses,
possibly never before seen by any living
member of the San, might be explained
through tales passed down in their rich
oral tradition.
PRIMAL BELIEFS 23
A long time ago, can use this power to access Ascribing human traits to animals
the baboons were little the spirit world, via trance, and —for example, the inquisitiveness of
launch their essential selves up the meerkat—is a mainstay of early
men just like us, through the top of their heads and myth, around which stories are woven
but more mischievous into the spirit world. There, they about how the world came to be as it is.
may plead for the lives of the sick,
and quarrelsome. and return with healing power so humans from the heat of the sun.
African fable that they can drive out the arrows Death was described in elemental
of disease fired by the dead from terms: the wind that exists inside
waterhole to summon a rain-cow, the other world. every human being was said to
and then bring it back through the blow away their footprints when
sky to the place in need of water. The /Xam offered prayers to they died, making the transition
There he would kill the rain-cow the moon and stars to give them between the world of the living and
so that its blood and milk fell access to spiritual power, as well as the world of the dead a decisive
down as rain on the earth. good luck in hunting. When /Xam one. If the footprints remained, “it
people entered a state of altered would seem as if we still lived.” ■
Rain was a vital necessity consciousness, it was believed that
in the arid desert landscape in they were temporarily dead, and
which the /Xam lived. It was that their hearts had become stars.
essential to replenish the widely Humans and the stars were so
scattered waterholes that they intimately linked that when a
moved between, and which person actually died, “the star
were linked to each other by a feels that our heart falls over [and]
complex web of story and myth, the star falls down on account of it.
known as kukummi and similar For the stars know the time at
to the Dreamings of the Australian which we die.”
Aborigines (pp.34–35).
After death, the links in /Xam
Entering other worlds belief between the worlds of human
Many aspects of the natural world experience, of spirits, and of natural
described in /Xam stories feature phenomena become even more
the interaction of the supernatural apparent. The hair of a deceased
beings with humans—how they person was believed to transform
have an interest in this world, and into clouds, which then shelter
how humans can, in turn, act to
influence and please them. All Kabbo’s dream-life some way from the water so as
San peoples believe that the spirit not to frighten off the animals
realms are accessible, in altered Much of the information we that came to drink the brackish
states of consciousness, to those have about /Xam San beliefs water. Wilhelm Bleek said
who have a supernatural potency, comes from a man named of him: “This gentle old soul
known as !gi, imparted to humans //Kabbo, who in the 1870s appeared lost in a dream life
and animals by their creator. was one of several /Xam San of his own,” and in fact the
The trance dance is the key released from prison into the name //Kabbo means “dream.”
religious ritual in which the San custody of Dr. Wilhelm Bleek, The god /Kaggen was said to
who wished to learn their have dreamed the world into
language and study their being, and //Kabbo had a
culture. They had been jailed for special relationship with him;
crimes such as stealing a sheep as a /Kaggen-ka !kwi, a
to feed their starving families. “mantis’s man” he was able to
//Kabbo spoke of his waterholes, enter a dream state to exercise
between which his family would powers such as rainmaking,
move in the arid desert of the healing, and hunting magic.
central Cape Colony, camping
24
EVEN A ROCK
HAS A SPIRIT
ANIMISM IN EARLY SOCIETIES
IN CONTEXT Everything in the world T he word Ainu means
has a spirit. “human being,” and
KEY BELIEVERS refers to the indigenous
Ainu Even human beings are population of Japan, now living
simply containers mainly on the island of Hokkaido.
WHERE for a spirit. The Ainu have close cultural ties
Hokkaido, Japan with other inhabitants of the north
Spirits are immortal. Pacific Rim—Siberian peoples
BEFORE (such as the Chukchi, Koryak, and
10,000–300 BCE Neolithic The most important Yupik) and the Inuit of Canada
Jomon people—remote spirits are the gods. and Alaska. These peoples share,
ancestors of the Ainu— in particular, an animistic view of
live in Hokkaido, probably Ceremonies, songs, and the world, in which every being and
worshipping clan deities. offerings give the gods object that exists has a spirit that
status in the other world. can act, speak, and walk by itself.
600–1000 CE Okhotsk hunter- They also believe that the spiritual
gatherer people occupy coastal If we treat the gods well, and physical worlds are separated by
Hokkaido. Some of their ritual they will provide us only a thin, permeable membrane.
practices, such as bear worship,
are seen later in the Ainu. with food. The Ainu consider the body to
be simply a container for the spirit;
700–1200 Okhotsk culture after death, the spirit passes out of
blends with that of the the mouth and nostrils, and arrives
Satsumon to create the Ainu. in the next world to be reborn as a
kamuy, a word meaning both god
AFTER and spirit. When the kamuy dies in
1899–1997 The Ainu are the next world, it is reborn in this
forced to assimilate into one. It will always reincarnate in the
Japanese culture; many Ainu same species and gender—a man
religious practices are banned. will always be a man, for example.
2008 The Ainu are officially Kamuy can be animals, plants,
recognized as an indigenous minerals, geographical or natural
people with a distinct culture. phenomena, or even tools and
utensils produced by humans.
Because all spirits, even those of
PRIMAL BELIEFS 25
See also: Living the Way of the Gods 82–85 ■ Devotion through puja 114–15
An Ainu chief performs a ceremony
to honor the spirit of a slaughtered
bear as it returns to the divine world,
in a photograph taken in 1946.
inanimate objects, are considered
immortal, after death a person’s
house may be burned to ensure
that his or her kamuy will have a
home in the other world; their tools
and implements may also be broken
(to release the spirits inside) and
buried with the body, for use again
in the next world.
The power of words carelessness or disrespect, they gods and things do not. Words
Some kamuy have roles in both must conduct a ceremony to can be used to make bargains
the supernatural and human worlds. express their remorse. If, however, with both gods and things, and
Kotan-kor-kamuy, for example, is the a person has treated a god with also to give pleasure to the gods.
creator god, but he is also the god due respect and performed all the For example, the Ainu epic songs
of the village, and may manifest appropriate rituals, yet still receives known as kamuy yukar, or “songs
himself on earth as a long-eared owl. bad luck, the Ainu can ask the fire of the gods,” are sung in the first
goddess, Fuchi, to compel that god person, from the perspective of
Humans and kamuy have a to apologize and make recompense. kamuy rather than humans, and
close relationship—so close that it is said the kamuy take delight
kamuy have been described as In Ainu belief, even words are in watching humans dance and
“gods you can argue with.” The spirits, and the use of words is one sing the songs of the gods. ■
kamuy can be prayed to, using of the gifts that humans have that
special carved prayer sticks, but
the ritual relationship is based
more on mutual respect and correct
behavior than on worship. If
someone has angered a god by
I also continue forever to Spirit-sending rituals god Kimun-kamuy—was
hover behind the humans entertained with food, wine,
Hunting rituals were central to dance, and song. Arrows were
and always watch over traditional Ainu life and were fired into the air to aid Kimun-
the land of the humans. used to appease the gods who kamuy’s return to the divine
Song of the Owl God visited earth disguised as world, where he would invite
animals. In return for offerings other gods to share the gifts of
and rituals, the gods left behind sake, salmon, and sacred carved
the gift of their animal bodies. willow sticks with which he
had been honored on earth.
After killing and eating a
bear, the Ainu would perform An iwakte spirit-sending
the iyomante spirit-sending ceremony was also held for
ritual. The spirit of the bear— broken tools and objects that
revered as the mountain bear had come to the end of their use.
SPECIAL PEOPLE
CAN VISIT
OTHER WORLDS
THE POWER OF THE SHAMAN
28 THE POWER OF THE SHAMAN
IN CONTEXT S hamanism describes one We believe in dreams,
of humankind’s oldest and and we believe that people
KEY BELIEVERS most widespread religious
Sami practices, based on a belief in can live a life apart from
spirits who can be influenced by real life, a life they can go
WHEN AND WHERE shamans. These shamans, men or
From prehistory, Sápmi women, are believed to be special through in their sleep.
(formerly Lapland) people who possess great power Nâlungiaq,
and knowledge. After entering an
AFTER altered state of consciousness, or a Netsilik woman
10,000 BCE Ancestors of the trance, they are able to travel to
Sami make rock carvings in other worlds and interact with the alleviate suffering and hardship
the European Arctic. spirits who live there. in the community. This function
is reflected in some of the (now
c.98 CE The Roman historian Bargaining with the powerful largely obsolete) terms that have
Tacitus makes the first record spirits who control these other been used to describe shamans,
of the Sami (as the Fenni). worlds is often a key aspect of the such as witchdoctors in sub-
shaman’s activities. For example, Saharan Africa and medicine
13th century CE Catholic the shaman often requests the men in North America.
missionaries introduce release of game animals (essential
Christianity, but traditional in some traditional societies) from In Europe, shamanism was a
shamanism persists. the spirit world into this world, dominant feature of many societies
to gain insight into the future, or from around 45,000 years ago up
c.1720 CE Thomas von Westen, for remedies to cure the sick. In until the modern era. The Vikings,
Apostle of the Sami, forcefully return, the spirits may ask humans practiced a form of shamanic
converts Sami to Christianity, (via the shaman, who acts as an divination known as seiðr between
destroying shamanic drums intermediary) to make offerings
and sacred sites. to them or to observe certain rules
and codes of conduct.
21st century Most Sami
follow the Christian faith, Shamans play an important
but recent times have seen a role as healers of the sick; this role
revival of Sami shamanism. emphasizes that their journeys are
not simply personal and private,
but are undertaken primarily to
In worlds we cannot see, powerful These other worlds are full of
supernatural beings control the spirits, too, as both humans and
supply of game and the weather. animals have undying souls.
These people can enlist the help of There are some special people who can
the spirits to ask for game or good weather visit the worlds in which these spirits live.
for us, or cure us when we are ill.
PRIMAL BELIEFS 29
See also: Making sense of the world 20–23 ■ Animism in early societies 24–25 ■ Divining the future 79
the 8th and 11th centuries; and
shamanic elements appear in the
medieval myths of the Norse god
Odin, who hanged himself in an
initiation sacrifice on the World
Tree (“the axis of the universe”).
In the 16th and 17th centuries,
shamanic traces were evident in
the Benandanti spirit-battlers (an
agrarian fertility cult) of Friuli,
Italy, and in the night-flying seely
wights (fairylike nature spirits) of
Scotland. In more recent times, the
mazzeri dream-hunters of Corsica
show clear shamanic influence.
Sami shamans from close comparison with related The Sami shaman’s drum was
The longest recorded history of cultures in North Asia and the used to make contact with the spirit
shamanism in Europe, however, American Arctic. world. Some of these drums survive,
is in northern Scandinavia, in the although many were burned by
area now known as Sápmi (formerly Sami shamans, or noaidi, could Christian missionaries.
Lapland). Here the Sami people, inherit their calling or be chosen
semi-nomadic reindeer herders and directly by the spirits. In some the shaman’s horse); the drum was
coastal fishers, maintained a fully other cultures, those chosen to decorated with images of the world
shamanic religion into the early be shamans often experienced a of the gods above, the world of the
18th century, which has been period of intense illness and stress, dead below, and the world
partially revived in recent decades. as well as visionary episodes in inhabited by humans (the earth)—
Their religion can be reconstructed which they might be killed and the three realms connected by
from historical sources as well as then brought back to life. the World Tree. The third way the
shaman was helped to enter a
Mankind does not end Sami shamans had helping trance was through the ingestion
its existence because spirits in the form of animals, such of the psychotropic (mind-altering)
sickness or some other as wolves, bears, reindeer, or fish, fly agaric mushroom (Amanita
accident kills its animal whom they imitated when entering muscaria). After taking the
spirit down here on a trance. Shamans are often said to mushroom, the shaman would
become the animal they imitate; fall into a trance and become rigid
earth. We live on. this occurs through a process of and immobile, as if dead. During
Nâlungiaq, a Netsilik interior transformation rather than this process, male Sami guarded
by visible, exterior change. the shaman, while the women
woman sang songs about the tasks to be
Three things helped the Sami performed in the upper or lower
shaman enter a trance. The first realms, and songs to help the
was intense physical deprivation, shaman find his or her way home.
often achieved by working naked
in the freezing Arctic temperatures. Stories are told of Sami
The second was the rhythmic beat shamans who never returned
of the sacred rune drum (among from the other world, often ❯❯
similar peoples, such as the Yakut
and Buryat, the drum is called
30 THE POWER OF THE SHAMAN
In some Arctic cultures, animals are believed beliefs to the Sami. As well as
to have spirit guardians who protect them and subduing storms and acting
ensure their well-being. Shamans have the power as healers, they also mediated
to negotiate with these guardians, on behalf of between the human world and the
human beings, for the release of animals from spirits of the earth, air, and sea. A
the spirit world into the human world for shamanic seance was always held
hunting and fishing. in subdued light, in a snow hut or
a tent. The shaman would summon
his helping spirits by singing
special songs. After falling into a
trance, he would speak in a voice
that was not his own—most often
in a deep, resonant bass, but
sometimes in a shrill falsetto.
While in this trance state, the
shaman could send his soul up into
the sky to visit Tatqiq, the moon
man, who was thought to bring
fertility to women and good luck
in hunting. If he was pleased with
the offerings the shamans made
to him, he would reward them
with animals. When the moon was
not visible in the sky, the Netsilik
believed that he had gone hunting
for animals to feed the dead.
because those responsible for be guided by a bird spirit, and Into the sky, under the sea
waking them with a spell had protected by a reindeer spirit. According to one Netsilik account,
forgotten the magic words. One A journey to the upper world one day the great shaman Kukiaq
shaman was said to have been of Saivo would be undertaken was trying to catch seals from a
lost for three years, until the person in order to plead for game or for breathing hole in the ice. He gazed
acting as his guardian remembered help of some other kind; a journey
that his soul needed to be recalled to the underworld of Jabmeaymo Everything comes from
from “the coil of the pike’s intestine, would be made to fetch back the Nuliayuk—food and clothes,
in the third dark corner.” When the soul of a sick person. This could
relevant words were spoken, the only be done after the mistress of hunger and bad hunting,
shaman’s legs trembled, and he the underworld had been placated abundance or lack of caribou,
awoke, cursing his guardian. with offerings. The shamans were
able to communicate with the seals, meat, and blubber.
Communicating with spirits in the upper and lower Nâlungiaq,
the spirits worlds because their shamanic
Sami shamans were believed to training involved learning the a Netsilik woman
fly to a mountain at the center of secret language of the spirits.
the world (the cosmic axis) before
entering the spirit world, either The Netsilingmiut (Netsilik
above or below the mountain. They Inuit) shamans—an Arctic culture,
might typically ride on a fish spirit, from present-day Canada (west of
Hudson Bay)—had similar religious
Some Inuit in Gojahaven, northern the power to either withhold or PRIMAL BELIEFS 31
Canada, have maintained a belief in release the seals on which the
shamans, who are thought to have a Netsilik depended for food and Au’s mysterious
special relationship with the landscape clothing. She therefore had great shamanic illumination
and with the spirits who control it. influence over them. When the
Netsilik broke any of her strict The following account of
upward and realized that the moon taboos, she would imprison the shamanic illumination was
was gradually moving toward him. seals. However, if the shamans given to the Danish explorer
It hovered above his head and ventured down to her watery Knud Rasmussen by Au,
transformed into a whalebone underworld to braid her hair, she an Iglulik Inuit shaman.
sledge. The driver, Tatqiq, gestured was usually appeased and would Au recalled a period in his
to Kukiaq to join him, and whisked release the seals into the open sea. life when he sought solitude,
him off to his house in the sky. was deeply melancholic,
The entrance of the house moved The shamanic tradition of the and would sometimes weep
like a chewing mouth, and in one Netsiliks lasted into the 1930s uncontrollably. Then, one
of the rooms the sun was nursing and 1940s. Within the Netsilik day, a feeling of immense,
a baby. Although the moon asked community, only the shamans inexplicable joy overcame
Kukiaq to stay, he was anxious he (or angatkut)—who were protected him. He explained that in
would not be able to find his way by their own guardian spirits— the middle of this fit of pure
home. So he slid back to earth on were unafraid of the dangerous delight, “I became a shaman,
a moonbeam, landing safely at and malevolent spirits that filled not knowing myself how it
the very same breathing hole the world. A Netsilik shaman might came about. But I was a
he had left from. have several helping spirits. For shaman.” Thereafter, Au
example, the spirits of the shaman could see and hear in a
Sometimes, however, the Unarâluk were his dead mother completely different way:
Netsilik shamans would send their and father, the sun, a dog, and “I had gained my quamaneq,
souls down to visit Nuliayuk (also a sea scorpion. These spirits my enlightenment...it was
known as Sedna), the mistress of informed Unarâluk about what not only I who could see
sea and land animals, at the bottom existed on, and beneath, the through the darkness of life,
of the ocean. Nuliayuk possessed earth, and in the sea and sky. ■ but the same light also shone
out from me, imperceptible to
human beings, but visible to
all the spirits of earth and
sky and sea, and these now
came to me and became my
helping spirits.”
Knud Rasmussen (1879–1933)
spent many years documenting
the culture of Arctic peoples
during his journeys of exploration.
32
WHY ARE
WE HERE?
CREATED FOR A PURPOSE
IN CONTEXT T he Baiga are one of the man, Nanga Baiga, and the first
indigenous tribal peoples woman, Nanga Baigin, who were
KEY BELIEVERS of central India, collectively born in the forest from Mother
Baiga known as the Adivasis. The Baigas, Earth, took four great nails and
who call themselves the sons and drove them into the four corners of
WHEN AND WHERE daughters of Dharti Mata, Mother the earth to steady it. Bhagavan
From 3000 BCE, Mandla Earth, believe that they were told them that they should take
Hills, southeastern Madhya created to be the guardians of care of the earth to keep the nails
Pradesh, central India the forest—a task they have carried in place, promising them a simple
out since the beginning of time. but contented life in return.
BEFORE
From prehistory The Baiga In their belief, Bhagavan, the The Baiga followed the example
are thought to share a creator, spread the world out flat of Nanga Baiga, hunting freely
common ancestry with the like a chapati, but it flapped about in the forest and considering
Australian Aborigines. and would not stay still. The first themselves lords of the animals.
Believing it wrong to tear the body
AFTER You are made of the of Mother Earth with a plow,
Mid-19th century British earth and are lord of the earth, they practiced a form of slash-and-
forest officials restrict sacred burn agriculture known as bewar
bewar agriculture. Food and shall never forsake it. (although always leaving the stump
shortages follow; the Baigas You must guard the earth. of a saj tree for the gods to dwell
say that the Kali Yuga, the Bhagavan the Creator in), moving every three years to
age of darkness, has begun. a new patch of forest. However,
19th-century British officials
1890 A reserve that opposed the Baiga’s methods,
surrounds eight Baiga forcing them to abandon their
villages is demarcated traditional axe-and-hoe cultivation
where bewar is permitted. and take up the hated plow. They
were permitted to practice bewar
1978 A Baiga development only in the reservation of Baiga
agency is established. Chak in the Mandla Hills. ■
1990s More than 300,000 See also: The Dreaming 34–35 ■ A lifelong bond with the gods 39
Baiga live in central India. ■ Renewing life through ritual 51
PRIMAL BELIEFS 33
WHY DO
WE DIE?
THE ORIGIN OF DEATH
IN CONTEXT A ccording to Maori belief, The trees, plants, and creatures
death did not exist at the of the forest were believed by the Maori
KEY BELIEVERS beginning of the world but to be offspring of Tane, the forest god.
Maori was brought into being following Before felling a tree they therefore
an act of incest. In one version made an offering to the spirits.
WHEN AND WHERE of the Maori myth, the forest
From prehistory, god Tane grew up between and became known as Hine-nui-te-po,
New Zealand separated his parents—Rangi, the goddess of darkness and
the sky god, and Papa, the earth death. In an attempt to overturn
BEFORE goddess—because they forced him the course of events and regain
2nd and 3rd millennia BCE to live in darkness. He then asked immortality on behalf of human
Ancestors of the Polynesian his mother to marry him, but when beings, the trickster hero Maui
people spread across the Papa explained that this could not raped Hine-nui-te-po as she slept,
Pacific Ocean, possibly from be, Tane shaped a woman from believing that after this act she
origins in Asia. Their ritual mud and mated with her. would die, and that death would
practices and mythology also cease to exist. But Hine-nui-
develop independently but The result of this union was te-po awoke during the attack and
retain parallels across this a beautiful child—Hine-titama. squeezed Maui to death with her
vast region. She became Tane’s wife, unaware thighs, thereby ensuring that
that he was also her father. One mortality would remain in the
Before 1300 CE The Maori day, however, she discovered world forever. ■
people settle in New Zealand. the terrible truth, and descended
in shame to the darkness of Po,
AFTER the underworld; it was from this
Early 19th century European moment that humankind’s descent
settlement begins. Some Maori to the realm of death began.
convert to Christianity.
When Tane visited his wife, she
1840 The Treaty of Waitangi told him, “Stay in the world of light,
formalizes relations between and foster our offspring. Let me
whites and Maori. stay in the world of darkness, and
drag our offspring down.” She then
Today Around 620,000 Maori
are resident in New Zealand. See also: Preparing for the afterlife 58–59 ■ Living the Way of the
Gods 82–85
34
ETERNITY
IS NOW
THE DREAMING
IN CONTEXT In the Dreaming, the ancestral beings shaped the land.
KEY BELIEVERS They embedded their spiritual power within the land.
Australian Aborigines
The land is alive with this power.
WHEN AND WHERE
From prehistory, Australia The power of the Dreaming is eternal and ever-present.
AFTER We can access that power and enter the eternal Now.
8000 BCE The date ascribed
to certain changes to the I n the Australian Aboriginal with the Aboriginal belief that the
Australian landscape in tradition, the time of the Dreaming can be accessed through
Aboriginal oral tradition; creation was once called the acts of ritual, song, dance, and
this has been supported Dreamtime, but is now referred to storytelling, and through physical
by geological evidence. as the Dreaming. This term better things such as sacred objects, or
captures the crucial element of paintings on sand, rock, bark, the
4000–2000 BCE Aboriginal Aboriginal faith—that the creation is human body, and even canvas.
rock art depicts the ancestral continuous and ongoing, existing in
beings of the Dreaming; some the real, eternal present, as opposed Myths of the Dreaming, called
experts estimate the earliest to the remote past. It also accords Dreamings, tell of the ancestral
portrayals of the Rainbow beings, who are known as the
Serpent to be even older, dating
them to some 8,000 years ago.
1872 Uluru is first seen by
a non-Aborigine, Ernest Giles,
who called it “the remarkable
pebble.” European settlers give
it the name Ayers Rock in 1873.
1985 The ownership of Uluru
is returned to the Pitjantjatjara
and Yankunytjatjara peoples.
PRIMAL BELIEFS 35
See also: Making sense of the world 20–23 ■ Created for a purpose 32 ■ The spirits of the dead live on 36–37
■ Living the Way of the Gods 82–85
Uluru holds great spiritual power, and forth from animal to human The origin of Uluru
according to Aboriginal tradition. It forms. Finally they transform
is said to be the heart of the ancestral themselves into features of the According to one legend,
beings’ Songlines, whose signs may environment including stars, before the Uluru rock existed,
still be seen in the great rock’s features. rocks, watering holes, and trees. the Kunia, or carpet-snake
people, lived there. To the west
First People or “the eternal ones The living land lived the Windulka, or mulga-
of the dream,” and their role in Dreamings are thus intimately seed men, who invited the
creation. Aboriginal tradition tied to natural features such as hills, Kunia to a ceremony. The Kunia
tells how these beings awake in a rocks, and creeks, as well as the men set out, but, after stopping
primal world that is still malleable Songlines themselves. Aboriginal at the Uluru waterhole, they
and in a state of becoming. They peoples revere the topography of met some Metalungana, or
journey across the land, leaving Australia as sacred because it offers sleepy-lizard women, and
sacred paths known as Songlines, evidence both of their spiritual forgot about the invitation.
or Dreaming tracks, in their wake. ancestors’ wanderings, and of their The Windulka sent the bell
As they go, they shape human bodies. The Gunwinggu tribe bird Panpanpalana to find the
beings, animals, plants, and the describes the land as being infused Kunia. The Kunia men told the
landscape, establishing rituals, with the ancestral beings’ djang bird they could no longer
defining the relationships between (spiritual power): it is this that attend since they had just
things, and changing shape back gives it its life and its holy power. gotten married. Affronted, the
Windulka asked their friends
We say djang… This sacred topography the Liru, the poisonous-snake
That secret place… converges on Uluru, a sandstone people, to attack the Kunia.
rock formation in the Northern During a furious battle, the Liru
Dreaming there. Territory, the center from which overcame the Kunia, who
Gagudju elder all the Songlines are said to radiate. surrounded their dying leader,
Big Bill Neidjie Uluru is venerated as a great Ungata, and sang themselves
storehouse of djang, the navel to death. During the battle,
of the living body of Australia. Uluru was formed. Three rock
holes high on Uluru mark the
Aborigines consider the land place Ungata bled to death,
to be both their inheritance and and the water that spills from
responsibility, and so they nurture them is Ungata’s blood. It flows
it, and the Dreamings accordingly. down to fill the pool of the
While they may be mortal, the Rainbow Serpent, Wanambi.
djang of their ancestral beings lives
forever, and is forever in the now. ■
36
OUR ANCESTORS
WILL GUIDE US
THE SPIRITS OF THE DEAD LIVE ON
IN CONTEXT We inherited the land The spirits of the
from our ancestors. ancestors are enshrined
KEY BELIEVERS
Quechua Indians in the land.
WHEN AND WHERE If we do this, the land Both the ancestors and
From prehistory, central will feed us and the the land must be fed
Andes, South America ancestors will guide us. with blood and fat.
AFTER The religion of the Andean ways resembled that of the Aztecs
From 6000 BCE Ayllu, highlands can be said to of Mesoamerica (pp.40–45), who
or extended communities, be, in essence, a cult of the were their contemporaries. It
develop in the Andes. dead. This tradition of reverence revolved around worship of their
for the ancestors stretches back to own supreme deity, the sun god.
3800 BCE Corpses are long before the short-lived empire
mummified and revered of the Incas—the culture for which However, beyond the Inca
as sacred objects. the region is best known—and capital of Cuzco, with its priests,
has lasted to the present day. rituals, and golden artifacts, the
c.1200 CE The Inca Empire common people, whom the Incas
is established. Just one of many Quechua- called the Hatun Runa, persisted
speaking Andean peoples, the with a cult of ancestor worship
1438 The Inca Empire expands Incas rose to dominate much of and earth worship that dated back
across the central Andes, modern-day Peru, Ecuador, and to prehistoric times. This survived
reaching its peak in 1532. Chile, and parts of Bolivia and the mighty Inca Empire when, in
Argentina in the 13th century. As the 16th century, it was utterly
1534 The Empire collapses they extended their empire, they destroyed by Spanish conquistadors
after the Spanish Conquest. imposed a culture that in many led by Francisco Pizarro.
21st century Catholicism
has been institutionalized
across this region since the
colonial era; however, most
present-day Quechua blend
elements of Christianity with
their traditional beliefs.
PRIMAL BELIEFS 37
See also: Making sense of the world 20–23 ■ Created for a purpose 32 ■ Sacrifice and blood offerings 40–45 ■ Devotion
through puja 114–15
People of the mountains paraded around the fields during An Inca mummy of a girl who died
Since before recorded time, Andean rituals to make the crops grow. five hundred years ago is still preserved;
peoples have organized themselves Meanwhile, priests or diviners the ancestors are revered and have a
into ayllus, extended family groups at the huacas and grave shrines central role among Andean peoples.
or clans, each attached to a specific offered up coca leaves, blood, and
territory. Within these groups, they fat, believing that if the spirits of the November 2—marking the end of
worked the land, shared resources, land and the ancestors were fed, the dry season and the beginning
and worshipped at their huacas, or they would in turn feed the people. of the rains, when crops can be
animistic earth shrines. The focus planted—remains a focus of the
of worship was to pray to the earth An enduring power Andean year, when the dead are
to feed them—vital assistance in a In the 17th century, Christian ritually invited to revisit the living,
mountainous region where farming missionaries burned many Andean and to take a share of the harvest. ■
was a harsh and laborious process. mummies to quash what they saw
Running parallel to their entreaties as pagan beliefs. However, some
to the earth was a belief that, just mummies have survived, and the
as the land had nurtured their modern Quechua believe them to
ancestors, it would, with the be the first beings or ancient ones.
intercession of those departed The chullpa machulas, now just
spirits, continue to nourish them. niches in the rocks, remain sacred
shrines at which contemporary
Each ayllu mummified and diviners still sprinkle blood and fat,
worshipped the bodies of its dead, believing this to infuse the sites
believing that the ancestors would with life and energy. Some groups,
help maintain the cosmic order and such as the Qollahuayos Indians
ensure the fertility of the land (see box, below) may burn coca
and the animals. The bodies were leaves there, wrapped in bundles of
wrapped in weavings and placed llama wool. The graves are believed
in rock mummy shrines (chullpa to retain their power, even without
machulas) facing the mountaintop. the mummies that once occupied
Once desiccated by the freezing, them. The Feast of the Dead, on
dry air, the mummies would be
The dead visit us A mountain and a god the ancestral graves on the
and assist us in mountain, Mount Kaata itself
our work. They provide The Kaata of modern Bolivia, is venerated as if it were a
many blessings. who live northeast of Lake human being—a kind of super-
Titicaca, form one of nine ayllus ancestor—and is also ascribed
Marcelino, of the Qollahuayas Indians. physical human attributes. The
Kaatan elder The Kaata have a historic highlands are regarded as the
reputation as fortune-telling head, with grasses as hair, a
soothsayers; in the 15th century, cave for a mouth, and lakes for
Kaatan diviners carried the eyes; the middle region is the
chair of the Inca emperor, an torso, with heart and bowels
honored task. The power of identified; and a pair of ridges
these Qollahuaya ritualists on the lowest reaches are the
was thought to derive from the legs. The mountain is a living
graves of their ancestors on being that gives the Kaata both
Mount Kaata. In addition to sustenance and guidance.
38
WE SHOULD
BE GOOD
LIVING IN HARMONY
IN CONTEXT M ost societies have as both dangerous and wrong.
developed a system Only by looking after the entire
KEY BELIEVERS of morality based population in a spirit of fairness
Chewong on an appeal to notions of human and sharing can the group hope
goodness, reinforced by sanctions to survive. The Chewong believe
WHEN AND WHERE from religious and social authorites. that violation of their moral code—
From 3000 BCE, Very few cultures have existed by not sharing food, by showing
Peninsular Malaysia where ideas such as crime and anger at misfortune, by expressing
warfare are unknown, but the few anticipation of pleasure, or by
BEFORE that have been found have been nursing ungratified desires—will
From prehistory The tribal peoples eking out a hunter- have supernatural repercussions
Chewong are one of the 18 gatherer existence in the rainforest. such as illness, or physical or
indigenous tribes of Peninsular One such tribe is the Chewong of psychic attack, either by a tiger,
Malaysia collectively known as Peninsular Malaysia, whose first snake, or poisonous millipede, or
the Orang Asli—the “original contact with Europeans was in the ruwai or soul of the animal. ■
people”. Each tribe has its the 1930s. They now number
own language and culture. around 350 people. Human beings should
never eat alone. You must
AFTER The Chewong are nonviolent always share with others.
1930s Europeans first and noncompetitive; their
encounter the Chewong; language has no words for war, Yinlugen Bud
contact with Chinese and fight, crime, or punishment. They
other Malay ethnic groups is believe the first human beings
also very restricted until this were taught the right way to live
time because of the tribe’s by their culture hero Yinlugen Bud
remote forest location. —a forest spirit who existed before
the first humans. Yinlugen Bud
From 1950s Chewong come gave the Chewong their most
under pressure to assimilate important rule, maro, which
themselves into mainstream specifies that food must always
Malay society and convert to be shared. To eat alone is regarded
Islam; many choose to retain
their traditional practices. See also: Created for a purpose 32 ■ The burden of observance 50
■ The Five Great Vows 68–71
PRIMAL BELIEFS 39
EVERYTHING
IS CONNECTED
A LIFELONG BOND WITH THE GODS
IN CONTEXT L iving in the environment In Warao myth, the Bird of Beautiful
of the Orinoco Delta, where Plumage is believed to provide
KEY BELIEVERS the land is divided into supernatural protection to children.
Warao countless islands by a network A child that dies is said to be claimed
of waterways, the Warao tribe see as food by spirits of the underworld.
WHEN AND WHERE the world as flat—the earth is just
From 6000 BCE, the Orinoco a narrow crust between water and first cry is said to carry across the
Delta, Venezuela sky. They believe that Hahuba, the world to the mountain of Ariawara,
Snake of Being—the grandmother the God of Origin, in the east; in
BEFORE of all living things—is coiled return, the god sends back a cry of
From prehistory The around the earth, and that her welcome. Soon after a baby is born,
Warao are one of the largest breathing is the motion of the Hahuba, the Snake of Being, sends
indigenous groups in the tides. Their various gods, known a balmy breeze to the village, to
Latin American lowland. as the Ancient Ones, live on sacred embrace the new arrival. From that
mountains at the four corners of point on, the baby becomes part
AFTER the earth, with the Warao living of the complex balance between
16th century Europeans at its very center. In villages under natural and supernatural that
first encounter the Warao the particular protection of one forms the web of Warao daily life. ■
and compare their settlements of the gods, the temple hut also
with similar structures in contains a sacred rock in which
Venice, giving Venezuela the god dwells.
(“little Venice” in Spanish)
its name. Divine dependence
The Warao gods depend on humans
From 1960s Environmental to nourish them with offerings,
degredation in the region especially tobacco smoke; in return,
affects local fisheries and the Warao depend on the gods for
displaces tribespeople health and life. This lifelong bond
to the cities; some are with the gods is established as
converted to Catholicism. soon as a baby is born. The child’s
2001 More than 36,000 Warao See also: The Dreaming 34–35 ■ The spirits of the dead live on 36–37
people are registered as living ■ Symbolism made real 46–47 ■ Man and the cosmos 48–49
in the Orinoco Delta area.
THE GODS
DESIRE
BLOOD
SACRIFICE AND BLOOD OFFERINGS
42 SACRIFICE AND BLOOD OFFERINGS
IN CONTEXT T he sacrifice of animals legends, the gods themselves
and humans has been a had made tremendous sacrifices in
KEY BELIEVERS feature of many religious forming the world, which included
Aztec, Mayan, and other traditions around the world, but shedding their own blood to
Mesoamerican peoples the idea of ritual sacrifice was create humankind; therefore they
particularly important to societies desired similar sacrifices of
WHEN AND WHERE in the ancient civilizations of blood from humanity in return.
3rd–15th century CE, Mesoamerica, notably the Mayans
Mexico and the Aztecs. Sacrifice and creation
The power of blood and the
BEFORE The Mesoamerican peoples necessity of sacrifice are central
From 1000 BCE The Mayan inhabited the area from present- to the Aztec creation myth. The
civilization begins its slow rise, day central Mexico through to Aztecs believed that the gods
reaching its peak—the Classic Nicaragua. The Mayan civilization had created and destroyed four
Mayan period—between the (which peaked c.250 CE–900 CE) earlier eras, or suns, and that
3rd and 10th century CE. preceded and then coincided after the destruction of the fourth
with the Aztec civilization, sun by flood, the god of the wind,
From 12th century CE The which reached its height around Quetzalcoatl, and his trickster
Aztec empire is established. 1300 –1400 CE. Aztec culture brother, Tezcatlipoca, tore the
drew on the Mayan tradition, and goddess (or god in some versions)
AFTER the two peoples had several deities Tlaltecuhtli in half to make a new
1519CE The Aztecs, whose in common; they went by different heaven and earth. From her body
population numbers 20–25 names but shared characteristics. grew everything necessary for the
million, are overthrown by life of humankind—trees, flowers,
Spanish forces under the A reciprocal gift of blood grass, fountains, wells, valleys,
conquistador Hernán Cortés. The Mesoamerican cultures and mountains. All this caused
believed that blood sacrifice to the goddess terrible agony, and
1600 CE Forced conversion to their gods was essential to ensure she howled through the night
Catholicism and exposure the survival of their worlds, in demanding the sacrifice of
to European diseases destroy a tradition of ritual bloodletting human hearts to sustain her.
the Aztec civilization and that dated back to the first
reduce the population to major civilization in Mexico—that Further cosmic acts of creation
around one million. of the Olmecs, which flourished followed, all requiring sacrifice or
between 1500 and 400 BCE. In blood offerings. One relief shows
To create us, the gods To create the sun, Without blood and
shed their blood. the gods sacrificed sun there can be no life.
their hearts.
The gods call out for blood. We owe the gods
If we give it to them, they a debt of blood.
will not allow this world
to be destroyed.
PRIMAL BELIEFS 43
See also: Created for a purpose 32 ■ A lifelong bond with the gods 39 ■ The burden of observance 50
■ Renewing life through ritual 51 ■ Beliefs for new societies 56–57
You have yet
to take care of bleeding
your ears and passing a
cord through your elbows.
You must worship. This
is your way of giving
thanks before your god.
Tohil, Maya god
Victims of Aztec human sacrifice
were typically prisoners of war, and,
when in combat, Aztec warriors sought
to capture rather than kill in order to
ensure plentiful offerings for the gods.
the first stars being born from underworld and retrieved the bones and needed to be fortified by
blood flowing from Quetzalcoatl’s of former humans (remains from the blood in order for the sun to
tongue after he had pierced it. four previous eras), the gods ground continue in its cycle. Thus
Most notably, the creation of the them into a fine meal flour. They the continued existence of
fifth sun required one of the gods to let their own blood drip onto the the Mesoamerican world was
cast himself into a funeral pyre. flour to animate it and created seen as extremely tenuous, and
Two gods, Tecuciztecatl and a new race of people—people in need of constant support
Nanahuatzin, vied for the honor, whose hearts could in turn satisfy through acts of sacrifice.
both immolating themselves; the gods’ own need for blood.
Nanahuatzin became the sun and Bloodletting for the gods
Tecuciztecatl the moon. The other In Mesoamerican myth, took two forms: autosacrifice
gods then offered their hearts in each period of 52 years was seen (self-inflicted bloodletting) and
order to make the new sun move as a cycle, the end of which could human sacrifice. Both Mayans and
across the sky (the offering of spell the end of the world. Human Aztecs took part in autosacrifice.
hearts is a recurring theme in sacrifice could be used to appease Mesoamerican nobles had what
Mesoamerican myth and ritual). the gods and persuade them not was seen as the privilege and
to bring an end to the present responsibility to shed their own
Humanity’s gruesome debt age—that of the fifth sun. The blood for the gods. This involved
Both the Mayans and the Aztecs Mayans believed that blood piercing their flesh with stingray
were bound to their gods by a blood sacrifice was necessary for the sun spines, obsidian knives, and, most
debt from these acts of creation that to rise in the sky every morning. often, with the sharp spines of the
could never be repaid. After maguey (agave) plant. Blood was
Quetzalcoatl descended to the The Aztecs’ sun god, drawn from the ear, shin, knee, elbow,
Huitzilopochtli, was locked in tongue, or foreskin. Autosacrifice ❯❯
an ongoing struggle with darkness
44 SACRIFICE AND BLOOD OFFERINGS
smoke from incense and tobacco,
and with food and precious objects,
blood was what they really craved.
And this goddess And when his Rituals and the calendar
cried many times in festival was celebrated, The Mesoamerican year lasted
the night desiring the captives were slain, washed 260 days, a calendar observed by
hearts of men to eat. both the Mayans and the Aztecs.
Saying of Aztec slaves were slain. At the end of each year in Aztec
goddess Tlaltecuhtli Aztec hymn to society, a man representing
Huitzilopochtli Mictlantecuhtli, the god of the
dates back to the Olmec people underworld, was sacrificed in
and continued after the Spanish the body was rolled down the stairs the temple named Tlalxicco, “the
Conquest of Mexico in 1519. Both of the pyramid-shaped temple to navel of the world.” It is thought
men and women of the Mayan the stone terrace at the base. The that the victim was then eaten
nobility took part—the men victim’s head was removed and by the priests. Just as human
drawing blood from their foreskins, the arms and legs might also be flesh sustained the gods, so by
women from their tongues. They cut off. Skulls were displayed on consuming a god (embodied in
collected their offerings on strips a skull rack. Depending on the the sacrificial victim) a form of
of bark paper, which were then particular god being honored communion could be enacted.
burned; through the smoke from in the sacrifice, victims might be Less high-ranking celebrants
these offerings, they communicated slain in ritual combat, drowned, ate figures made from dough,
with their ancestors and the gods. shot with arrows, or flayed. into which sacrificial blood
was mixed. To break apart and
Sacrificial rites The scale of sacrifice sometimes consume these dough figures,
Human sacrifice was far more reached immense proportions: for known as tzoalli, was also to
common among the Aztec than example, at the rededication of the commune with the gods.
the Mayans, who performed it only Aztec temple of Huitzilopochtli, at
in special circumstances, such as Tenochtitlan, in 1487, around 80,400 Such reenactment of the
the consecration of a new temple. victims were said to have been myths of the gods was a feature of
sacrificed to the god, their clotted Aztec belief and of annual rituals.
Aztec sacrifice usually involved blood forming great pools in the During the main festival of Xipe
cutting the victim’s heart from his temple precinct. Even if a more
body. The heart was believed to be modest estimate of 20,000 victims
a fragment of the sun’s energy—so is accepted, this was still slaughter
removing the heart was a means of on a vast scale.
returning the energy to its source.
The victim was typically held by The Aztec ritual year was
four priests over a stone slab in the marked by sacrifices to various
temple, while a fifth cut the heart gods and goddesses. Although the
from the body with an obsidian gods could also be propitiated with
knife, and offered it, still beating,
to the gods in a vessel called a Descendants of the Mayans, the
cuauhxicalli, an eagle gourd. Tzotzil people were put to work on the
After the removal of the heart, Spanish colonists’ estates, and fused
their own beliefs with Christian forms
of worship in a syncretic religion.
Totec, the flayed deity, a priest This Aztec stone sun calendar PRIMAL BELIEFS 45
impersonating the god donned places a depiction of the sun
the flayed skin of a sacrificed within a ring of glyphs representing Tzotzil souls
captive. As the skin tightened measures of time, reflecting the
and tore away, the impersonator Aztec preoccupation with the sun. The Tzotzil religion blends
emerged like a fresh shoot growing Catholicism with some
from the rotting husk of a seed, In contrast, the Mayan culture did non-Christian beliefs. The
representing growth and renewal. not suffer the same annihilation, Tzotzil people maintain that
Other Aztec sacrifices honor the possibly because the Mayans were everyone has two souls, a
importance of corn, their staple more widely dispersed. In southern wayjel and a ch’ulel. The
food. Every year, a young girl Mexico, even today the Tzotzil ch’ulel is an inner soul that
representing Chicomecoatl, the people, descendants of the is situated in the heart and
maize goddess, was sacrificed at Mayans, retain many elements of blood. It is placed in the
harvest time. She was decapitated, the old culture and religion, unborn embryo by the gods.
her blood poured over a statue of including the 260-day calendar. At death, this soul travels to
the goddess, and her skin worn Katibak, the land of the dead
by a priest. The Tzotzil religion is a blend of at the center of the earth. It
Catholicism and traditional Mayan stays in Katibak for as long as
Conquest and absorption beliefs. The people’s homeland, the deceased person had lived;
When Spanish invader Hernán in the highlands of Chiapas in but it lives its life in reverse,
Cortés and his conquistadors southern Mexico, is dotted with gradually returning to infancy,
landed in Mexico in 1519, the wooden crosses. These do not just until it can be assigned to a
Aztecs are believed to have reference the Christian crucifix, new baby of the opposite sex.
mistaken him for the returning but are thought to be channels
god Quetzalcoatl, partly because of communication with Yajval The second soul, the
Cortés’ hat resembled the god’s Balamil, the lord of the earth, a wayjel, is an animal spirit
distinctive headgear. They sent powerful god who must be placated companion that is shared
the Spaniard corn cakes soaked in before any work can be done on with a wild animal, or chanul,
human blood, but their offering the land. In their adaptation of the and kept in an enclosure by
failed to appease the “god,” and ancient beliefs, the Tzotzil people the ancestral Tzotzil gods.
the Aztec civilization, just four associate the sun with the The human and the animal
centuries old when Cortés landed, Christian God and the moon with spirit have a shared fate—so
was destroyed by the Spanish. the Virgin Mary, and also worship whatever befalls the human
carvings of Christian saints. ■ is replicated in the animal
spirit and vice-versa. The
animal spirits include jaguars,
ocelots, coyotes, squirrels,
and opossums.
At this feast [to Xipe Totec]
they killed all the prisoners,
men, women, and children.
Bernadino de Sahagún,
General History of the
Things of New Spain
46
WE CAN BUILD
A SACRED SPACE
SYMBOLISM MADE REAL
IN CONTEXT The world and we ourselves The first sacred spaces
were created by Tirawahat, of early religions were
KEY BELIEVERS the expanse of the heavens. naturally occurring ones—
Pawnee groves, springs, and caves. However,
He told us the earth is as worship became more ritualized,
WHEN AND WHERE our mother, the sky is the need to define holy places
From c.1250CE, Great arose, and buildings designed
Plains, US our father. for worship encoded the essential
features of each religion.
AFTER If we make our lodges to
1875 The Pawnee are relocated encircle the earth and On the other hand, buildings
from their lands in Nebraska to encompass the sky, we used for everyday activities often
a new reservation in Oklahoma. took on cosmic significance in
invite our mother and cultures in which religious and
1891–92 Many Pawnee adopt father to live with us. daily life were intertwined. This
the new Ghost Dance religion, was true of the earth lodges, or
which promises resurrection for If we open our lodges to the ceremonial centers, of the Pawnee,
their ancestors. east, Tirawahat can enter with one of the Native American
the dawning sun. Our lodges nations of the Great Plains. The
1900 The US census records a Pawnee earth lodge had a sacred
Pawnee population of just 633; are a miniature version architecture, making each lodge
over the next four decades, of the cosmos. a miniature cosmos as Tirawahat,
traditional Pawnee religious the creator god and chief of all the
practices dwindle and die out. gods, had prescribed at the
beginning of time, after he had
20th century The Pawnee made the heavens and earth and
Nation is mainly Christian, its brought the first humans into
people belonging to the Indian being (see box, facing page).
Methodist, Indian Baptist,
or Full Gospel Church. Some Four posts held up each earth
Pawnee are members of the lodge, one at each corner. These
Native American Church. represented four gods, the Stars of
the Four Directions, who hold up the
heavens in the northeast, northwest,
southwest, and southeast. The
Pawnee believed that stars had
PRIMAL BELIEFS 47
See also: Making sense of the world 20–23 ■ Man and the cosmos 48–49 ■ Living the Way of the Gods 82–85
The earth lodge was a mini-cosmos
in the Pawnee tradition, and was
constructed accordingly. This Pawnee
family stands at an earth lodge entrance
at Loup, Nebraska in 1873.
helped Tirawahat create them, and live and communicate with the sacred spaces. The heated stones
that at the world’s end, the Pawnee people. Sacred star bundles used inside them were said to
would become stars. containing objects used for rituals, be ancestral “grandfathers,” and
such as charts of the night sky, were treated with great reverence.
The entrance to the earth lodge hung from a rafter above the skull. The hot stones were doused in
would be in the east, allowing the These were said to give each water, and the steam produced
light of the dawn to enter. A hearth village its identity and power. was believed to be the breath of
would be positioned in the center the grandfathers.
of the lodge, and a small altar of A world within a world
mounded earth in the back (the In winter, a domed sweat lodge The first sweat lodge was,
west). A buffalo skull would be would often be constructed inside according to legend, made by
displayed on the altar, which the the earth lodge, creating a second the son of a bundle-keeper, as
spirit of Tirawahat was said to mini-cosmos. These sweat lodges, part of a ritual taught to him
occupy when the first rays of sun or steam huts, used for spiritual by guardian animals. As he
shone on it in the morning. Through and healing purposes, were also performed the ritual he said, “Now
this skull, Tirawahat was said to we are sitting in darkness as did
Tirawahat when he created all
things and placed meteors in the
heavens for our benefit. The poles
that shelter us represent them…
When I blow this root upon them,
you will see a blue flame rise from
the stones. This will be a signal
for us to pray to Tirawahat and
the grandfathers.” ■
The legend of Tirawahat
In Pawnee myth, after the rain.” After a time Tirawahat Our people were made
creator god, Tirawahat, had spoke again and asked the man by the stars. When the
made the sun, moon, stars, if he knew what the lodge time comes for all things to
heavens, earth, and all things represented. The man did not end, our people will turn
on earth, he spoke. At the sound know. Tirawahat said: “I told
of his voice a woman appeared. you to call the earth ‘mother.’ into small stars.
Tirawahat created a man and The lodge represents her breast. Young Bull
sent him to the woman. Then he The smoke that escapes from
said: “I give you the earth. You the opening is like the milk that
shall call the earth ‘mother.’ The flows from her breast… When
heavens you shall call ‘father’… you eat the things that are
I will now show you how to cooked [in the fireplace], it is
build a lodge, so that you will like sucking a breast, because
not be cold or get wet from the you eat and grow strong.”
48
WE ARE IN
RHYTHM WITH
THE UNIVERSE
MAN AND THE COSMOS
IN CONTEXT T he Dogon people live in as two lines of storerooms, the
the Bandiagara plateau chest as two jars of water, and the
KEY BELIEVERS in Mali, West Africa, where penis as the entrance passage. The
Dogon they practice a traditional animist building reflects the creative power
religion: for them, all things are of the male–female twin ancestral
WHEN AND WHERE endowed with spiritual power. beings, the Nommo (see facing page).
From 15th century CE, Fundamental to Dogon religious
Mali, West Africa belief is that humankind is the The hut of the hogon, the Dogon’s
seed of the universe, and that the spiritual leader, is a model of the
BEFORE human form echoes both the first universe. Every element of the hut’s
From 1500 BCE Similarities moment of creation and the entire
in oral myths and knowledge created universe. Every Dogon
of astronomy suggest that the village is therefore laid out in the
Dogon’s ancestral tribes may shape of a human body, and is
have originated in ancient regarded as a living person.
Egypt before migrating to the
region of present-day Libya, Sacred and symbolic space Masked dancers perform the dama,
then Burkina Faso or Guinea. A Dogon village is arranged lying or funeral ritual. This traditional Dogon
north to south, with the blacksmith, religious ceremony is designed to
From 10th century CE Dogon or forge, at its head and shrines guide the souls of the deceased
identity evolves in West Africa at its feet. This layout reflects the safely into the afterlife.
from a mixture of peoples of belief that the creator god, Amma,
earlier tribes, many of whom made the world from clay in the
have fled Islamic persecution. form of a woman lying in this
position. Everything in the village
AFTER has an anthropomorphic, or human,
Today The Dogon people equivalent. The women’s menstrual
number between 400,000 huts, to the east and west, are
and 800,000. The majority the hands. The family homesteads
still practice their traditional are the chest. Each of these big
religion, but significant homesteads is, in turn, laid out in
minorities have converted the plan of a male body, with the
to Islam and Christianity. kitchen as the head, the large
central room as the belly, the arms
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The Religions Book - Big Ideas Simply Explained
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