Indigenous Sacred Ways            

Page numbers in italics refer to Fisher, Living Religions, 7th ed. The page numbers in regular print refer to the 6th edition. The page numbers in parentheses refer to the 5th edition of Fisher.

The letter a following a page number indicates the quote is from the upper third of the page, the letter b means it is from the middle portion of the page, and the letter c from the bottom third of the page. I will sometimes cite lines: 49.11-15, for example, means lines 11 through 15 on page 49. (I assume 30 lines per page, and my references to line numbers are generally estimates.)

     www.nmai.si.edu: website for the National Museum of the American Indian

ETHICAL: Is religion the basis of ethics?

1. What are some basic myths or origin stories (cosmogony) associated with the religion?

          Yoruba 41c, 49c 41c, 48c (54b, 61a): a “beingless being” broken into hundreds of fragments, each of which became an orisa.
          Maori of New Zealand 35b 35a “all beings emerged from a spatially confined liminal state of darkness in which the Sky Father and Earth Mother were locked in eternal embrace, continually conceiving, but drowding their offspring until their children broke the embrace.”

Stories not about the world (answers about the world) but about ourselves (questions about ourselves)

2. What virtues does the religion advocate?

            Right relationships with everything 38c 38b (51a) (most indigenous peoples)

                        Male-female: "...in the Yoruba tradition there is an ideal of social balance between the awesome potential and creativity of women who give and sustain life, and the power of men who protect life. 42b 42c (55a)

                        Community (qualities necessary to sustain local communities): see quote from George Tinker, Osage theologian: 36a 35c (47b)

                         Leonard Crow Dog, Plains Indians: "...man...feeling himself part of the earth, nature's child, not her master" 57b 57a (69b)

3. Does the religion prescribe a way to enlightenment or salvation? If so, what does it call this state?

             Balance with nature
             "Some indigenous people feel that their traditional sacred ways are not only valid, but actually essential for the future of the world" (76b)              

4. Does the religion hold that everyone or only some people can attain enlightenment or salvation?
            “Indigenous traditions have…been called democratized shamanism” (71a)
            Individual Observances (70c-71a): making an offering to the first herb and asking that its relatives understand the need to pick and consume other herbs.

5.  Does the religion hold that clerics belong to a higher moral or spiritual order than lay people?

In some stratified societies, priests and priestesses play special roles 51c 50c (63b)
Shamans "offer themselves as mystical intermediaries between the physical and the non-physical world for specific purposes, such as healing." 52a 51a (63c)

6.    What impact has the religion had on the way of life of its followers? On the surrounding culture?

 

POLITICAL: What is the relationship between religion and politics?

What are issues that lead to political divisions within religions?

7. What are the major political divisions of the religion? (In Christianity, for example, major divisions would be Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglicanism and Protestantism.)

8. Does the religion have a central authority that determines orthodox beliefs?

            Individuals have access to the unseen 49.11-15 48.11-15; priests and priestesses play special roles 50.25-51.3 “They sacrifice themselves through ritual purification, struggle, hardship, and protocol in order to remain in proper relationship with the spirits.”

9. Has the religion at any point in its history accepted the status of an official state religion?

            Indigenous peoples have little political power in industrial societies. 32a 32a

10. Does the religion accept a just war or does it advocate non-violence?

11. Does the religion accept spiritual leaders--such as ordained clergy, shamans, and the like?

            priests and priestesses 51c 50c-51a

    Shamans 52a 51a (63b), but see the end of the first paragraph under “spiritual specialists” on 49 48 (71).   

Certain patterns: honor major points in the life cycle (68b)

12. Does the religion take a position on class division in society?

In some stratified societies, priests and priestesses play special roles 51c 50c (61c), as mentioned in ETHICAL section above.

13. What is the role of women in the religion? Has the role changed over the years?

            Women have a strong natural power 48b 47c (60a)

women’s power may weaken men’s power or, as among the Ainu in Japan (where women’s menstrual blood is offered as a potent sacrifice) may be revered 49a 48a (60a).

            Among Australian aboriginals: “Men’s and women’s rituals ultimately refer to the eternal Dream Time, in which there is no male-female differentiation.” 51c 50c (63a)

14. Does the religion permit a married clergy?

15. Has the religion increased or decreased in numbers during the past century?

    Decreased, although two million were listed in the U.S. 1900 census; but four million in 2000 census. 68b 65c

16. Does the religion advocate social engagement or personal salvation—or both? If both, which is given greater emphasis?
 
    Neither. Right relationship with relatives (unseen world of spirits, the land and weather, the people and creates, and the power within) 39c-40a 39c (51b)

    Winona LaDuke  67 64  (75) embodies social engage with her commitment to her own (Anishinaabe) people and the larger U.S. society. (She ran for Vice President on the ticket with Ralph Nader in the 2000 election.)

  

METAPHYSICAL: Does religion give an answer to the question “What ultimately is real?”
 

17. Does the religion accept a belief in a soul, spirit, or the like?

             Continued communication with the "living dead" is extremely important to traditional Africans.  41b  41b  (53c)
 

18. Does the religion hold there is one God (monotheism), many gods (polytheism), or no god (nontheism)?

            Yorubu in Africa honor a great pantheon of deities (orisa) who emerged from the smashing of the “beingless being” into hundreds of fragments. 41c 41c; 1700 deities (54a)  
             Put ancestors before God--for policy purposes. In African traditional religion, anxiety over the future is rejected in favor of accepting the flow of the past into the present. This is being replaced by a Westernized view of time, in which one is perpetually anxious about the future. 63b  63a (74c)

19. What evidence or proof is offered in support of the existence of God?

        “Many unseen powers are seen to be at work in the material world.” (53.13)

20. Does the religion hold that God is something to strive for?

21. Is faith or reason given greater emphasis in the religion?

22. What position does the religion take on the question of belief in an afterlife or immortality--such as heaven, hell, and reincarnation?

          The spirits of the dead ancestors or animal spirits are alive in African religions. 51b 50b (62c-63a)

23. Does the religion accept that the ultimate reality is (or could be) female?

            “Deity may be conceived as either male or female in indigenous religions. In Navajo belief, divinity is personified as Father Sky and Mother Earth.” 39a 39a: caption (51c)

            "...the Plains Indians were given the sacred pipe by White Buffalo Calf Woman.... The bowl of the pipe represents the female aspect of the Great Spirit, the stem the male aspect." 57a 56c (69a)

            “The supreme being is often referred to by male pronouns, but in some groups the supreme being is a female, such as Ala, earth mother goddess of the Ibo (51c)....Many traditional languages make no distinction between male and female pronouns, and some see the divine as androgynous, a force arising from the interaction of male and female aspects of the universe.” 40a 39c (52a)

          Oren Lyons, elder of the Onondaga Nation Wolf Clan: "...we call the earth Etenoha, our mother, from whence all life springs.... We do not perceive our habitat as wild but as a place of great security and peace, full of life." 43a 43b (55b)

          "...native people say they consider themselves caretakers of their mother, the earth" 44c 43c (55c)        

INSTITUTIONAL: Does one religion have greater access than others in determining what ultimately is real?

24. Does the religion regard a particular locale (land, city, and so forth) as holy or sacred?

            Mt. Kailas high in the Himalayas in Tibet is regarded by local indigenous peoples as the center from which the whole world created 43b 43b (55c).

25. Does the religion have special places or locations for worship?

            “Sacred sites [such as waterfalls] may be recognized by the power that believers feel there.” 48a 47b (59b)

            Huichol 57c 57b (69b) yearly journey to a desert they call Wirikuta, the Sacred Land of the Sun, where they feel creation began.
            Buryats 57c 57b (69b) Mt. Erde, in their ceremonies they join hands to encircle the peak. Although the Buryats were thought to have been converted to Christianity or Buddhism, almost the entire population gathered for indigenous ceremonies in Olkhorn Island after the fall of communism in the Soviet Union.

                       

26. What are the religion's major holy days or festivals?

`           Group observances 56 55b

            Certain patterns: honor major points in the life cycle 56b 56a (68b)

27. What are the basic doctrines of the religion?

            The enduring ways are the “original instructions” on how to live. 32b

            “…the world has great depth, it is unlimited in its qualitative varieties and is truly mysterious; the world is restless, a living and growing organism.” –Gerhardus Oosthuizen  34a.

28. What are some major symbols associated with the religion?

            Four overlapping circles reflecting link with seven generations

            Pattern of concentric circles 55.4

            Tree of life 33a (graphic); role of trees in healing 46.12

29. What are the major texts or sacred documents?

            Oral stories 49b 48c

32.28 Oral stories were kept hidden or secret in Mesoamerica during the period of the conquistadores

34b :…although some texts, like the Mayan codices, were destroyed by conquering groups.”

30. What attitude does the religion advocate toward other religions? Is it exclusivist or universalist?

            33b “Exclusivist” may be the label for a practice of preserving one’s way of life when threatened by outside influences—such as conquering groups.

Local--common ancestry; but "saving the world"

31. What is the nature of the service, ceremonies, or worship (format, participation of congregation)?

            Both group and individual observances 56a-62a 55b-59c; vision quest 59a   

Each group has its own rituals, but certain patterns repeat across different groups 56.15 56.1-2

Kwanzaa 60a  (70)

32. Who is regarded as the founder of the religion?

            No founders

33. Does the religion actively seek converts through missionary activity?
            “The lifeways of many small-scale cultures are tied to the land on which they live and their entire way of life; they are only meaningful within this context. The people generally respect the rights of others to their own ways and make no attempt to convert outsiders to theirs.” 35b 35a (47a)

            “Indigenous elders who are now speaking out seek converts not to their path but to a respect for all of life, which they feel is essential for the harmony of the planet.” 68.25 66.8 

EXPERIENTIAL:  Is there a religious experience? If so, how can we know it?

34. What is the religion’s position on prayer, meditation, exorcism, chants and dance?

    Sun Dance 58-59 60-61 (72-73)

35. What are some individual practices—such as confession?

    Vision Quest 60c 59b (71b); storytelling 49b 48b (60c); bards 50c 49c (62b); secret societies 51b 50b (62c); sacred dances 51c 50c (63a)

36. What are the religion’s attitudes toward healing and health—such as laying on of hands, “faith healing,” and the like?

            Shamanism 51-55 51-55

            Shamanic ways are remarkably similar around the globe 52a 51a

            Drumming, rattling, singing, dancing, and in some cases hallucinogenic drugs 55.17 55.1-2

37. What is the place of prophecy and oracles in the religion?

            Telling forth the people's consciousness

            Thomas Banyacya to the United Nations: Hopi origin account and prophesy 68.20-69.5 66.10-18

38. Is the religion critical of religion—of secularism, for example?

            Some indigenous peoples warn industrial societies of the need for greater respect for nature as a living thing 68.20-69.5 66.8-18

39. What is the role of sacrifice in the religion?

            Vision Quest 60c 59a (71b)
            The Sun Dance way of self-sacrifice 58-59 60-61 (72-73)

40. How does the religion incorporate the “cards down” point of view—from the Rawls Game? Who can turn the cards down? Who or what is represented when the cards are face down? What does it mean in this religion to turn the cards down? When should the cards be turned down? Why should the cards be turned down? How does the religion respond to failure to abide by the rules created with the cards down?

41. What are the concepts of forgiveness and what roles do the concepts of forgiveness play in the religion?