Primal Religious Traditions
Review Questions
1.
Why are some forms or religion called primal?
Describe some of the characteristics of primal religions.
a.
Because they came before religious traditions
and because all religions more or less stem from them. They have generally been
the traditions of illiterate people. Primal religions tend to be the traditions
of tribal peoples, organized in small groups that dwell in villages as opposed
to large cities.
2.
What elements of the natural and human world did
the Ancestors create or establish in the period of the Dreaming?
a.
According to Aboriginal belief, the world was originally
formless. Then at a certain point in the mythic past, supernatural beings
called Ancestors emerged and roamed about the Earth. The ancestors gave shape
to the landscape and created various forms of life, including the first human
beings.
3.
What survives in the symbols left behind by the
Ancestors?
a.
The spiritual essence of the Ancestors.
4.
Explain the terms totem and taboo.
a.
Totem – the natural form in which the Ancestor
appeared in the Dreaming.
b.
Taboo – certain things and activities are of
nature.
5.
Why is ritual essential if Aboriginal life is to
have meaning?
a.
Rituals provide structure and pattern.
6.
How did Aboriginal rituals originate?
a.
Myths of the Dreaming.
7.
What purposes are served by Aboriginal
initiation rituals?
a.
Through the rituals and myths, young Aborigines
learn the essential truths about their world and they are to act within it.
8.
Identify two acts of Dieri initiation rituals
that symbolize deaeth.
a.
They initiate’s two lower middle teeth were
knocked out and buried in the ground.
b.
Circumcision
9.
In what part of Africa do the Yoruba live?
a.
Western regions of central Africa.
10.
Why has the city of Ife always been the center
of Yoruba religion?
a.
Because it is where the god Orisha-nla first
began to create the world.
11.
Briefly describe the Yoruba understand of the
cosmos.
a.
Yoruba cosmology depicts reality as a being
divided into two separate worlds: heaven and earth.
12.
Who is Olurun, and what is his role in society?
a.
He is the original source of power in the universe
and all other life forms ultimately owe their existence to him.
13.
What are the orishas? Explain their significance
in the religions life of the Yoruba.
a.
They are the lesser deities that are sources of
the sacred power and can help or harm human beings depending on how well the
rituals designed to appease them are carried out.
14.
Name briefly describe at least two of the
orishas.
a.
Orisha-nla – creator of the earth
b.
Ogun – god of iron and war
15.
What is a trickster figure?
a.
A type of supernatural being who tends to
disrupt the normal course of life, found among many primal peoples.
16.
Describe two types of Yoruba ancestors.
a.
Family ancestors gained their supernatural
status by earning a good reputation and
living to an old age and are now worshiped only by their own families. Deified ancestors
were important because throughout Yoruba society.
17.
Describe the role of Yoruba ritual
practitioners.
a.
They mediate between gods and ancestors in
heaven.
18.
What is divination and why is it essential to
the Yoruba?
a.
“Through which one’s future can be learned.” Because knowledge of one’s future is
essential for determining how to proceed with one’s life.
19.
20,000 to 30,000 years ago migrating from Asia
over the Bering Strait.
20.
Because it is representative of American Indian
religion in general.
21.
What is Wakan Tanka?
a.
Lokota name for the supreme reality.
22.
Who is Inktomi?
a.
One of the first human beings to roam the world
and is the mediator between the supernatural and natural world.
23.
Briefly desrible Lokota beliefs regarding death
and the afterlife.
a.
The Lokota believe that four souls leave body
and one goes on the good path which is then judged and returned back to the
body for processing.
24.
What do individuals try to gain access to while
going on a vision quest?
a.
An encounter with a guardian spirit or medium.
25.
Structure and function of a sweat lodge.
a.
The structure of the lodge is intended to
repretsent the universe. Heated stones are placed in the center. The resulting
steam causes the participants to sweat profusely leading to both physical and
spiritual cleansing.
26.
Typical vision during vision quest.
a.
They see guardian spirits which can be in the
form of an animal or inanimate object.
27.
Among the Blackfeet tribe, who resides over the
sundance?
a.
Medicine man
28.
What is the axis mundi? In reference to the sun
dance?
a.
The axis or center of the universe. Where to
face in reference to the sun.
29.
Why do some participants in the Sun Dance skewer
their chests and dance until their flesh tears?
a.
Because they believe that their bodies are the
only things they truly own, the dancers regard bodily mutilation was the only
suitable sacrifice to offer to the supreme being.
30.
In what two ways does the Aztec tradition defy
the description?
a.
The Aztecs were a highly developed civilization
of people with a population of about 15 million. Aztec emphasized the
relationship between myth and ritual.
31.
What geographical area did the Mesoamerica
include
a.
Pacific ocean to the Caribbean sea.
32.
What god created and ordered the world? Which
ancient city?
a.
Quetzalcoatl because he presided over a golden
age of cultural brilliance. Teotihuacan.
33.
Who was Topiltzin Queszalcoatl?
a.
He provided the Aztecs with the perfect role
model for their own authority figures.
34.
What did the Aztecs call their present age?
a.
Age of the 5th sun. because the
previous 4 suns were destroyed so they figured that this 5th sun
will also invevitably be destroyed too.
35.
How did the Aztecs understand the spatial world?
a.
The Aztecs understood that the spatial word as
having 4 quadrants extending outward from the center of the universe.
36.
Why did the Aztecs regard each human being as a
sort of axus mundi?
a.
Because humans connect the earthly real to the
divine.
37.
What were the special religious capabilities of
the Aztec knowers?
a.
His role will allow him to enter the highest
heaven upon death.
38.
What historical coincidence contributed to the
fall of Tenochitilan to the Spaniards?
a.
Cortes arriving in Mesoamerica.
39.
How does the popular day of the dead show the
arrival of Aztec religious culture?
a.
Shows the survival of Aztec culture through
festivals and meaningful rituals.
40.
What are three themes that are shared by the
primal religions?
a.
Communication between living and ancestors.
Secular and the sacred are not separate. Humans are sacred.
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