Indigenous Religions

Indigenous religions that consist of the traditional customs and beliefs (Paganism, Animism, Totemism, Shamanism) of particular ethnic groups, refined and expanded upon for thousands of years, often lacking formal doctrine.

 

Indigenous religions, formerly found on every continent, but now marginalized by the major organized faiths. Despite this, they often persist as undercurrents of folk religion. This category includes African traditional religions, Asian Shamanism, Native American religions, Mesoamerican Religion, Aztec Religion, Inuit Religion, Austronesian and Australian Aboriginal traditionsEthnic religion, and arguably Chinese folk religion (overlaps with Far Eastern religions).

 

Indigenous religions is a category used in the study of religion to demarcate the religious belief systems of communities described as being “indigenous“. This category is often juxtaposed against others such as the “world religions” and “new religious movements“. The term is commonly applied to a range of different belief systems across the Americas, Australasia, Asia, Africa, and Northern Europe, particularly to those practiced by communities living under the impact of colonialism.

Sharing of frozen, aged walrus meat. The Inuit are known for their practice of food sharing, where large catches of food are shared with the broader community.

Alaska Native Religion

Alaska Native Religion Traditional Alaska Native religion involves mediation between people and spirits, souls, and other immortal beings. Such beliefs and practices were once widespread among Inuit (including Iñupiat), Yupik, Aleut, and Northwest Coastal Indian cultures, but today are less common. They were already in decline among many groups when the first major ethnological research was done. For example, at the...

Three Crow men on their horses, Edward S. Curtis, 1908

Crow Religion

Crow Religion Crow religion is the indigenous religion of the Crow people, Native Americans of the Great Plains area of the United States. The Crow Deity In the Crow language the Creator has many names, such as Akbaatatdia (One Who Has Made Everything/Maker of All Things Above), Iichíkbaalee (First Doer/Maker), and Isáahkawuattee (Old Man Coyote). All names refer to a singular, omnipotent god who...

Olmec Mexico The Sale Tabasco Archeology

Olmec Religion

Olmec Religion The religion of the Olmec people significantly influenced the social development and mythological worldview of Mesoamerica. Scholars have seen echoes of Olmec supernatural in the subsequent religions and mythologies of nearly all later pre-Columbian era cultures. The first Mesoamerican civilization, the Olmecs, developed on present-day Mexico southern Gulf Coast in the...

Chameleon Vintage Line Art colorful prismatic

Bantu Mythology

Bantu Mythology Bantu mythology is the system of beliefs and legends of the Bantu people of Africa. Although Bantu peoples account for several hundred different ethnic groups, there is a high degree of homogeneity in Bantu cultures and customs, just as in Bantu languages. The phrase “Bantu mythology” usually refers to the common, recurring themes that...

The mausoleum of Madghacen

Traditional Berber Religion

Traditional Berber Religion The traditional Berber religion is the ancient and native set of beliefs and deities adhered to by the Berbers (Amazigh autochthones) of North Africa. Many ancient Amazigh beliefs were developed locally, whereas others were influenced over time through contact with other ancient Egyptian religions, or borrowed during antiquity from the Punic religion, Judaism, Iberian mythology,...

Hands Team United together people unity teamwork

Ubuntu Philosophy

Ubuntu Philosophy This article covers Ubuntu philosophy. Ubuntu is a Nguni Bantu term meaning “humanity“. It is sometimes translated as “I am because we are” (also “I am because you are”), or “humanity towards others” (Zulu umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu). In Xhosa, the latter term is used, but is often meant in a more philosophical sense to mean...

The Tovar Codex, attributed to the 16th-century Mexican Jesuit Juan de Tovar, contains detailed information about the rites and ceremonies of the Aztecs (also known as Mexica). The codex is illustrated with 51 full-page paintings in watercolor.

Aztec Philosophy

Aztec Philosophy Aztec philosophy was a school of philosophy that developed out of Aztec culture. The Aztecs had a well-developed school of philosophy, perhaps the most developed in the Americas and in many ways comparable to Ancient Greek philosophy, even amassing more texts than the ancient Greeks. Aztec cosmology was in some sense dualistic, but exhibited a less common form...

Local African ceremony in Benin featuring a zangbeto.

African Traditional Concept of God

African Traditional Concept of God: A critical Analysis This article is a critical analysis of the African Traditional Concept of God written by Shafiul Islam and Md. Didarul Islam. ABSTRACT Oneness of God joined its moral vision with the traditional activities, which have opened the way to the triumph of...

Indigenous Man Male Native Feathers Head Set

Outline Indigenous Religions

Outline Indigenous Religions Indigenous religions or Nature Religions consist of the traditional customs and beliefs (Paganism, Animism, Totemism, Shamanism) of particular ethnic groups, refined and expanded upon for thousands of years, often lacking formal doctrine. Indigenous religions, formerly found on every continent, but now marginalized by the major organized faiths....

Bùi Hữu Nghĩa Shrine in Cần Thơ.

Vietnamese Folk Religion

Vietnamese Folk Religion Vietnamese folk religion or Vietnamese indigenous religion (tín ngưỡng dân gian Việt Nam, is the ethnic religion of the Vietnamese people. About 45.3% of the population in Vietnam are associated with this religion, making it dominant in Vietnam. Vietnamese folk religion is not an organized religious system, but a set of local...

Typical layout of Dravidian architecture which evolved from koyil as kings residence.

Dravidian Folk Religion

Dravidian Folk Religion The early Dravidian Folk religion refers to a broad range of belief systems which existed in South Asia before the arrival of Indo-Aryans. Scholars do not share a uniform consensus on early Dravidian religion but many scholars associated it with Neolithic societies of South Asia which was later assimilated...

Jeongsusa Sansingak, Mountain Spirit Shrine (Ganghwa-gun) - Jeongsusa meaning clean water - clear the body and mind, because fresh water sprang up at the east side of the temple was built by Priest Hoejeong AD 639,and was rebuilt by saint priest Hamheo Daesa in 1426.

Korean Shamanism

Korean Shamanism Korean shamanism or Korean folk religion, also known as Shinism or Sinism (신교, 神敎; Shingyo or Shinkyo, “religion of the spirits/gods”) or Shindo (신도; 神道, “way of the spirits/gods”), is the polytheistic and animistic ethnic religion of Korea which dates back to prehistory and consists in the worship of gods (신 shin) and ancestors (조상 josang) as well as nature spirits. When referring specifically...

The "Holy See" temple in Tây Ninh is the centre of the main Caodaist church.

Caodaism

Caodaism Caodaism (Đạo Cao Đài, Chữ nôm: 道高臺) is a monotheistic syncretic religion officially established in the city of Tây Ninh in southern Vietnam in 1926. The full name of the religion is Đại Đạo Tam Kỳ Phổ Độ (The Great Faith [for the] Third Universal Redemption). Cao Đài, literally the “Highest Lord” or “Highest Power”) is...

Traditional music parade in Seoul.

Cheondoism

Cheondoism Cheondoism or Chondoism; Cheondogyo; 天道教; 천도교; literally “Religion of the Heavenly Way”) is a 20th-century Korean religion, based on the 19th-century Donghak religious movement founded by Ch’oe Che-u and codified under Son Pyŏng-Hi. Cheondoism has its origins in the peasant rebellions which arose starting in 1812 during the Joseon dynasty. Cheondoism incorporates elements of Korean shamanism. It places emphasis...

A statue of Buddha meditating. Buddha Daibutsu, Kamakura

Shinbutsu-shugo

Shinbutsu-shugo Shinbutsu-shugo (神仏習合, “syncretism of kami and buddhas”), also called Shinbutsu-konkō (神仏混淆, “jumbling up” or “contamination of kami and buddhas”), is the syncretism of Shinto and Buddhism that was Japan’s only organized religion up until the Meiji period. Beginning in 1868, the new Meiji government approved a series of laws that separated Japanese native kami...

Harimizu utaki (Harimizu Shrine), a Ryukyuan shrine in Miyakojima, Okinawa Prefecture.

Ryukyuan Religion

Ryukyuan Religion The Ryukyuan religion (琉球信仰), Ryukyu Shintō (琉球神道), Nirai Kanai Shinkō (ニライカナイ信仰), or Utaki Shinkō (御嶽信仰) is the indigenous belief system of the Ryukyu Islands. While specific legends and traditions may vary slightly from place to place and island to island, the Ryukyuan religion is generally characterized by ancestor worship (more accurately termed “ancestor respect”) and the respecting of relationships...

Shamanism Buddha Meditation Forest Faith Prayer

Chinese Shamanism

Chinese Shamanism Chinese shamanism, alternatively called Wuism (巫教; wū jiào; ‘wu religion, shamanism, witchcraft‘; alternatively 巫觋宗教 wū xí zōngjiào), refers to the shamanic religious tradition of China. Its features are especially connected to the ancient Neolithic cultures such as the Hongshan culture. Chinese shamanic traditions are intrinsic to Chinese folk religion. Various ritual traditions are rooted in original...

A vodoun market in Lomé, Togo, 2008.

West African Vodun

West African Vodun This article covers West African Vodun. Vodun (meaning spirit; also spelled Vodon, Vodoun, Vodou, Voudou, Voodoo, etc.) is practiced by the Fon people of Benin, and southern and central Togo; as well in Ghana, and Nigeria. It is distinct from the various traditional African religions in the interiors of these countries and is the main source of...

Exterior and cutaway view of an Iroquois longhouse

Longhouse Religion

Longhouse Religion The Longhouse Religion is the popular name of the religious movement also known as The Code of Handsome Lake or Gaihwi:io (Good Message), founded in 1799 by the Seneca prophet Handsome Lake (Sganyodaiyoˀ). This movement combines and reinterprets elements of traditional Iroquois religious beliefs with elements adopted from Christianity, primarily from the Quakers. Anthropologist Anthony F. C. Wallace reported...

South Africa Basotho Chieftain Medicine Man

Medicine Man

Medicine Man A medicine man or medicine woman is a traditional healer and spiritual leader who serves a community of indigenous people of the Americas. Individual cultures have their own names, in their respective Indigenous languages, for the spiritual healers and ceremonial leaders in their particular cultures. The medicine man and woman in North America Cultural...