Some try alternative forms of grave carethere are websites that allow descendants to tend "virtual tombs. Yet the holiday survives, and some elements still recall ancient rituals. Village graves are organized with bureaucratic precision, each generation in its own row. Material concerns remain important: cigarettes, alcohol, and grave money for the dead. Perhaps someday even these traditions will be abandoned, but for now they still provide a link between past and present.
Menstrual fluids are often regarded as a pollutant while semen is used in rituals "improving health and well being. The word "fetish" was coined by Portuguese explores to describe the charms worn and Africans they trades with beginning in the 15th century.
All that we know about the religion of prehistoric man is surmised from: 1 cave paintings, engravings and sculptures; 2 archaeological excavations of graves and sacred sites; 3 analysis of the way the dead were handled; and 4 studies of traditional hunter-gatherer societies. Chauvet cave lions made 27, years ago Traditional hunter-gatherer societies have a mystical attachment to the land and animals. Cooperation is an important virtue because it is vital foraging and hunting. Jean Clottes, a French art historian and archaeologist, who is regarded as the grand old man of cave art, told National Geographic, "Ice Age people probably believed that animal spirits lived in the rocks.
Seventy-thousand- year-old skulls found in Placard cave near Charente and Dordogne Cave near the village of Les Eyzies in France and Castillo cave near Puente Viesgo Spain were made into drinking cups possibly for sacred rituals. A 14, year-old half lion and half human head found in a French cave seems to suggest the worship of a supernatural being. The skull of a ,year-old child found in Hero in was defleshed after death.
Cut marks on the skull indicate the the skin, muscles and blood vessels were removed and lines were scraped on the skull, probably with an obsidian tool. The cut marks indicate that the bone was still fresh when it was done.
This and the careful way it was done suggests that there was something more going on than mere cannibalism. The surface of the skull has a polished surface, which suggests repeated handling. Perhaps it was a greatly treasured relic. It was found with no other bones, possibly because it was separated from the body and buried in some kind of special funeral rite.
A man was buried , years ago in Israel with an antler placed in his hand, perhaps an offering to be taken to the after life. A year-old woman found in Santa Maria di Agnano cave near Maria di Agnano, Italy was buried 24, year ago with hundreds perforated shells in a red ocher paste covered her head. Beneath her right were the bones of a tiny fetus and lying behind her back was a year-old male with similar perforated shells as well as a deer tooth necklace. Scientists are not sure how they died and.
A thumb tip was found ritually buried at a 30,year-old site in Poland. A 7,year-old funerary mask that resembles a a hockey goalie mask was found in the Middle East. It was carved from white stone. At Le Moustier in the Dordogne regaion of France the skeleton of a boy was found with his forearm under his head, a fine oval ax in his left hand and a pillow of flint chips under his head.
Nearby were the burnt bones of a prehistoric ox which suggests a funeral feat was held. In Candide Italy the bones of 10,year-old stone age man, who had been eaten by a bear, was discovered. The body had been smeared with ocher and buried. In a cave in Monte Circeo Italy a skull, whose brains had been drained out, was found in a position that suggested veneration. Near Moscow, two boys laid to rest in a mound were buried with 8, valuable ivory beads, mammoth-ivory spears and assorted rings and anklets.
It is possible that Neanderthals believed in spirits and the afterlife. Scientists speculate that Neanderthals possibly buried food and prized items with their dead for their trip to the afterlife as the Egyptians and many ancient cultures did. The practice of burying valuable items with the dead was practiced by the ancient Egyptians, Chinese, horsemen of the Central Asian steppe and others.
A headless Neanderthal skeleton found in Kebara cave in Israel was found in a shallow pit with its arms folded, suggesting formal burial rites. Scientists also argue that the fact that so many Neanderthal skeletons have been found in good conditional suggests burial.
The remains of Neanderthals that are known to have buried their dead have been saved from erosion and damage. Neanderthals, living , years ago in Central Europe, buried their dead with food, hunting weapons, charcoal and prized items such as tools, bear skulls, goat horns and medicinal flowers. Neanderthals buried their dead with blue hyacinth, yellow groundsel, knapweed and yarrow. One grave in Shanidar Iraq contained the remains of eight different flowers. The dead there were smeared with ocher, something Australian aborigines still do today.
Speculated on why so many ,year-old Neanderthal bones were found at the bottom of foot shaft in Spain, Juan-Luis Arsuaga of the Complutense University of Madrid told National Geographic, "They weren't brought here by carnivores.
None of the bones have tooth marks Maybe they inhabited the entrance of the cave, and since corpses smell, they dropped the bodies of their dead down here to dispose of them. Perhaps there was ritual.
Whatever the reason, they gave their dead special treatment. This tells us something about how their minds evolved. Animals don't take care of their dead. The Greeks practiced polytheism: the worship of many gods.
Polytheists have traditionally been looked down upon by practitioners of the great monotheistic religion which worship only a single godJudaism, Christianity, Islamas primitive and barbaric pagans.
But who knows maybe they had it right. Their religion made the ancient Greeks aware of their ignorance and weakness, letting them recognize multiple points of view. It suggests that collective decisions often lead to better outcomes. Respect for a diversity of viewpoints informs the cooperative system the Athenians called democracy.
The world, as the Greek philosopher Thales wrote, is full of gods, and all deserve respect and honor. If the Greeks were in close contact with a particular nation they gave their foreign gods names of their own gods: The Egyptian goddess Isis was Demeter; Horus was Apollo and so on.
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Spirits and Unhappy Ancestors Many animists believe that every living thing, even trees and insects, have a spirit. Sacrifices Chinese exorcism in the s Animal sacrifices are held by some ethnic minorities to help sick relatives, assure that good spirits watch over their children, and appease the spirits at healing ceremonies, weddings, house christening and births.
It is also defined as the worship of spirits opposed to that of gods. If, for some reason the spirit did not return by morning, its body would be found dead. He then hit the lifeless body on the head with the branch.
This was meant to force the spirit back into its body. Neither religion had an established church, nor do they have a holy book. The spirit world was very real for both religions. However, their interpretations differed from each other. Animists believed that spirits could physically harm the living if they so desired. Animists were not surprised when the food they offered was not touched by a spirit, they believed that the food had its own presence in the spirit world, and therefore could be eaten there.
Shamans were the spiritual leaders in their village or tribe, and often received knowledge from spirits, rather than harm. Thus, Shamanism and animists believed the spirit world was real, but disagreed on how safe they were from it. If a member of the tribe or village that the shaman was in needed spiritual guidance, or needed mental help, the shaman would mix two plants together. Ayahuasca, which made whoever ingested it nauseous, and chacruna, a hallucinogen that provoked visions.
Once these two plants had boiled together for ten hours, the shaman would have his patient drink the solution. After the visions started, the shaman began chanting, guiding his patient through his or her visions as he did.
Shamans used this ritual on themselves to contact spirits and ask for their knowledge. A shaman had the power to heal and guide his tribe members by having them visit the spirit world.
Animists believed that most spirits were malevolent, and would cause disturbances, or kill one of the living unless they worshiped or made offerings to the spirits. When a man died, a shrine would be built to honor his spirit. Friends and relatives would visit the shrine often. However, shamans were always careful about what they said to spirits. They would not invite a spirit into their body, and warned others not to do so, as that could have led to possession. The ritual would begin with a girl having patterns painted on her face; members of the tribe would begin chanting.
After her face was painted, a shaman would begin cutting her hair, and the girl would be in contact with the spirit world. Then, an animal would be sacrificed and brought to a sacred area.
Others practice shamanism alongside religion , combining the two to achieve a well-rounded spiritual and religious belief.
And although you may have heard of the alluring tourist ventures into the Amazon to experience an Ayahuasca ceremony, as effective as it may be, there are still many traditional and modern shamans who make it their life mission to heal those around them. Now, if shamanism sounds ancient, animism goes back even further in time. At the heart of animism is the belief in spirits, and that everything in the world has a soul. Animism is the belief that everything in the universe, from animals, rivers, rocks, mountains, to the moon, stars, and the sun, has a spirit or a soul.
Animists would worship the spirits by:. Animism dates back to early mankind, with evidence of spiritual belief in the world and the afterlife found in hunter-gatherer communities. Not to mention Northern Europe, where the Vikings and Celts were known to believe in spirits and would hold numerous rituals to appease them.
Apart from having an obvious influence in some religions, like Buddhism, Shintoism, Hinduism, and in some Neopagan movements, elements of animism have filtered through, and there are spiritual practices found in most modern-day religions. Within animism around the world, you might see candles, food offerings, and flowers left out for the spirits of ancestors — a prime example of this can be seen across the Island of Bali, Indonesia, where offerings are laid out every morning.
Although the dominant religion now is Hinduism, the Balinese practiced animism before its arrival, and continue to honor the spirits in their daily lives. For a start, neither followed a doctrine or had a holy book like the Bible or the Quran. There are no prophets, nor one leader who should be followed. As they both stem from our connection to nature and the environment, these beliefs were based more on feeling, on life experience.
Despite that, shamanic and animistic practices from one side of the world to the other are extremely similar. In addition, both share a strong belief in the power of the spirits and their ancestors. Shamanism believes in individual and collective spiritual development. Shamans are seen as the spiritual healers among us who draw upon their connection to this world and the spiritual world.
Whilst shamans work as a bridge between this world and the spirit world, enlisting the help of spirits to heal others and gain knowledge, animists believe that the spirits should be appeased.
Since the spirits can be evil as well as good, animists believe in honoring the dead and offering sacrifices for the spirits, as can be seen in the Torajan people of Indonesia. Even today, with the influences of Christianity and Islam in the region, these communities have kept their animistic beliefs and revere their ancient rituals.
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