BUILDING BRIDGES
A Tapestry of Faith Program for Youth
WORKSHOP 3: INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS—THE EARTH SPEAKS
BY MARY K. ISAACS
© Copyright 2013 Unitarian Universalist Association.
Published to the Web on 9/29/2014 7:58:39 PM PST.
This program and additional resources are available on the UUA.org web site at
www.uua.org/religiouseducation/curricula/tapestryfaith.
WORKSHOP OVERVIEW
INTRODUCTION
... everything on the Earth has a purpose, every disease an herb to cure it, and every person a mission. This is the Indian theory of existence. — Mourning Dove (Christine Quintasket) (1888-1936), Native American (Salish) novelist
The earliest human beings developed the four aspects of human societies: language, music, a social order, and religion. Religion has been practiced in some form for over three million years. Archeaological evidence suggests there were followers of indigenous faiths millions of years ago, in the earliest places on earth we know human beings lived: the southernmost tip of Africa, Southeast Asia, Japan, China, and Australia.
This workshop introduces indigenous religions, which are sometimes called native, tribal, or primitive religions. While differing in many outward respects from what we in the West envision when we think of "religion," these faiths serve people's needs in the same fundamental ways all religions do. Today, more than 400 million people worldwide are adherents of indigenous faiths.
Though these religions are ancient, it does not mean their modern interpretations have not evolved. Throughout this workshop (and the program, as a whole) remind youth that religions are organic entities, emerging—when conditions are right—perfectly suited to a place, time, and segment of a population. When a religion no longer serves its people or suits their culture, it changes or dies. Help youth embrace the idea that religion can serve the same essential purposes in many different forms.
GOALS
This workshop will:
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Participants will:
WORKSHOP-AT-A-GLANCE
Activity | Minutes |
Welcoming and Entering | 0 |
Opening | 15 |
Activity 1: Story — Sun Mother Walks the Earth | 20 |
Activity 2: Oral Tradition | 25 |
Activity 3: Leaving a Record | 15 |
Activity 4: Fact Sheet | 10 |
Activity 5: Time Line | 3 |
Faith in Action: Kids vs. Global Warming | |
Closing | 2 |
Alternate Activity 1: Engagement | 0 |
Alternate Activity 2: Goddesses | 20 |
Alternate Activity 3: Honoring Our Ancestors | 15 |
Alternate Activity 4: Canning and Drying Food | 0 |
SPIRITUAL PREPARATION
Indigenous religions are close to the sources of life and permeate the lives of followers; their stories give meaning to everything adherents see, touch, and do in their daily lives, and their rituals have sacred significance as well as practical value.
Ready yourself to talk about faiths that originate from the earth by getting in touch with the earth. Go outside, if weather permits. Quietly watch the movement of a tree or a bird. Breathe the scent of a plant. Allow the sensations to flow all the way into you and through you. Feel them become part of you and fill you with a sense of belonging to this sacred giver of life, our earth.
WORKSHOP PLAN
WELCOMING AND ENTERING
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants create simple, human- and nature-oriented art work.
As participants enter, invite them sit in the work area and mold a very simple image with clay or create cave-style drawings. Suggest they draw things they think would be important in the life of a person living in a very simple, close-to-the-earth culture. As participants finish, tape their drawings to walls around the room and display their figures on work tables.
OPENING (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Invite youth to sit in a circle. Answer any questions you were unable to answer from the last workshop.
Then, light the chalice with these words:
We light this chalice in celebration of Unitarian Universalism and the sustaining faiths of all people of the world. May the flame represent the fire of our commitment to understand all faithful people and build bridges that connect us as one human family.
Invite participants to check in by saying their names and briefly describing a place in nature they have been where they felt the presence of the sacred or where they were filled with awe or wonder.
Read or share, in your own words, the information in Leader Resource 2, Indigenous Religions Background. Write important terms on newsprint. Indicate on the map or globe the areas where the earliest humans lived.
Then say, in your own words:
Think for a moment about what it would be like to live in a very early society. There are probably only ten or twenty of you. All of you have to work hard, to hunt or collect enough food for everybody, to keep the fire going, to protect yourselves from predators and bad weather, and find or build adequate shelters. You have no knowledge of any part of the world other than the miles you can range on foot. Your religion is likely to fit your environment and would offer answers to the big questions: how the world works, how it came to be, how it all fits together, why things are as they are.
You have no writing. How would your religion be transmitted from generation to generation? (Allow youth to answer.) What would your religion deal with? (Allow youth to answer.) Would you feel strongly about your part in the natural order? (Allow youth to answer.)
The faith that would speak to you would also reflect the seamless oneness of all life, the interconnectedness of all things that live, plants, animals, humans, everyone.
Discuss the ideas presented in Leader Resource 2, Indigenous Religions Background, using questions such as:
ACTIVITY 1: STORY — SUN MOTHER WALKS THE EARTH (20 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants hear and discuss an Australian Aboriginal Dreamtime story.
Tell or read the story "Sun Mother Walks the Earth." Then, invite participants' responses. Prompt with questions such as:
ACTIVITY 2: ORAL TRADITION (25 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants discuss the power of storytelling in their lives and share their own stories.
Tell participants many indigenous religions practice an oral tradition. Suggest that learning from another person is a learning experience different from learning from a book or on online source. Ask participants if they can remember someone teaching them something—for example, how to tie their shoes, use a computer program, or play basketball.
Say, in your own words:
All of us have experienced someone telling us a story that left a strong impression: Maybe a parent once comforted us with a story of their own failure, loss, or disappointment or shared a story about an eccentric aunt that helped us understand her better. Maybe we have heard a grandparent's story about their childhood or a story about an ancestor who died before we were born. Family stories told through the generations can take on an almost mythic quality.
Mythic qualities also appear in many fairy tales and wisdom tales. All cultures have stories with morals that are told generation after generation. It is fascinating that often the same story shows up in many different cultures in different times and places, with slight variations. An example is the story of Cinderalla. Fairy tales, wisdom tales, and fables can transmit values that are important for cultures to retain. Along with family stories, they can help us understand the culture we are part of, and through it, ourselves.
Ask participants to think for a few minutes about stories people have told them that have made a difference in their lives. Allow several minutes. Then, sound a tone to end the reflection time. Ask the youth if they remembered some stories that were important to them and invite volunteers to share with the group. Remind the youth that people's stories are important to them and everyone's stories must be respected.
If no one volunteers, offer to go first. Stand in front of the group and briefly tell the story that influenced you. If participants still are uncomfortable with this level of sharing, ask them to tell a story about the funniest thing that has happened to them.
If participants tell about an event in their own lives, respectfully ask why it was memorable. Did they ever tell other people about it? Why or why not? If they told others, how did it feel to tell the story? Which aspects of the story were important for them to convey?
Also ask:
ACTIVITY 3: LEAVING A RECORD (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Tell the group:
Although the stories of indigenous religions are passed orally from generation to generation, often there is also physical evidence of the stories and the basic tenets of these religions. These stories were so important to that group that its artists felt the stories should be recorded, to ensure many generations would know of them.
Ask the youth to each choose a tale from their lives they think is worth several future generations knowing about. Tell them the tale can belong to their shared culture, their local community, or even their congregation.
Indicate the cave paintings (copies of Leader Resource 1). Tell the group these are prehistoric cave paintings. Altammira is from a cave in Spain. It could be as old as 19,000 years ago. The Lascaux painting, from France, is estimated to be about 17,000 years old. What do youth see in the paintings? (Animals, mostly herds of bison.) Why do they think someone took the time and trouble to make these paintings?
Explain that the most common images in cave paintings around the world are large animals. Some cave paintings show hunting of these animals. Rarely, human figures are included. Later art depicted more of a story than these earliest drawings. Invite participants to use the art materials to make their own pictorial record of the story they want to tell.
Variations
Have the group choose and then represent one story together. Lead the youth to agree on a single tale that merits documenting for future generations—for example, a remarkable event in local politics, or the story of how an important person came to be part of your community. You may wish to show the story comic-book style, as a sequence of drawings, so each participant can work on a panel of the same tale.
Instead of a real story, you might invite the group to create a story that might have felt important to a group among the earliest humans—for example, the story of a successful hunt, or a story that explains how flowers were created or why "river" is a sacred part of everyone's lives. Create the story together as you go.
When everyone is finished, talk about why that story would be important for many many generations to understand the people who recorded it. Have each participant review their own contribution, and how their picture tells the story.
ACTIVITY 4: FACT SHEET (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Description of Activity
Summarize the basic tenets of some indigenous faiths.
Distribute Handout 1, Indigenous Religions Fact Sheet. Review the handout and explain any unfamiliar concepts or terms. Ask youth to compare the fact sheet with the poster of the Principles. Have them identify themes, values, and traditions of indigenous faiths that might hold meaning for Unitarian Universalists. Invite the youth to share their questions about indigenous religions and answer any questions you can. Note remaining questions to research before the next workshop.
ACTIVITY 5: TIME LINE (3 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
The Religions Time Line is updated to add Indigenous Religions.
Ask participants if they remember when humanity began practicing religion. Tell them it was three million years ago, according to archaeological and anthropological evidence. Explain that our time line does not go back nearly that far, but that the arrow indicates the early origins of indigenous religions. Ask if participants remember where the largest groups of people belonging to indigenous religions live. As they call out the locations, identify them on the map. (China, eastern and southern Africa, Southeast Asia, Japan, Australia, Mexico, Central America, Ireland, United States)
CLOSING (2 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Gather the group around the chalice. If needed, relight the chalice.
Distribute Taking It Home. Invite participants to sit in a circle and join hands and say together:
All our bridges meet in the middle, in a Unitarian Universalist circle of faith. We are connected with all that lives. We continue with all who seek. We belong with all who love. Go in peace until we meet again.
Extinguish the chalice together.
FAITH IN ACTION: KIDS VS. GLOBAL WARMING
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants learn about Kids vs. Global Warming and practice an earth-friendly activity.
Explain, in your own words:
Kids vs. Global Warming is an organization created and headed by teenager Alec Loors. Alec had applied to be a presenter for Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth project but was turned away for being too young. He was disappointed, but decided he would create his own organization, which is now globally recognized. Alec's experience reminds us that if we want to do something important, we must keep trying. There's always another—and often better—way to accomplish something if our first idea does not pan out.
The mission of Kids vs. Global Warming is "to educate youth about the science of global warming, and empower them to take action." The organization does presentations, creates Global Warming Action Teams of youth working for environmental change, supports community activism, and provides training sessions for youth who want to become involved.
Kids vs. Global Warming thinks the starting point is to green things up in your own back yard. Their website says,
We encourage all new teams to plant trees at their school to make their commitment to fighting global warming something concrete and real. Imagine how awesome that would be if every school in our country planted ten trees.
Kids vs. Global Warming is also creating "Activist in a Box" kits for other young people who want to get involved to combat global warming.
Invite the youth to peruse the Kids vs. Global Warming website. Or, share materials you have printed from the website.
Lead a discussion. Suggest these ways the youth might get involved:
Encourage the group to follow through on plans that interest them. Assign the next action steps and plan a follow-up meeting.
LEADER REFLECTION AND PLANNING
This was the first workshop to explore a faith outside Unitarian Universalism. Review today's workshop with your co-leader:
Plan who will seek answers to questions about indigenous faiths that arose in the workshop.
TAKING IT HOME
... everything on the Earth has a purpose, every disease an herb to cure it, and every person a mission. This is the Indian theory of existence. — Mourning Dove (Christine Quintasket) (1888-1936), Native American (Salish) novelist
IN TODAY'S WORKSHOP... we discussed indigenous religions and some of the characteristics they share, including the importance of an oral tradition.
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
EXPLORE THE TOPICS WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 1: ENGAGEMENT
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants engage with a community that embraces its indigenous religion.
Prior to the engagement, give youth information about the community and the religion you will engage with. If at all possible, have a host member of the community you will visit come to your congregation in person to prepare the youth; before that person comes, help the youth brainstorm questions to ask them—if needed, prompt the youth to ask how to be a respectful guest, including what to wear, how to behave, and anything else that will be expected of them.
After the engagement, process the experience. Ask participants:
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 2: GODDESSES (20 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Youth explore the role of goddesses in indigenous religions.
Invite participants to brainstorm the names of goddesses. Have a volunteer list the names on newsprint.
When the group runs out of goddesss names, contribute these (or, add your favorite goddesses):
Acknowledge that the list is incomplete. Discuss, using these questions:
Tell participants that some of the goddesses of indigenous faiths are still worshipped. If you have Internet access and a computer, watch this video on YouTube: Oshun Festival in New York (at www.youtube.com/watch?v=_B38PxCHY3A).
Suggest to youth that if they are interested in goddesses, they can find a great deal of information on the Internet and in books.
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 3: HONORING OUR ANCESTORS (15 MINUTES)
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants become familiar with Shinto, the indigenous religion of Japan, and explore the importance of ancestors and forebears in their own lives.
Say, in your own words:
Shinto is the indigenous faith of Japan, with an estimated 4 million to 100 million current followers. Believers respect animals as messengers of the gods, recognize nature as sacred, revere geographic locations such as mountains and springs, and practice cleanliness as a religious rite. Followers of Shinto aspire to have makoto—or, sincerity—brightness, and purity of heart. Another feature of Shinto is the worship of ancestors.
Tell participants Shinto adherents greatly honor their elderly and revere their ancestors who have died. Explain that to a follower of Shinto, the thought of all their dead ancestors watching over them is profoundly comforting, giving their life meaning and depth. Ask participants what they think of that idea. Lead a discussion about attitudes toward elders and ancestors with questions such as these:
Ask participants to imagine a ritual that could express the way their family honors ancestors. Suggest they either think of ways to enrich an existing family practice or envision a totally new ritual.
Give them a moment to reflect. Then, ask them to pair up and share their ideas with their partners. Reconvene the large group and ask a few volunteers to share their ideas.
Tell participants Shintoism is not the only faith with a belief that our ancestors are looking out for us. Many indigenous faiths and other religions share this belief. Many also share the Shinto belief in other spirits, such as the animal spirits of Native American religions.
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 4: CANNING AND DRYING FOOD
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants prepare and store food so they may share the earth's bounty with others.
Drying and canning instructions are adapted from the Seasonal Chef (at www.seasonalchef.com/preserves21.htm) website and an E-How (TM) online article, "How to Make Freeze Dried Fruit Snacks (at www.ehow.com/how_7827832_make-freeze-dried-fruit-snacks.html)."
Share with the group:
Food storage has long been a practice of all sorts of cultures out of basic necessity. These days many people are unfamiliar with methods of food storage, because it is not something they have to worry about very often. But harvest time was a deeply sacred act in many indigenous cultures, with strong ties to the deities they believed in. Food storage was a matter of life or death.
In Western European cultures, these stored foods were often brought to the winter festavals to be traded, or as gifts for families who perhaps had run out of one or another kind of staple. Some families had more meat perhaps than another family. Some may have stored honey, or a fruit preserve, but not enough grain. These families would come together during times of celebration, and share their bounty with one another.
Invite youth to can and dry food to share with others as a way to honor the bounty of their lives.
Drying Fruit: Apricots, Peaches, Apples, Berries, and More
As always when working with food, be more cautious than you think you should be. All work surfaces should be freshly sanitized. Wash your hands each time you go from one task to another, and wash fruit or vegetables with soap and water very carefully.
Drying is a simple, natural method to prepare food for storage.
1. Use only blemish-free fruits that are fully ripe but not overly ripe.
2. Wash, pit, and slice the fruit. Make the pieces as uniform in size as possible, so they'll dry in the same time. The smaller the pieces, the faster they will dry.
3. To preserve the color of the fruit, blanch or dip the fruit slices before you dry them. Dilute 2 tbsp. ascorbic acid or 5 one-gram crushed vitamin C tablets in 1 quart water. For peaches, apples, and bananas you can instead mix 1 quart pineapple juice, 1 quart lukewarm water, and 1/4 cup bottled lemon juice.
Sun Drying. In very warm climates with 100 degree heat and low humidity, you can dry fruit outside in the sun. Spread the slices on a clean screen for two to four days, turning slices over halfway through the drying process. A screen over the fruit will keep most bugs away. Bring the screen inside at night to keep dew from re-moisturizing on the fruit.
Oven Drying. Preheat oven to 145 degrees. Prop open the oven door, to let steam escape.
Spread a 100 percent cotton sheet or a sheet of cheesecloth over the oven racks. Set the fruit slices on the cloth. Allow from 4 up to 12 hours to dry the fruit, then let it cool. Food will be dry but pliable when cool.
After Drying. Keep drying the fruit in a big, dry open pan or pot in a dry, warm, airy location. Stir once or twice a day for 10 days to two weeks.
If you want to store the dried fruit for any great length of time, it is best to pasteurize the slices to destroy any insect eggs. When drying is complete, freeze the fruit for several days at zero degrees in a deep freeze (the freezer compartment of a refrigerator will not work), or heat in a 175 degree oven for 10-15 minutes.
Store dried fruit in airtight zip-up bags or glass containers, kept inside paper bags to protect from light. Store in a cool, dry place.
Canning: Tomatoes and Many Other Foods
Canning is a way to store chemical-free, delectable fruits, vegetables, nutmeats, pickles, preserves, jams, and jellies, as well as meats and fish, already cooked and tender, just waiting for a meal.
Jars do not have to be purchased new. Tell congregants, neighbors, and friends that you are going to be canning and need jars. A note tacked up on a bulletin board or placed in your local advertiser paper will also work wonders. You can use any jar that is chip- and crack-free with a jar lid and ring that fit. Note: Rubber lids need to be bought new; they are usually only good for one-time use. Food will spoil in an improperly sealed jar.
As always when working with food, be more cautious than you think you should be. All work surfaces should be freshly sanitized, wash your hands each time you go from one task to another, and wash fruit or vegetables with soap and water very carefully.
To can tomatoes: Fill a large pot with water up to 3/4 full. Place the wire rack inside and put the pot on to boil.
Wash the jars in warm soapy water and rinse. Check each one for minute cracks and nicks in the rim, run your fingers carefully over each to make sure. Leave the jars in hot water until needed. Separate the lids and place them in a separate pot of water. Bring the lids to a boil, and then leave them in there until you need them.
Prepare a large basin of cold water for tomatoes to cool in. Wash the tomatoes and dip them in the boiling water of your large pot, using a wire basket, or a small sieve with a long handle, for about a minute or until the skins crack. Then place the tomatoes in cold water. This allows the skins to slip off easily. Once cooled a bit, core and stem each tomato; you can cut them up or leave them whole, depending on size and preference. Pack into jars and either mash down, so the juice covers them, or cover with hot water leaving a half inch of space between the product and the jar rim.
You can add salt for taste, half a teaspoon to each pint or a teaspoon to each quart. Poke a large, clean wooden spoon into the product to dislodge any large air bubbles. Wipe off the jar rim with damp cloth, place the ring on, and screw the lid down firmly. Place the jars into boiling water bath, carefully using a jar holder or tongs. Boil pints for 40 minutes and quarts for 45 minutes, counting from when the water returns to a full rolling boil. Note: These times are for use at sea level. Adjust your processing time according to altitude: at 1,000 to 3,000 feet, add five minutes; at 3,001 to 6,000 feet, add ten minutes; at 6,001 to 8,000 feet, add fifteen minutes.
Remove the jars carefully and place them on dry folded towels until cooling (and sealing) is complete. Jar lids will make a "popping" noise as their seals set. This is caused by the vacuum of cooling. If lids do not "pop" in, the seal is not correct.
Follow-up
After everything is prepared, engage youth to make a plan for when and where to share the food they have stored. One idea might be your congregation's coffee hour. Another is a local food pantry. Ask,
BUILDING BRIDGES: WORKSHOP 3:
STORY: SUN MOTHER WALKS THE EARTH
Based on a story of indigenous people of Australia/New Zealand.
There was a time when everything was still. All the spirits of the Earth were asleep—or almost all. The great Sun Mother was awake, and as she opened her eyes a warm ray of light spread out toward the sleeping Earth.
"Ah!" the Sun Mother said, "I have work to do! I must go to the Earth, awaken the sleeping spirits, and give them forms."
The Sun Mother glided down to Earth, which was bare. She began to walk in all directions and everywhere she walked plants grew. After returning to the field where she had begun her work, the Sun Mother rested, well pleased with herself. When she was rested, the Sun Mother went forth again.
This time she ventured into the dark caves on the mountainsides. The bright light that radiated from her awoke the spirits, and after she left the caves, insects of all kinds flew out into the sunlight. The Sun Mother sat down and watched the glorious sight of her insects mingling with her flowers. Once again, however, she did not rest for long.
The Sun Mother ventured into a very deep cave, spreading her light around her. Her heat melted the ice, and the rivers and streams of the world were created. Then she created fish and small snakes, lizards, and frogs. Next she awoke the spirits of the birds and animals and they burst into the sunshine in a glorious array of colors. Seeing this, the Sun Mother was pleased with her work.
She called all her creatures to her and instructed them to enjoy the wealth of the Earth and to live peacefully with one another. Then she rose into the sky and became the Sun.
The living creatures watched in awe as the Sun Mother crept across the sky toward the West. However, when she finally sunk beneath the horizon they were panic-stricken, thinking she had deserted them. All night they stood frozen in their places, thinking that the end of time had come. After what seemed to them a lifetime, the Sun Mother peeked above the horizon in the East. The Earth's children were so relieved they danced for joy. Soon they learned to expect her coming and going and were no longer afraid.
At first, the children lived together peacefully, but eventually envy crept into their hearts. They began to argue. The Sun Mother was forced to come down from her home in the sky to mediate their bickering. She gave each creature the power to change its form to whatever it chose. However, she was not pleased with the end result. The rats she had made had changed into bats; there were giant lizards and fish with blue tongues and feet. However, the oddest of the new animals had a bill like a duck, teeth for chewing, a tail like a beaver's, and the ability to lay eggs! It was called the platypus.
The Sun Mother looked down upon the Earth and decided that she must create new creatures, wiser than these. She gave birth to two children, a god and a goddess. The god was the Morning Star and the goddess was the Moon. Two children were born to them, and these, her grandchildren, she sent to live on Earth. They became our ancestors. The Sun Mother was satisfied. They were superior to the animals because they had part of her mind, and would never want to change their shape.
BUILDING BRIDGES: WORKSHOP 3:
HANDOUT 1: INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS FACT SHEET
Emerged: As early as three million years ago in China, Japan, Australia, various regions in Africa, and Southeast Asia (Hinduism is explored in Workshop 4.)
Adherents: 420 million (not including Hinduism)
Ranking: Fifth, behind Christianity, Islam, Atheism/Agnosticism, and Hinduism
Prophets: There are legendary, mythical figures in each, but no prophets
Texts: None; oral tradition
Symbols: Vary by faith, but all are tied to the natural world: feathers, bones, stones, mountains
Imagery: Vary by faith, but all are tied to the natural world: animals, birth, fire, water, religious ceremonies
Terms and Fundamental Precepts:
Oral traditions. Indigenous religions begin in societies without written language.
Not patriarchal. Indigenous religions honor all life equally, and give homage to the creative force that brought them into being, which force they characterize as female.
Close to the earth. Indigenous religions recognize their interconnectedness with all of nature, live with the natural rhythms of nature.
Ideal is the source. Unlike some later religions which look ahead to the perfection of humanity, aboriginal religions see the time of creation as being perfect and their task to recreate that time of innocence and perfection. Humans have a lesser level of understanding than animals because they arrived later and are therefore farther from the source.
Spirits imbue all living things ...including all animals and plants. The reason the paper is never cut in traditional origami (Japanese paper folding) is to honor the spirit of the tree that gave its life for the paper.
Shared with Unitarian Universalism:
In Singing the Living Tradition (Boston: UUA Publications, 1993), Readings 481, 495, 518, 520, 526, 551, 614, and 682 and Hymn 366 come from Native American traditions.
BUILDING BRIDGES: WORKSHOP 3:
LEADER RESOURCE 1: CAVE DRAWINGS
Download a high-resolution PDF (at www.uua.org/documents/tapestry/bridges/cavepaintings.pdf) for printing.
The first painting is Lascaux, from France. The second painting is Altammira, from Spain.
BUILDING BRIDGES: WORKSHOP 3:
LEADER RESOURCE 2: INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS BACKGROUND
The earliest human beings developed the four aspects of human societies: language, music, a social order, and religion. For more than three million years, human beings have practiced religion.
Some of the earliest places we know human beings have lived are the southernmost tip of Africa (South Africa today), the northeastern "horn" of Africa (Ethiopia today), Southeast Asia, Japan, China, and Australia. In these places, a locally born religion has been practiced for over three million years. Today large numbers of people still follow a form of an indigenous faith.
As humans spread across the earth, indigenous religions did, too. Native Americans were in North America as early as 15,000 BCE. The Mayans can be traced to Mexico and Central America as early as 2,000 BCE. Historical records place the Druids in western Europe by the first century CE, the same time frame when Greeks and Romans worshipped the gods known from stories we often call "mythology." Remember. these "mythologies" were very real religions for the people of the time.
These are just the indigenous faiths that have been documented. Some religions surely died, taking all their history with them. Often indigenous religions mixed with other, more modern religions to form people's core beliefs and common practices. For example, many African people today practice Islam or Christianity. Yet, they may still hold beliefs and practice rituals of an indigenous religion. They meld the two religions into a belief system that makes sense to them.
All indigenous faiths are:
Indigenous faiths do not have the preoccupation with the distant future that later religions developed (heaven or hell, reincarnation, enlightenment). The present is the time that is important.
The earliest-born faiths celebrate the female as the source of life. They often consider the earth itself as female since it gives life to us all. Early societies greatly valued women because of their childbearing capabilities and the primal, creative energy which these societies recognized as female. Patriarchal societies came later, essentially as a luxury afforded by stability and prosperity.
Taken together, indigenous religions rank fifth worldwide in terms of number of adherents. Some religions that have been considered indigenous include Native American religions, the religion of the Aztec, Shinto, Sumerian Babylonian and Sumerian, Greek and Roman, Egyptian, and the religions of the Zulu, Ibo, and Yoruba people of West Africa.
FIND OUT MORE
Explore the world's largest indigenous faiths.