Indigenous religions of South America
The indigenous religions of South America encompass all ethnic beliefs of the indigenous South America .
The population of South America comprises numerous very heterogeneous ethnic groups and language families with equally heterogeneous customs, i.e. also different beliefs and practices. In the ethnic religions, after the fall of the Mesoamerican and Andean state cults, it was mainly the elements of the old popular piety that survived and developed very different religious systems, despite the massive and violent rule of the Spanish and Portuguese colonial powers, which at most reduced the range of variation, but without the reshaping by Christianity having prevented this “paganism”. Overall, the South American religions retained their character despite these obstacles and constraints.
The basic elements of all South American religions are more or less animistic , that is, everything is animated and the world is populated by good and bad spirits, souls, witches, wizards, etc., which can cause harm if the correct rituals are not observed. Signs, amulets and dreams are very important. All South American indigenous people have a deep spiritual bond with their habitat. In many religions people believed that they could transform themselves into animals and thus deprive others of life force. Belief and piety as such are accordingly not very important, but rituals and their correct observance are. The same applies to the integration of the individual into formal religious hierarchies of clan and tribe.
As far as the survival of ritual traditions in South America is concerned, a conspicuous intermingling with Catholicism can very often be observed, and ancient cultural patterns that have been influenced in this way can therefore still be found throughout Latin America. This is not surprising because the subsistence strategies of the rural population are still largely the same as they have always been. Holy feasts are celebrated by the church with mask dances, other rites take place in nature in holy places, where, as in the past, sacrifices are made, often in connection with Christian ceremonies. Mountains are considered particularly sacred. In addition to the animation that nature shows in the eyes of people through the catastrophes that are particularly frequent here, such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions ( Pacific ring of fire ), there is the basic cosmic principle that still dominates the world of imagination: the sun rises in the east over the sacred mountains and dies in the west in the ocean and in the land of the dead. The sun (male) and moon (female) are often a couple, with most of the cults dedicated to the sun.
Most of the traditional beliefs have been preserved in inaccessible areas in the interior of South America - where many ethnic groups withdrew during colonial times and where Europeans hardly ever went due to a lack of economic interest. Later the strongest resistance came from these outposts. Other groups were practically wiped out when they stood in the way of economic use by the colonial rulers and their descendants, who, in association with the clergy, often established their Catholic religion and culture by force, a trend that in some places - for example in Amazonia - up to continues today and this time under the aspect of globalization , even if indigenous politicians are increasingly establishing themselves.
In the modern age, various ethnic groups such as the Guaraní, Ticuna and Canela (a tribe of the Ge-language family in the state of Maranhão ) showed themselves to be susceptible to Christian messianic movements from time to time, partly in an effort to shake off the oppression of the Euro-Americans and be carefree To be able to combine life in prosperity with the traditional customs.
Classification
In principle, it is only in rare cases possible or useful to group ethnic religions across the borders of their main peoples. This is particularly true for South America. Nevertheless, there are various attempts to form such groups.
Real Theological Encyclopedia
Hans-Jürgen Prien has formed three groups for the Theologische Realenzyklopädie (TRE) (which refer to outdated theories of unilinear evolutionism with regard to the "cultural levels" mentioned ):
Hunters, fishermen and gatherers with or without beginning agriculture
This group includes the tribes of the tropical lowlands, which mostly combine horticulture with hunting and fishing, as well as some pure hunter and gatherer peoples (not mentioned separately in the TRE, but necessary also include the hunter peoples of the Chaco and Patagonia) . He names them as common characteristics
- Worship of cultural heroes who taught them to plant
- Magical and cult rites
- Animal spirits and / or vegetation deities
- Necromancers who primarily ritually influence the ecological balance and take care of the souls of people and animals in order to avert dangers from evil spirits.
Peoples of the intermediate cultural level
Prien relates this group to the two cultural areas of the Circum-Caribbean and Andean-Eastern Ranges , in which clear influences of the Mesoamerican and Andean high cultures can be determined. Features:
- Religious ideas as in the tropical lowlands, but supplemented by a differentiated cult based on the pattern of high cultures with the trinity: temple - priest - idols.
- In addition, clearly identifiable high gods (often associated with the jaguar)
- However, there is a smooth transition between gods, humans and animals.
- Ancestor cult and sacrificial cults to the gods
- Construction of certain types of graves, partly also temples
Peoples of the level of advanced civilizations
For South America this applies to the Central Andes area:
- The religion was complex because it incorporated elements from the other levels. In the Inca Empire, the cult of the sun god Inti, to which the ruling Inca was thought of as a child, formed the imperial religion, while the worship of the gods of the subjugated states and the religiosity of the clans continued with the worship of the ancestral spirits and the guardian spirits .
- Development of a special priest class for the temple cult, which stands out from the medicine man nature
- rather the otherworldly realms of the dead as the influence of the dead on the living as in other cultures
“Religious cultural areas” according to Mark Münzel
At the end of the 1970s, the German ethnologist Mark Münzel , based on the work of Clark Wissler (1922) and Alfred Kroeber (1923), presented a division of Central and South America into nine (or eleven) cultural areas , which also characterize the contains religions there. Julian Steward in the Handbook of South American Indians and John Bierhorst with his mythical regions of South America (1988) came to a very similar classification . Since Münzel is used in many specialist publications, it makes sense to present a summary of his religious characteristics in the following - with some additions from other sources:
Circum-Caribbean
In the north of the Andean area there were contacts to the advanced cultures of Central America and South America, as the myths show in common (for example in connection with the jaguar, which is sometimes seen as the personification of mother earth ). There were also strong interactions with the Caribbean ethnic groups. In this region there is a clear belief in high God , which, however, shows early influences of Christianity everywhere. This god is often a cultural hero who taught the cultivation of bananas and corn and the production of chicha (corn beer). In addition, one believes in a number of other gods and spirits . In contrast to the Andean cultures, there were no priests there , but instead different types of medicine men, some of whom had great power. The most important rite is the initiation of young people into adults. In the past, everyday religious life was mainly devoted to healing the sick.
Central Andes
Although the Andean cultures were heavily influenced by the Europeans and people today mostly call themselves Christians, traditional religious practices are still widespread and are partly mixed with Catholicism. In many places there is also a sharp distinction between this syncretistically permeated Christianity of the "whites" and mestizos on the one hand and the indigenous religions on the other, which today also contain certain "equal" Christian elements. For example, in the important Andean goddess Pachamama , both the traditional, non- personified Mother Earth and the veneration of the Virgin Mary are consciously seen.
The former Inca Empire roughly coincides with the territory of today's Peru. But it extended in its greatest extent to Bolivia, Ecuador, Argentina and Chile. The Inca myths have never been completely forgotten and are partly still alive today, for example in the myth of the Inkarrí (a combination of Inca and Spanish rey = king), the first man in whom mountain spirits ( apus ) played an important role in the creation of Sun and people play.
Typical of the Christian elements in today's Central Andean religion is the principally negative incorporation of the Christian elements: God pays little attention to people and Jesus and the saints symbolize the conquistadores who stole the land from the Indians; Catholicism is equated with cruelty and fear, while the ancient gods and powers stand for fertile life. This criticism of the mission is already visible in the Inkarrí myth.
Many of the intricate traditional rites are still performed today ; the more remote a village, the more open and intense. This also includes sacrificial rituals to preserve the fertility of the soil or of the lamas, in which animals are sacrificed, for example. The religious specialists that still exist go back to the Inca Empire: There are three classes of priests (who speak to different gods and spirits depending on their rank; they are allowed to offer and heal), plant healers and various fortune tellers and magicians.
The Andean indigenous people still believe in the two human souls Animu and Alma (which, however, could already be traced back to Christian influences): Animu corresponds to the character of a person who can distance himself from people under the influence of fear or evil magic while Alma represents the enduring soul whose separation from the body means death. In the hereafter, where God - assisted by hummingbirds - holds judgment, the dead souls of the Indians have to work in fields of flowers or in the construction of roads and public buildings. Whites and mestizos, on the other hand, are allowed to rest.
See also Inca religion
Guyana (as well as marginal groups in the Llanos)
The spirituality of this region is based primarily on the eternal cycles of nature, which are reflected in human life. As a rule, the indigenous Guyanas do not know any anthropomorphic gods. Instead, one believes in a pantheistic world soul . The sun is often considered to be its visible expression. Underneath there is an extensive, animistic spirit world, whereby animal spirits are considered to be manifestations of the world soul (this concept is reminiscent of Manitu and similar ideas from North America). Every person has a personal guardian spirit, which is bound to the person for better or for worse in the form of another living being (→ alter ego ). However, there is also a belief in evil spirits that bring disease. The medicine men - who are particularly powerful here - drive out such evil spirits with theatrical rituals. To do this, they use intoxicants that are snorted.
Amazonia
Basically, the Amazonian religions are the same as those of Guyana. The belief in various deities and the importance and frequency of religious rites and festivals are different. Since most of the peoples also horticulture or shifting cultivation in addition to hunting, an earth mother is often venerated, who is held to be responsible for the growth of the cultivated plants. In the Amazon, the medicine men do not have such a high status.
The rainforest ethnic groups of the lowlands live in small communities, each of which has its own distinctive myths that serve as an umbilical cord between the present and the past and the content of which can also be understood by other peoples. Claude Lévi-Strauss saw this as part of transformation processes that represent a common basic attitude and follow a common logic. Thus, the indigenous people of this huge area have no common gods and cultural heroes , but a common cultural background in which the myths are embedded and to which they are related. In mythical worlds people appear as animals and animals as people and transform into one another (see: Alter Ego ) . The myth of the anaconda as the mistress of cultivated plants and the jaguar as the master of fire is widespread, showing the constant struggle between two basic principles (similar to the North American myths of the fight between thunder birds , underwater panthers and giant horned snakes). The basis of all faith is the preservation of the ideal and harmonious relationships that must be maintained between all existing forces so that the community can survive.
Andes eastern edge
On the rainforest-lined eastern slope of the Andes, the basic religious structure corresponds to that of the Amazon lowlands. There, too, the well-being of the rainforest peoples depends on the control of the innumerable supernatural forces that inhabit things of the environment, animals, plants - yes, nature as such - personally or impersonally . With the help of shamanic rites or collective ceremonies, man must preserve this universal harmony and thus control the forces in the universe, whose favorable or unfavorable effects are in turn determined by the behavior of people. Magical means play an important role in this. There are good and bad spirits or demons, and many plants and animals such as cassava or hunting animals have a master or mistress of the animals as a protective deity or spirit, whose benevolence must be sought .
A special feature of the Ostand ritual culture is the relationship to drugs - often tobacco, alcohol or coca leaves - but mostly much stronger substances: Ayahuasca is a hallucinogenic drug that is common among medicine men and lay people, for example among the Urarina and Shuar . The trance that this creates can be very strong and is often mistaken for the only real world, while reality is mistaken for an illusion. Sometimes the use of drugs is reserved for necromancers only, but in some peoples they and the magical practices associated with them are used by all people who consider themselves to be called.
Almost all South American mythologies know a creator of the universe and of man (here often the jaguar god), but usually no cult is dedicated to him, as he shows no further interest in his creation. Rather, it is cultural heroes who fill this creation with social techniques, cultivated plants, production methods, customs, knowledge, etc. in a way that is favorable for people. There are no such high gods in the Andes primeval forests either; the fate of a person is determined primarily by his own initiative. Elements from the Central Andes can be found in all religions of this region.
In western Brazil, modern syncretistic religions such as Santo Daime and União do Vegetal use elements of traditional cults, especially the Ayahuasca trance, whereby a connection to the spirit realm and from there divine guidance is expected.
Eastern Brazil (as well as marginal groups in Paraná)
The religions in eastern Brazil also essentially correspond to the Amazon lowlands. The medicine men are even less important here than there. Intoxicants are also not used. Instead, the communal ceremonies are even more important. They often serve as initiation celebrations and for the ritual representation of the contradictions in the world, which play a primary role in the faith of Eastern Brazil.
Contact with the gods was the focus of the Guaraní . The burial customs were very different and ranged from urns to burial in the ground to secondary burials such as bones and endocannibalism .
Especially the marginal groups, who were often nomadic hunters and gatherers, with their differing ideas make the great heterogeneity of the South American religions clear and counteract the attempts at classification: For example, the Aché from eastern Paraguay believe in a cycle of rebirth from person to person over a stopover in Animals or plants. As is often the case with hunters, there is a mystical unity between humans and nature and its cycles, so that the destruction of their habitat hits them particularly hard not only materially but also spiritually.
Chaco
The religions of the Chaco peoples, as in all lowland cultures, assume the existence of good and bad spirits, but the essential transcendent idea is distinctly different here: the cause of the world - the perceptible "external reality" - is just that abstract "inner reality" or power accessible to the human soul (see also: pantheism ) . This power is expressed in animals as their souls. Divine beings, however, are unknown. Medicine men are able to put themselves into a light trance through magic songs, and then transform themselves into an animal soul and travel to the spirit world. There they ally themselves with good spirits and fight against evil spirits. The individual spirits were all considered to be equally strong. The immersion was created by intensive tobacco smoking or sniffing a powder from a mimosa-like wood ( Anadenanthera peregrina ) and the journey was aimed at healing the sick. These ideas held before and after the period of the Chaco equestrian cultures . In the meantime (17th to 19th centuries) the traditional consensus democracies were partly replaced by Kazikentümer and some religious ideas of the Patagonian peoples were adopted. However, as I said, this was only temporary.
Patagonia
The southern Andes are mainly the area of the Mapuche , who have a complex mythology . The supreme god of the Mapuche - almighty creator and sun god - is Gynechen ( Ngenechén or Ngünechén ). In addition, there are other deities (especially personified stars), good and bad spirits as well as sacred animals (including the horse, which was first introduced with the Spanish). Special features of the Mapuche religion are the major religious festivals and especially We Tripantu , the new year of the Mapuche. In addition, collective supplication and thanksgiving rituals in which animal sacrifices play an important role. Both also have contacts to Christianity.
A completely different reference is, however, often produced when the Machi - mostly female "shamans" - the talk is: Your life and activities reminded so strongly to the Siberian shamanism (such as the Jacob's ladder symbolism, drum ecstasy , Beyond Travel, Helping spirit , divine calling) that the term shamanism is often mentioned in connection with the Mapuche - although in all probability it can only be a coincidental analog development. Establishing homologous references to Siberia here is now considered highly speculative. Today's Faith of the Mapuche is, in spite of the officially Christian superstructure, still a "Catholic paganism".
The grassy and bushy plains east of the Andes used to be the residential area of the Tehuelche . They too had personalized gods with a high god and brought them animal sacrifices. They also knew various cultural heroes and a large number of ghosts. The necromancers also held an important position among the Tehuelche and the horse was also worshiped since the Araucanization .
fire land
On the southernmost tip of South America, Tierra del Fuego tribes like the Kawesqar and Yámana dedicated themselves to gathering mussels and other food from the sea. Their religion was ruled by a supreme being who provided access to food and human health. There were medicine men who were believed to have had supernatural powers and who were believed to influence the weather, among other things. However, they were primarily active as healers. They received their power through dead ancestors and guardian spirits. The Tierra del Fuego Indians also had communal rituals like everywhere in South America.
See also
literature
- Wolfgang Lindig u. Mark Münzel (Ed.): The Indians. Volume 2: Mark Münzel: Central and South America , 3rd revised and expanded edition of the 1st edition from 1978, dtv, Munich 1985, ISBN 3-423-04435-7 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Mihály Hoppál : The Book of Shamans. Europe and Asia. Econ Ullstein List, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-550-07557-X . Pp. 411 f., 414
- ↑ Mircea Eliade : Shamanism and shamanic ecstasy technique . Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 2001, OA 1951, ISBN 3-518-27726-X . 2001, pp. 309-319.
- ^ A b Bernhard Pollmann: Traditional Religions in South America. In: Harenberg Lexicon of Religions. Harenberg, Dortmund 2002, ISBN 3-611-01060-X . Pp. 900-901.
- ↑ a b Michael D. Coe (ed.), Dean Snow, Elizabeth Benson: World Atlas of Ancient Cultures: America before Columbus. History, art forms of life. Christian Verlag, Munich 1986, ISBN 3-88472-107-0 . Pp. 162f., 221f.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i The New Encyclopædia Britannica . 15th edition. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., Chicago 1993, ISBN 0-85229-571-5 . Vol. 13, pp. 400, 405-414.
- ↑ Hans-Jürgen Prien: Latin America, published in: Horst Balz et al. (Ed.): Theologische Realenzyklopädie , Volume 20: "Crusades - Leo XIII". Walter de Gruyter, Berlin, New York 1990, ISBN 978-3-11-019098-4 . Pp. 451-480.
- ↑ a b c d Richard Cavendish, Trevor O. Ling: Mythologie. An illustrated world history of mythical-religious thought. Christian Verlag, Munich 1981, ISBN 3-88472-061-9 . P. 259 ff.
- ↑ Elke Mader: Ethnological myth research. Theoretical perspectives and examples from Latin America . ( Memento of the original from May 18, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: latein Amerika-studien.at, Vienna, pp. 36–37. accessed on February 15, 2016.
- ^ Douglas T. Peck: Ix Chel Maya Queen of Heaven in the New World: Evolution of the Maya Goddess Ix Chel from Ancient Times to Modern Times. Xlibris Corporation, 2011, ISBN 978-1-4568-5039-5 . Pp. 35-44.
- ↑ a b Lindig u. Münzel, pp. 77-78.
- ↑ a b Lindig u. Münzel, pp. 104-107.
- ↑ Hannes Stubbe: Indigenous Psychologies using the example of Brazil. In: Psychologie und Gesellschaftskritik 34. 2010, 2. pp. 83–111.
- ↑ Lindig et al. Münzel, pp. 231-235.
- ↑ a b c d Lindig u. Münzel, pp. 196-201.
- ↑ Lindig et al. Münzel, pp. 253-255.
- ^ Edmund Leach : Claude Lévi-Strauss for an introduction. 3. Edition. Junius Verlag, Hamburg 2006, ISBN 3-88506-628-9 . Pp. 73-76.
- ↑ Åke Hultkrantz , Michael ripinsky-Naxon, Christer Lindberg ": The Book of shamans Americas. Munich 2002. ISBN 3-550-07558-8 pp 91-103, 133..
- ↑ Lindig et al. Münzel, pp. 280-281.
- ↑ Lindig et al. Münzel, pp. 167-170.
- ↑ Lindig et al. Münzel, pp. 145-147.
- ^ Walter Hirschberg (founder), Wolfgang Müller (editor): Dictionary of Ethnology. New edition, 2nd edition. Reimer, Berlin 2005, pp. 326-327.
- ↑ Lindig et al. Münzel, pp. 123-124.
- ↑ Alejandra Siffredi: Tehuelche Religion . In: encyclopedia.com, 2005, accessed January 13, 2016.
- ↑ Lindig et al. Münzel, pp. 123-124.
- ↑ Åke Hultkrantz: American Religions, published in: Horst Balz et al. (Ed.): Theologische Realenzyklopädie , Volume 2: "Agende - Anselm von Canterbury". Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1978, ISBN 978-3-11-019098-4 . Pp. 402-458.
- ↑ Ghost masks, sun dances and shamans . In: zeit.de, June 16, 2015, accessed on February 19, 2016.
