Indigenous Religions and Their Sacred Reverence Toward Nature
Indigenous Religions and their Sacred Reverence Toward Nature
Kimberly Kitterman
Barstow Community College
Abstract
Many indigenous religions and cultures viewed the earth with great respect and reverence. This can be seen through their kinship with the land, their belief in animism, their hunter/hunted relationship, and their origin stories.
Indigenous Religions and their Sacred Reverence Toward Nature
Most indigenous cultures had a profound respect for their environment. They believed that their relationship with nature was very sacred, they believed the earth needed to be treated with dignity and reverence, they believed in harmony with their surroundings. Speaking of indigenous religions, Lewis (1995) wrote, They defined themselves by the land, by the sacred places that bounded and shaped their world. They recognized a unity in their physical and spiritual universes, the union of natural and supernatural. Their origin cycles, oral traditions, and cosmologies connected them with all animate and inanimate beings, past and present. (p. 423) Molly wrote, "Environmentalist David Suzuki argues that we must look to native peoples and religions for insightful lessons in the relationship between human beings and nature." (2005, p. 39) Native religions had a much different view of the world than we had today, and that view can be seen in the way they lived, their religious ceremonies, and even in the things they take from nature. We should begin our discussion of indigenous religions by defining what one is. The term indigenous refers to a culture that originated in a certain area. Indigenous can be used interchangeably with words such as native, oral, primal, tribal, traditional, and aboriginal. These cultures can be found anywhere in the world, in every climate and every type of environment. Different from global religions like Christianity and Islam, each of these religions were formed in isolation from everything else, causing huge variations in
Kimberly Kitterman
Barstow Community College
Abstract
Many indigenous religions and cultures viewed the earth with great respect and reverence. This can be seen through their kinship with the land, their belief in animism, their hunter/hunted relationship, and their origin stories.
Indigenous Religions and their Sacred Reverence Toward Nature
Most indigenous cultures had a profound respect for their environment. They believed that their relationship with nature was very sacred, they believed the earth needed to be treated with dignity and reverence, they believed in harmony with their surroundings. Speaking of indigenous religions, Lewis (1995) wrote, They defined themselves by the land, by the sacred places that bounded and shaped their world. They recognized a unity in their physical and spiritual universes, the union of natural and supernatural. Their origin cycles, oral traditions, and cosmologies connected them with all animate and inanimate beings, past and present. (p. 423) Molly wrote, "Environmentalist David Suzuki argues that we must look to native peoples and religions for insightful lessons in the relationship between human beings and nature." (2005, p. 39) Native religions had a much different view of the world than we had today, and that view can be seen in the way they lived, their religious ceremonies, and even in the things they take from nature. We should begin our discussion of indigenous religions by defining what one is. The term indigenous refers to a culture that originated in a certain area. Indigenous can be used interchangeably with words such as native, oral, primal, tribal, traditional, and aboriginal. These cultures can be found anywhere in the world, in every climate and every type of environment. Different from global religions like Christianity and Islam, each of these religions were formed in isolation from everything else, causing huge variations in
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