Deck 2: Indigenous Religions

Question 1

The goddess Pele is associated with

A) childbirth.
B) volcanoes and fire.
C) Brazil.
D) the Haida.

Answer 1

volcanoes and fire.

Question 2

What did the Maori call New Zealand when they first arrived there over a thousand years ago?

A) Aotearoa
B) Tangaroa
C) Rongo
D) Tahiti

Answer 2

Aotearoa

Question 3

Which of the following is a traditional Maori belief?

A) The world is inhabited by many invisible spirits that can help or harm.
B) All human beings are equal and share the same authority, or mana, in society.
C) Humans were created by a High God, and he abandoned them soon after.
D) The images people see in dreams are the whispers of their gods.

Answer 3

The world is inhabited by many invisible spirits that can help or harm.

Question 4

Which of the following mediums are used by indigenous religions in the American continent to transmit stories and histories?

A) sandpaintings
B) cartography
C) board games
D) books

Question 5

African religious masks strongly influenced the art of

A) Pablo Picasso.
B) Claude Monet.
C) Ralph Vaughan Williams.
D) ethnomusicology.

Question 6

In a holistic culture,

A) written manuscripts have a special place.
B) children play a prominent role in ritual.
C) religions express truths through symbolism.
D) virtually every object and act may have religious meaning.

Question 7

The Maori act of welcome, in which the host and the guest press their noses gently to each other, is known as

A) the hongi.
B) kapu.
C) mana.
D) the wakan.

Question 8

Animism holds that

A) animal sacrifice is necessary for ritual purity.
B) mountains are often at the end of sacred paths.
C) animal nature must be subservient to human beings.
D) the life force exists in every part of the universe.

Question 9

Hehaka Sapa, also known as Black Elk, saw the circle as

A) a form in which many elements of nature arrange themselves.
B) a special form of the calumet.
C) evidence that man must dominate nature.
D) taboo for the people of Easter Island.

Question 10

In Hawai`i, during the celebration of Makahiki,

A) the gods were believed to take on human form.
B) touching volcanic rock was considered taboo.
C) people received food from the nobles.
D) war and heavy work were forbidden.

Question 11

The concept of sacred space is evident in all of the following EXCEPT

A) Uluru (Ayers Rock).
B) the pyramids of Teotihuacán.
C) Lono.
D) Mount Kilimanjaro.

Question 12

Some African religions tell stories of how a High God created the world and then

A) abandoned it.
B) went to Uluru.
C) became the mother of the Pueblo.
D) joined the spirits of the dead.

Question 13

Circumcision is a rite often associated with

A) entry into adulthood.
B) the vision quest.
C) the final passing from this life.
D) taboo and sacrifice.

Question 14

The sacrifice of an animal may occur

A) in order to placate a spirit or after a taboo has been broken.
B) to celebrate the arrival of menarche.
C) as an alternative to polygamy.
D) as an essential part of the ritual that uses Amanita muscaria.

Question 15

A libation, which is a way to atone for breaking a taboo, involves

A) pouring a bit of drink on the ground as an offering.
B) feeding sacred wine to animals.
C) smoking a calumet to placate a spirit.
D) going into a shamanic trance to seek answers from spirits.

Question 16

A special ability to know or even enter the spirit world is associated with

A) shamans.
B) the Lakota Bible.
C) John Mbiti.
D) animism.

Question 17

Divination is employed to

A) compensate for the violation of a taboo.
B) restore a woman to the social order after childbirth.
C) read the past or look into the future.
D) ensure that peyote is protected by the Supreme Court.

Question 18

Dancers often wear masks

A) that complement the flowers making up the lei.
B) because they have great memories for oral texts.
C) because birds are often assumed to have protective powers.
D) to become the spirit represented by the mask.

Question 19

Christmas, though a Christian holiday, began as a celebration of

A) the old English goddess of dawn.
B) the winter solstice.
C) Samhain in Ireland.
D) the return of ancestral spirits to the world.

Question 20

Indigenous religions today are especially threatened by

A) the destruction of natural environments.
B) ecotourism.
C) resistance to the spread of television.
D) the weakness of the logging industry.

Question 21

Maori religion is part of the cultural rebirth in

A) New Zealand.
B) New Mexico.
C) New Guinea.
D) Australia.

Question 22

The calumet is a

A) pipe.
B) drum.
C) mask.
D) sandpainting.

Question 23

Until recently, oral religions were looked at as

A) too involved with symbolism.
B) primitive and undeveloped.
C) overly complex.
D) a peak of early religious insight.

Question 24

Sacred time tends to focus on the

A) distant future.
B) immediate future.
C) present.
D) distant past.

Question 25

Sacred space often encompasses

A) a great mountain or tree.
B) the construction of a skyscraper.
C) the command of a ruler.
D) the veneration of a sacred book.

Question 26

The vision quest in Native American religions

A) has often been associated with marriage ceremonies.
B) is frequently undertaken during adolescence.
C) always makes use of hallucinatory herbs.
D) is a part of the preparatory ritual for death.

Question 27

In indigenous societies, the human journey through life is aided and marked by

A) libation.
B) spiritual trances.
C) scarification.
D) rites of passage.

Question 28

Which of the following is a value the Europeans introduced to the Maori?

A) individualism
B) reverence for sacred spaces
C) hospitality
D) respect for ancestors

Question 29

Indigenous religions

A) frequently make little distinction between a god and an ancestor.
B) make clear distinctions between the natural and the supernatural.
C) frequently value androgyny.
D) almost always mark marriage with public religious ceremonies.

Question 30

The Sioux term wakan means

A) holy, mysterious.
B) mountain god.
C) sky, space.
D) brightness.

Question 31

Joseph Campbell, in his books, has strongly recommended reading the myths of many religions. Doing this, he says,

A) gives us a sense of the great variety of creation stories.
B) makes us more tolerant of other religions.
C) sharpens our appreciation for storytelling and drama.
D) shows us the symbolic messages that underlie religious stories.

Question 32

The term Poro refers to

A) a mourning ritual performed at the death of a religious leader.
B) a secret initiation society for males.
C) the general name for the dried powders used for Navajo sandpaintings.
D) a dance of the Lakota people.

Question 33

Very common to the vision quest is

A) the creation of a sandpainting.
B) several days of dancing.
C) the memorization of the names of ancestors.
D) fasting.

Question 34

In the context of African and Carribean religions, the practice of sympathetic magic involves

A) directing the power of invisible spiritual forces through incantations, figurines, and potions.
B) smoking specially carved pipes filled with hallucinogenic substances to induce a trance.
C) looking into the past by examining the entrails of an animal sacrificed to the gods.
D) burying the dead with all their belongings to appease their departed spirits.

Question 35

In many Native American religions,

A) animals are believed to have been created after humans.
B) human beings have an antagonistic relationship with animals.
C) human beings and animals are often viewed as coming into existence together.
D) animal sacrifices are regularly performed.

Question 36

Sacred time in indigenous religions is

A) cyclical.
B) linear.
C) relative.
D) historically focused.

Question 37

While performing rituals, Navajo healers were known to

A) weave rugs with geometric patterns.
B) mold silver and turquoise jewelry.
C) perform traditional powwow dances.
D) create sandpaintings.

Question 38

A kiva is

A) a ritual toast offered in special indigenous ceremonies.
B) an underground chamber used in rituals.
C) a multistoried house.
D) a special kind of sandpainting.

Question 39

Ancestral Pueblo peoples lived in

A) multistoried villages.
B) underground rooms called kivas.
C) tipis.
D) log lodges.

Question 40

Pueblo peoples consider kachinas to be

A) gods.
B) spirits of animals, people, or plants that act as guardians.
C) humans in full dance regalia.
D) powerful village shamans.

Question 41

Explain why ancient religions are no longer called primitive religions but instead are called indigenous religions. What is the difference of meaning in the two terms?

Question 42

Mention two reasons why indigenous religions received less scholarly attention than the dominant religions in the past.

Question 43

Describe three developments that have promoted renewed interest in indigenous religions.

Question 44

What do we mean when we describe a culture as holistic?

Question 45

Describe the relationship of human beings with the rest of nature that is typical of several North American native religions.

Question 46

Describe briefly two examples of sacred time and two examples of sacred space.

Question 47

Explain the notion of the High God in indigenous religions.

Question 48

Describe three typical life-cycle ceremonies and give an example of each from a specific indigenous religion.

Question 49

Explain the notion of taboo. Describe two specific religion-based examples, and speculate on how or why each arose.

Question 50

What roles does the shaman typically perform in indigenous religions? List three contemporary professions that involve work that might be undertaken by a shaman.

Question 51

Describe the trance state as practiced by a specific religion. What is the goal of the practice?

Question 52

Describe the special roles played by the arts in indigenous religions-roles often taken by texts in book-centered religions. Mention two specific examples.

Question 53

Describe two specific trends that today threaten the existence of indigenous religions.

Question 54

Describe one specific example of oral religion existing within elements of a religion that apparently absorbed it.