Religion and Witchcraft Flashcards
religion
a social institution that includes beliefs and rituals concerned with supernatural beings, powers, and forces. It also includes peoples’ perspective and knowledge of the relationship between the spiritual and material world.
Religion creates solidarity between followers and surpasses cultural, language and social boundaries
Syncretisms
Cultural mixes, especially from religious blends, emerging from acculturation (cargo cults)
Ritual
Formal, representative, stereotyped behavior; based on a liturgical order. Performed at sacred places or set times.
animism
the belief in souls or doubles as well as spiritual beings
Cosmology
A way of explaining the history and evolution of the cosmos based on religious mythology
mana
Impersonal, sacred force existing in the universe (originating belief) in Melanesia and Polynesia similar to luck
taboo
sacred and forbidden; prohibition backed by supernatural sanctions
ex incest
functions of religion 2
1 rites of passage
2 provides solace
totems
animals, plants, or geographic features used to represent a group such as a family, lineage, or clan
Witchcraft
Use of supernatural or magical skills
In Central Africa it’s known as mangu, an invisible force of misfortune that can be inherited.
Benge is an oracle performed by village head to determine adultery cases or why a hunt failed (thought to be caused by mangu)
Benge involves feeding a chicken poison to find the truth
A person can be a witch without knowing it and must sincerely spit water as an apology
Among Azande who might be a witch
Anyone suspected of wishing harm on others or just a random person
Water must be spat sincerely to expel the witchcraft from one’s body
magic 2 types
initiative magic: ex voodo dolls
contagious magis: contact w objects
