Indigenous+Religions

Sydney Johnson- Taoism is a indignenous religion of China. which started around 550 BC. They're beliefs are to learn to have inner harmony and peace within' yourself through many lessons and teaching. They're gods are pantheism-the tao prevedes and they follow by the ying-yang sign. Taoism has over 20 million followers and believers. They're beliefs in after death are to revert back to the state of non-beings. so like a spiritual world. There practices are the attitude to the deattachment, the go with the flow and acupuncture, and alchemy to help longevity. Lydia Grommish- Shinto is an indigenous religion of Japan. It started around 500 BCE. They believe that humans are pure by nature and can keep away evil through purification rituals and attain good things by calling on the kami (ancient gods or spirits). It has about 3-4 million believers. It is a polytheistic religion based on kami. Shinto believers believe that death is bad and impure. They also believe that some humans become kami after death. They worship and offer things to kami at shrines and at home. They go through purification rituals. Some important texts are Kojiki or ‘Records of Ancient Matters’ and Nihon-gi or ‘Chronicles of Japan’. Above is a pictre of a shinto shrine that are usually built in places of great natural beauty to emphasize the relatinshop between people and nature.

For More Information: religoustolerance.orgThis website gives you additional information on the religion of Shinto.(LG) info on taoism<-- this website gives you information about taoism. (SJ)

(ET) The mayan religion is a polytheistic religion. They worship many gods. The most important god is Itzamná, the creator god, the god of the fire and god of the hearth. They also worship Kukulcán, Chac and Bolon Tzacab. Mayan rulers where seen as semi devine and communicated with the gods. They mayan religion belives in an afterlife. One ritual that was practiced by the mayan religion was blood letting. This involved stabbing the sacrafice and gather the blood. They used this blood to feed the gods. I know if I was a god I would only eat the blood of my sacrafices.

For more information... Mayan religion-This link explains in great detail the mayan religion.

Mercedes Galt- Shinto is an ancient Japanese religion. Starting at about 500 BC. It was originally "an amorphous mix of nature worship, fertility cults, divination techniques, hero worship, and shamanism." Its name was derived from the Chinese words "shin tao" ("The Way of the Kami"). Around this time Shinto declaired itself as an offical religion of Japan, along with Buddhism. There are not any specific key people. Unlike most other religions, Shinto has no real founder, no written scriptures, no body of religious law, and only a very loosely-organized priesthood. In the Shinto religion they believe in the Kami. They follow the code of Confucianism. They also worship their ancestors. Their religious texts discuss the "High Plain of Heaven" and the "Dark Land" which is an unclean land of the dead, but give few details of the afterlife. There are "Four Affirmations"in Shinto: 1.Tradition and the family: The family is seen as the main mechanism by which traditions are preserved. Their main celebrations relate to birth and marriage. 2.Love of nature: Nature is sacred; to be in contact with nature is to be close to the Gods. Natural objects are worshipped as sacred spirits. 3.Physical cleanliness: Followers of Shinto take baths, wash their hands, and rinse out their mouth often. 4. "Matsuri": The worship and honor given to the Kami and ancestral spirits. For more information: Shinto This website gives an overview of the Shinto religion.

Indigenous religion refers to those religions which are native to indigenous peoples around the world. They are one of the three broad divisions into which religions are categorized, along with world religions and new religious movements. The majority of the world's many thousands of religions fit into this category, although most indigenous religions have a limited popularity.(AC) Indigenous beliefs are polytheistic and they practice rituals. They believe about creations and how the world and nature came about. They often tried to influence nature and environment like crops, rain and reproduction.(AC) Japan's Indigenous religions- This website gives you alot of Indigenous terms and explains what they are.(AC)