Brief introduction and detailed information of primitive religion

Concept According to archaeological findings, red debris and tools are often scattered in the remains of Neanderthals in Europe, and the remains are often located in the east and west. People think that this is an arrangement dominated by some religious concept. It is the belief and doctrine of all theists to regard religion as an independent existence that transcends all time, all space and all conditions, or as a natural humanity.

The concept of primitive murals in Mali is opposite to science. F Engels said in "Anti-Turin Theory": "All religions are just reflections in people's minds of the fantasy of external forces that dominate people's daily lives. In this reflection, human power appears in the form of superhuman power. In the early days of history, natural forces were first reflected in this way, and in the further development, they experienced extremely different and complicated personification in different ethnic groups. "

Compared with monotheism formed by class society, it is characterized by animism-polytheism, so it is also called polytheism.

According to archaeological discoveries, primitive religions can be traced back to the Stone Age.

Primitive religion belongs to the historical category, which has its process of emergence, development and extinction. Humans didn't have any religion at first. In the middle and late Paleolithic period, clan commune came into being, and human society formed a relatively stable blood group. At this time, people's physique and thinking ability have improved, and the language within the group has developed, forming some taboos and norms.

When people struggle with nature with collective strength and simple tools, on the one hand, they gradually realize the connection between people's production activities and some natural phenomena; On the other hand, under the heavy oppression of nature, we cannot correctly understand the diversity of nature. As a result, fear and hope are intertwined, reflecting many natural phenomena in a twisted and upside-down way, deifying natural phenomena, and primitive religion came into being.

In the development stage of primitive murals in Mali, there are some differences in the occurrence, development and expression of primitive religion among different believers in different regions, which is an inevitable phenomenon due to different natural conditions and social environment.

However, the overall development of human society also has a general trend and road, that is, it has experienced three historical stages: the age of ignorance, the age of barbarism and the age of civilization. The religious phenomenon reflected by the general social form of each historical stage in the three stages also has general manifestations and the same essence and content. As a scientific analysis, we can divide the general development process and manifestations of primitive religion into the following three stages:

1, the religious form of matriarchal clan commune in the early and middle period (from the middle Paleolithic to the Middle Stone Age, about 200,000 years ago to 1 0,000 years ago, it was the age of ignorance);

2. The religious forms in the late matriarchal commune and paternal clan commune (from the early to the early Neolithic age, about 1000 to 4600 years ago, it was a barbaric era, taking the social history of China as an example);

3. From the period of stable village tribal alliance to the present religious form (from the late Neolithic age (jade age) to the present, about 4,600 years ago, the transition period to civilized society and civilized age, taking the social history of China as an example).

The manifestations of primitive religion are mostly natural worship such as plant worship, animal worship and deity worship, as well as reproductive worship, totem worship and ancestor worship closely related to the existing structure of primitive clan society. Their development has roughly experienced the evolution process of participating in specific worship activities and forming an abstract concept of god.

Primitive Religion The existence of prehistoric religion can be distinguished by the excavation and study of various primitive cultural sites since the Stone Age, such as primitive villages, cave rock paintings, tomb relics, altar statues and so on. Its scope covers various religious phenomena found in these sites, including prehistoric religions in China, India, Arabia, Africa, America, Oceania and South Pacific islands, as well as Finnish-Ugric religions, Scandinavian religions, Baltic religions, Slavic religions and Aegean religions in Europe.

The nearly existing primitive religions confirmed by on-the-spot investigation include the religions of indigenous tribes in Africa and Asia, the indigenous religions of Eskimos and Indians in America, and the primitive religions of indigenous people in Australia and the Pacific.

The investigation of its primitive social and religious situation began with the overseas colonial expansion movement launched by modern western countries, but many primitive peoples in the colonial process were all or mostly eliminated, and only a few indigenous tribes survived to this day. In addition, some primitive religious phenomena still exist among some ethnic minorities in China. These remaining primitive religious groups and their worship activities have become the only objects for people to actually investigate primitive religions, and also an important basis for confirming the true form of primitive religions.

The worship of nature is regarded as the earliest form of worship of primitive religion, which lasts the longest and remains popular for a long time after human beings enter the class society. Nature worship reflects the contradiction between man and nature. People's worship of those gods is not only determined by their natural environment, but also by the needs of their production and life.

The gods worshipped in nature generally have two personalities: joy and anger, which are actually imitated according to people's self-consciousness. The gods worshipped by nature are completely equal, which embodies the equal relationship between people's economic status and social status at that time. These characteristics of nature worship are still in the same strain in the development of primitive religion in the future.

Totem worship Totem worship is related to nature worship. It originated from matriarchal clan society. People think that the ancestors of their clans were transformed from some kind of animals, plants or other inanimate objects, which are related to them and have a protective effect on their clans. So he regarded it as the symbol of his clan-totem, and worshipped it purposefully.

Ancestor worship and entering the dual family stage, people can not only confirm their biological mothers as in the past, but also gradually get to know their biological fathers. At the same time, in the struggle with nature, people's role has become increasingly significant, and there have been domestication of animals and cultivation of plants. All this has led people to gradually form the concept of the opposition between man and beast, thinking that man is superior to animals and has infinite attachment to immediate family members, thus resulting in ancestor worship. People hope that the souls of their ancestors can protect the members of their clan as before.

Primitive religion produced ancestor worship and full-time priests at the same time. These priests are regarded as the intermediary between gods and people, and they can "communicate with gods" and "exorcise ghosts". At first, most of them were women. Even after entering the patriarchal clan commune, there were still many priestesses. They are not elected, nor are they hereditary. Most of them are served by people who have recovered from abnormal diseases. People think that this kind of person can survive only because he has contacted the gods and got help, and others will pray for the gods through him, which will also have an effect.

Such priests are not religious professionals and have no systematic beliefs and religious teachings. They drive people away from diseases and disasters and engage in all kinds of witchcraft activities, and think it is their duty. For a long time, this kind of priest has obvious consanguinity, that is, there is a priest within each clan, and its religious activities are limited to the clan. When the society entered the development stage of rural commune, this kind of blood priest gradually evolved into a regional priest. At this time, most of them have to ask for a certain reward for their religious activities.

With the appearance of priests, polytheism has been further developed, and the personification of God has led to the personification of God, and the worship ceremony has become more and more complicated. After entering the class society, monotheism has achieved a dominant position in the religious field, but primitive religion still exists in some ethnic groups for a long time.

Primitive religion has experienced the development process of nature worship, totem worship and ancestor worship. However, some people think that totem worship precedes nature worship, which is only related to the emergence of agriculture, so it came into being late, and some even advocate primitive monotheism.

Historical significance primitive religious beliefs are of great significance to social development.

First, primitive religion used to be the superstructure of society in history, and its religious activities, social activities and political activities were often integrated. With the help of religious activities and rituals in primitive society, people are closely linked. At this time, primitive religion, as a force to maintain the national spirit, made people form a powerful group to resist the oppression of nature and society.

Second, the formation of ethnic minorities in history has played a very positive role in the unity, stability and common development of all ethnic groups, the common prosperity of all ethnic groups and the stability of the social system. Due to the worship of the same natural object or totem, people who are related by blood or geography have a stronger sense of identity and are closely related to each other.

Thirdly, the witchcraft of primitive religion is a positive primitive accumulation in the activities of saving lives, including not only the accumulation of primitive medical knowledge, but also some social practice and science and technology. These have laid a certain foundation for the formation and development of practical science and skills such as ethnic medicine.

Fourth, it has a very positive influence on the formation and development of national languages, literature and art.

The primitive religious culture of modern value tradition still has positive significance in many aspects, such as: in traditional concepts, animals and plants, mountains, water, land and so on. They are all spiritual or dominated by ghosts and gods, so we should pay great attention to taking what is appropriate and what is available, rather than taking it for ourselves or adding up knives and axes at will, which has a positive effect on the protection of the ecological environment and cannot be underestimated.

In the case of limited food supply in primitive society, it is very important to adhere to absolute egalitarianism in food distribution, which is largely supported by religious concepts and activities, while ethics in other fields are mainly guaranteed by traditional primitive religions. It can be said that primitive religion plays a very important role in maintaining ethics.

In the historical development of all ethnic groups, primitive religion has fully played an important role in promoting the cohesion within clans, tribes and ethnic groups, and has become an important source of cohesion among ethnic groups, playing an irreplaceable role in protecting the traditional cultural resources of ethnic minorities and resisting the swallowing up of local traditional religious culture by foreign religious culture. Therefore, we should cherish and explore the modern value of traditional religion today when human beings suffer many disasters caused by the destruction of ecological environment.

The role of controversial primitive religion has always been one of the focuses of disagreement on religious issues. One view is that primitive religion increased and inspired people's courage and strength to fight against nature at that time to some extent; Another view is that all religions are anti-scientific idealism and have no positive effect. According to Marxism, religion is an opium that anesthetizes people, and so is primitive religion.

However, when studying the complex phenomenon of primitive religion, considering its development of primitive people's thinking ability from concrete to abstract, priests' religious activities contain some seeds of spiritual labor. Totem worship has played a positive role in consolidating the clan system, changing the marriage situation of the same generation that prevailed in blood families in the past, and making the new thing of group marriage outside the family get a lasting and stable development.

Buyi people build a flower bridge: Maguan Buyi people have a tradition of inheriting their descendants, and their ancestors are very concerned about the reproduction of their descendants. When every adult man and woman have been married for several years and have not given birth, their parents invite witches to play with them and choose an auspicious day to sit in the sedan chair. They thought that the Queen Mother would send the children to the young couple when they walked on the Flower Bridge.

Huaqiao is a bridge with a pair of golden bamboos as pillars. Cut into many human figures with red and green paper and hung on the flower bridge, which means that the Queen Mother sent many children to the couple.

Everything is ready. Mr. Mina sang and danced outside the bridal chamber, and then pulled it out of the house with white cotton thread on the flower bridge. The white line is on the side of the road If a small animal is found to have climbed this white line, it is considered as a gift from the Queen Mother. When the guards saw this thing, they regarded it as a treasure, held it in their hands and went straight to the host's house. Fan Na happily put it on the flower bridge and said, "The queen mother sent the son of the dragon king, and the queen mother sent the son of the dragon king!"

This flower bridge was put by the owner, some on the bed of the bridal chamber, and some on the bed until the woman was infertile.

Master Chuangbao: If the child loves to cry, doesn't eat milk, gets sick at both ends in three days, loses weight gradually, and so on. Many failed to seek medical treatment or send ghosts. Will be prepared by parents and placed at the fork in the road next to the village, waiting for pedestrians on the road to rush into the table. It's called robbing the Lord. Anyone who intrudes into a banquet, regardless of gender, age, wealth and rank, has the right to be a patron saint (mother) as long as he intrudes into the banquet. Intruders generally don't refuse, but are willing to raise their glasses and drink. After drinking, he took out a silver dollar from his wallet and gave it to "Gan Er" (a child). At the same time, he gave "Gan Er" a name. If the intruder is penniless, give him a button. When leaving, the intruder took a piece of meat to feed the child and shouted "Dad". It is said that through this activity, children will never get sick again.

Puffing (now called disease): Buyi people live in poor and backward border areas. Before liberation, children were easy to flirt because of poor living conditions and poor sanitary conditions. The disease ranges from cold to burns, the whole body trembles, the skin becomes thin and yellow, the spleen becomes swollen, the diet is greatly reduced, and in severe cases, it leads to death. In order to relieve their children's pain, the parents took their children to the fork in the road outside the village with broken pots and soybeans ten minutes before the onset. They lit a fire and put it on the pot, and the soybeans were fried in the pot, saying, "Brother Dang, eat fried beans, brother Dang, eat fried beans!" " Cooking, reading, reading, suddenly "woof", stretched out his hand and dragged the child away, until the child was sweating, then quietly hid home and closed the door. It is said that I will never play on the swing again.

Egg divination: children often get sick or fall from a height, or fall into the water and so on. It will make him weak, yellow and thin. Their parents prepared an egg, three dishes of incense, a bowl of rice and some money paper, and went to the pond to "wake up" their children. The specific method is: tie a small ladder with a Chinese fir stick, put it into the pond water, and burn incense and paper. At the same time, the old man held the egg in his palm and repeatedly called the patient's name until the egg in his hand rolled up by himself, which showed that the child's soul had come back; Or a bug climbs up from the ladder, which means the soul is back. At this time, I slowly pulled the ladder ashore, holding the egg, holding the bowl, lighting incense, and calling the baby's name while walking: "The baby is scared, go home with her mother, blessed, and grow up quickly."

As an ideological and historical phenomenon, Yi religion has had a great influence on social life. In the long process of human social evolution, the Yi people in Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan Province have formed a unique primitive religion. It affects all aspects of Yi people's life, including funeral.

Concept of soul

In the concept of Yi people, people and everything have souls. They think that when people are alive, the soul and the body are at arm's length, and when people die, the soul leaves the body completely. "Three necromancers, reincarnation 65,438+0, wake 65,438+0, afterlife 65,438+0." Some souls come out of the body and become good souls to benefit future generations, and they are in the spiritual world with their ancestors; Some (such as those who die violently) become evil spirits and wander around, bringing disaster to future generations. Therefore, "maduguo" and "according to the spirit of the pig" should be carried out a few days or every few days or years after the death of the old man. After the death of the old man, his ashes will be scattered in the depths of caves or bamboo forests, and then a lush arrow bamboo will be selected here and brought back with roots and leaves as a spirit card. Lazhu people must be the grandson of the deceased, and there are no outsiders who violate taboos. When pulling, you should first offer fried noodles, eggs, wine and other foods and say, "Zuling, we have found you over the mountains." Now please come back with us and bless your children and grandchildren. Today is the most auspicious day. Come on, come with us! " After the arrow bamboo is brought back, put it in a quiet and safe place so that no one can touch it. The next day, chickens, pigs and other things will be prepared at the cremation place, presided over by Bimo (a priest) as a spirit tablet. Bimo read the Evocation Sutra and made a spiritual card. Cut the bamboo root to the size of a pencil head, then insert it into the split 5-inch-long octagonal branch and put a little pure wool. Then twine it with hemp thread, 9 turns for the male and 7 turns for the female, with the male in a "hero knot" shape and the female in a poncho shape, and then insert it on the bamboo railing. After a certain ritual procedure, the spirit tablet was nailed to the top of the fire pit of the youngest son's house with wood, and it would be offered at home every New Year's holiday. If you want to move, you must experience sacrifice. They believe that the souls who return to the spiritual world will temporarily return to the spiritual world and reunite with their families after the sacrifice of the descendants living in the spiritual world (secular world) every festival. These souls will protect the peace of their homes and thus trigger the worship of their ancestors. Today, in the homes of Yi people in Liangshan, Sichuan, whenever a guest kills a sacrifice, the ancestors must be respected first. The most solemn ceremony is the ancestor worship ceremony of Torch Festival. The concept of immortal soul and ancestor worship is deeply rooted in the ideological system of Yi people.

Worship of fire

In the slash-and-burn era with extremely low productivity, under the harsh natural environment and cruel slave owners, the Yi people who lived in the mountains from birth to death could not do without firing, and raw food was turned into cooked food by torches, driving away the cold and night, giving them hope and strength. Therefore, the Yi people have worshipped fire since ancient times, and cremation is one of the important manifestations of this folk belief.

Yi cremation has a long history and different forms, mainly due to the age, gender and cause of death of the deceased.

Judging from the age structure, the old people (generally those over 60 years old) died, and the funeral was festive, and the libation took a long time, from the 3rd to the 5th or 7th. The number of participants is large, ranging from hundreds to thousands. If a middle-aged person dies, it is often relatively simple, and the time generally does not exceed 3 days. If the child dies young, it should not be kept secret, but someone close to the deceased will go to the funeral. The process is simple.

Cremation varies according to the nature of death. Normal old reason, feel auspicious, do great things, buried in the mountains; If it is a sudden death, it is bad luck. When cremated, it is often cremated by the river at the foot of the mountain. Before cremation, the fierce deceased who died of poisoning, hanging, overturning, long illness or injury had Bimo special heat pump (for the fierce deceased, we should take the right path).

For Yi people, cremation embodies a positive outlook on life, and Yi people are optimistic about death. They think that death is as natural as "the shell of a bamboo shoot leaves the bamboo shoot and the dead leaves leave the tree". Yi people are fearless in the face of death. They think that death is not the end, so the fear of death is resolved.