Comparative Religion: Traditions, Rites, and Ancestor Veneration

This essay on comparative religion delves into the fundamental components of religious traditions, including revelation, grace, verification, and embodiment. It explores these concepts within the context of various cultural experiences, particularly focusing on Native American, Australian ...Read More

Running head: COMPARATIVE RELIGION
Comparative Religion
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1COMPARATIVE RELIGION
Question One
In this section of the paper, some of the most essential components of religious traditions
will be described. These components are very useful for the discovery of new beliefs and
religious values to be used among the human beings (Clairmont, 2016). The components of
religious traditions to be described here are revelation, grace, verification and embodiment.
At the beginning, the component of revelation will be discussed in this section.
Revelation is one of the primary instincts that deal with discovering new things within the
religious traditions (Paton, 2014). The Primordial Traditions of the religious factors are unveiled
thoroughly through the process of revelation. The human society and particular religion
regarding thos society are the basic factors when this process of revelation is questioned. There
are various rituals within the particular religious traditions of different societies (DiCenso, 2015).
The deep knowledge about these rituals are unveiled through this process. The divine truths
about the religious components will be unveiled by this transmission process. The truths will be
transferred from the divine sources to the human life in particular. All these truths are hidden in
the messages of God. Finally, the Scriptures and theological doctrines will present these truths to
all the human individuals (Paton, 2014). Then on, individuals are supposed to carry out these
truths in their lives.
The second religious component to be described here is grace. Grace is also one form of
religion where religious devotees should keep faith on divinity of God. The influence of the
divine origin should always be there among the human beings within a certain religious tradition
(Baloyi & Makobe-Rabothata, 2014). This divine origin talked about in this section is derived
from that same religious revelation. The divine source is the ultimate source behind this only.
The spiritual understanding or divine legacy is formed from the process of revelation. The

2COMPARATIVE RELIGION
spiritual lineages are the basic forms of support that will be important for the human beings to
know about this truth. The spiritual masters or leaders will help the individuals to understand the
need of this spiritual lineage in the particular way for a better understanding (Hittinger, 2014).
Verification is the third component in the religious tradition i.e. the main feature of the
religious tradition (Paton, 2014). This is similar to the context of spiritual methodology. Through
this process, an individual would be able to attach himself to the ultimate Divine. Upon
understanding the spiritual methodology, individuals will be able to follow the path of spiritual
guidance through the proper guidance of the spiritual leader. People will be able to understand
the spiritual path through realization from inward manner (DiCenso, 2015).
Formal embodiment is the fourth religious component in the scenario. The Divine
sources that will engage the inherent truths in the society would be expressed through this formal
embodiment. The observations of the knowledge of science and arts will be important matters for
discovering the truths in the society (Rutherford, 2014). All the religious principles would lead
the ways in this embodiment process that were gained from Revelation. Thus, this full circle of
religious knowledge gaining would complete through these four processes.
Question Two
The rites of passage and ancestor veneration are indeed very crucial aspects that should
be taken care in this section of the paper. There are three primal traditions that would be focused
for the gaining of knowledge. These traditional cultures are Native American experience,
Australian aboriginal rites and experiences of the indigenous African people.

3COMPARATIVE RELIGION
Native American Experience
To begin, the Native American experience will be highlighted in this paper. The North
American Indians have carried on with this tradition since their culture has been recognized as a
heritage culture by UNESCO. There are several rites of passage regarding the women in the
community (Johnstone, 2015). There are some horrifying and brutal processes also that are
carried out as a part of their tradition. Various ceremonials in their tradition are interlinked with
their religious beliefs. As per the notes of critics, Native Americans never considered their rites,
rituals and ceremonies to be a part of a particular religious tradition (Salamone, 2019).
It is completely opposite to the behavior of the Christians. The beliefs of these Native
Americans were generally influenced from the ways they acquired food. There were two types of
acquiring it- agriculture and hunting (Kahan, 2016). They observed several ceremonies that
helped them to overcome several difficulties in their lives. Some of events that they celebrated
fully were puberty, wedding and death of their favorite ones. It has been debated all along that
Europeans changed the nature of the Native American culture. One of the major ceremonies
celebrated by the community was Sun Dance ceremony (Stanner, 2014).
The migrant Europeans set up the government in these regions and they wanted to close
the ceremony of Ghost Dance in the region. Therefore, they carried out the Massacre at
Wounded Knee. They also celebrated death as they believed this was the end of life on earth.
The Hopi Indians were of the opinion that departed soul of the individual would move through
the path of sky towards the west. As a part of the ancestor veneration, they washed the dead body
of the ancestor with natural suds of yucca (Johnstone, 2015). They also dressed them with
traditional clothes of their community.

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Australian aboriginal experience
The ceremonies and rituals of the Australian aboriginals are also very crucial in the
context of this paper. The role of ceremonies is very important in case of Australian aboriginals
since they belief these ceremonies would help them to get food. One of the most important
ceremonies for them was ‘Bora’ or ‘Burbubg’. This ceremony was meant for welcoming the
young boys at the verge of their adulthood. This ceremony lasted for few weeks and people sang
holy songs, performed on dances and traditional folklores.
The practices of burial were very much different across the various regions of Australia.
In the northern part of the country, burial is carried out in two stages- primary and secondary.
They also used to observe the smoking ceremony that consisted of collecting plants from the
native region so they could produce the smoke. The traditional culture of meeting of all
Aboriginal people was known as Corroboree. They used to make the interactions with the
Dreamtime.
These interactions were done through music, song, dance and wearing different costumes.
It is also something important because they did not allow anyone outside their community to
witness this ceremony (Huhndorf, 2015). As the matter of ancestor veneration is concerned, they
placed the dead on the elevated platform that was made of wood. They covered the bodies with
plants. After several months, they collected the bones and painted these with the red ochre color
and finally they were dispersed. All these ceremonies are included in the cultures of these
Australian aboriginal people.

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Indigenous African experience
Likewise other cultures of indigenous cultures, the experience of the African aboriginals
should also be discussed in this paper. They believed in the sacrificial offerings to God. They
thought their God would definitely protect them in all cases. They believed in the power for
protection of Juju. These were charms and amulets in the culture of the African culture. People in
Senegal believe in this protective power of Juju.
Around 75% people in Senegal believe in this where only 5% people in Rwanda have
faith in this (Salamone, 2019). They think there are spirits that are able to cast spirits on the
people with their evil eye. People belonging to countries Democratic Republic of Congo,
Tanzania, Somalia, Cameroon and Mali have strong belief in this so they want to keep away by
observing some crucial ceremonies, One tenth people in Africa also believe in the reincarnation
(Huhndorf, 2015). The cultural beliefs regarding death are guided by the fact that they believe in
existence of souls after death. They also think their deceased ancestors have a role to play in their
progress. They try to make sure their ancestors will protect them forever so they tend to put them
into rest after death.

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References
Baloyi, L., & Makobe-Rabothata, M. (2014). The African conception of death: A cultural
implication.
Clairmont, D. (2016). BRINGING CULTURE INSIDE: ENHANCING ABORIGINAL
CULTURAL IDENTITY IN A YOUTH JUSTICE FACILITY: AN ASSESSMENT OF
THE INITIATIVE.
DiCenso, J. (2015). Grace and favor in Kant’s ethical explication of religion. International
Journal for Philosophy of Religion, 78(1), 29-51.
Hittinger, R. (2014). The first grace: Rediscovering the natural law in a post-Christian world.
Open Road Media.
Huhndorf, S. M. (2015). Going native: Indians in the American cultural imagination. Cornell
University Press.
Johnstone, R. L. (2015). Religion in society: A sociology of religion. Routledge.
Kahan, F. (2016). A Culture's Catalyst: Historical Encounters with Peyote and the Native
American Church in Canada. Univ. of Manitoba Press.
Paton, H. J. (2014). The Modern Predicament: a study in the philosophy of religion. Routledge.
Rutherford, D. (2014). Justice and circumstances: Theodicy as universal religion. New Essays on
Leibniz’s Theodicy, 71-91.
Salamone, F. A. (2019). Routledge encyclopedia of religious rites, rituals and festivals.
Routledge.

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Stanner, W. E. H. (2014). On aboriginal religion. Sydney University Press.