Q.2 Paden gives us four cross-cultural categories for the comparative study of religion : “myth” , “ritual” , “gods” and “systems of purity”. Using these four categories, and to the best of your ability without necessarily doing outside research, analyze the Native American Hopi creation I have provided you.Ans. Religion and religious beliefs are primarily based on great foundational forces that generate and govern the world. From Ancient Greek times “myth” has had started developing. It actually means anything delivered by mouth. Greek philosophers constructed myth to mean a fanciful tale as opposed to true, others took myth as the word that conveys an original, primal state of things, as opposed to merely superficial, human words. Myth can appear as either merely imaginary or as profoundly true. Although in western culture myth is often used in a negative sense. Anthropologies found within the settings of tribal life that these communities had clear distinctions between stories of entertainment and sacred stories that defined the normative precedents by which their behavior was guided and on which their universe was founded. American Hopi culture, according to the text, Hopi creation is a Native American mythology. It uses some themes, the Spider Woman, The Sun God Tawa, and the division of parents into new creative forms, and creation by thought. Spider woman is associated with the earth. The sun god Tawa is associated with the divine spirit that gives light and life on earth and father of all that shall ever come. And the other is the most common native American theme, creation by thought. Another theme is the creation by song, that involves Ansazi-Hopi ritual song- dances. Hopi creation is based on mythical languages. Hopi think of myth as a “charter for initiation into manhood”.Ritual dramatizes world foundations in terms of performance. It is a result of a...
