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Show CHAPTER XVI INDIAN RELIGION, MYTHOLOGY, AND ART ( 1500- 1900) IT has come to be generally recognized that the universal characteristic of religion in its more primitive expression is a belief in spirits. The conceptions which underlie the beliefs are usually crude but none the less distinct. This animism, to use the convenient term now commonly employed, 1 is variously expressed in beliefs and consequent rites and ceremonies. Among the American Indians, who are no exception to the rule, the animisuc conception includes all nature. Every individual, every animal, every object, every concrete phenomenon has its soul or spirit. In the case of men and lower animals these souls are regarded as existing after the death of the body, and hence there has arisen a vast collection of souls or spirits without bodies, which take an interest in worldly affairs and are capable of interfering to the advantage or detriment of mankind. The supplication and propitiation of these spirits in their various forms and functions constitute the religious ceremonials of the Indian. 1 Cf. Tylor, Primitive Culture, I., 425 248 |