Primitive Religion Author:Robert H. Lowie PRIMITIVE RELIGION BY ROBERT H. LOWIE, PH. D. ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF ANTHROPOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AUTHOR OF Primitive Society LONDON GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS, LTD. BROADWAY HOUSE 68-74, CARTER LANE, E. G. 1936 Printed in Great Britain by MACKAYB LTD., Chatham PREFACE THIS work does not purport to be a handbook of either the theories b... more »roached on the subject of primitive religion or of the ethnographic data described in hundreds of accessible mono graphs. My purpose is to provide an introduction to further study in which other than the traditional topics shall assume a place of honor. On the other hand I have taken pains to re duce to a minimum the discussion of theories that have been more than amply treated by previous writers. The mode of approach will be found to differ fundamentally from that of my book on Primitive Society. The reason lies in the quite different status of the two subjects at the present time. In the field of primitive sociology it seemed desirable to marshal the evidence against the indefensible neglect of histori cal considerations that persists in some quarters. In the study of comparative religion it is the psychological point of view that requires emphasis and however important history may be for an elucidation of psychology, its part is ancillary. By con sistently stressing the psychological aspects of primitive religion I hope to have contributed something to a closer alliance of two sister sciences that too frequently have pursued their paths in mutual neglect. Several friends have been good enough to read or listen to portions of the book above all, Dr. Leslie Spier and Mrs. Erna Gunther Spier of the University of Washington Pro fessors A. L. Kroeber and Erasmo Buceta of the University of California Mr. E. W. Gifford of the same institution and my friends Mr. Donald B. Clark and Dr. Jaime de An gulo y Mayo. I take this opportunity to thank them for their en couragement and their comments. To Mr. Gifford I am also in VI PREFACE debted for the orthography of proper names in Manners ac count, which is brought into accord with approved Tongan usage and thus comes closer to phonetic spelling. My manuscript was completed when I received a copy of Father Wilhelm Kopperss book on the Fuegians. It was no longer possible to utilize it as I should otherwise have done, but I took pains to incorporate some of the interesting data presented there and to include the work in my bibliography. On the other hand, a paper on some basic religious concepts by Dr. John R. Swanton, which is to appear in a forthcoming issue of the American Anthropologist, reached me too late to be used in any way, so that I must content myself with this meager reference. ROBERT H. LOWIE, BERKELEY, CAL., May, 1924. CONTENTS PAGE PREFACE v INTRODUCTION ix PART I SYNTHETIC SKETCHES CHAPTER I CROW RELIGION 3 II EKOI RELIGION 33 III BUKAUA RELIGION ... t ... 54 IV POLYNESIAN RELIGION 75 PART II CRITIQUE OF THEORIES V ANIMISM 99 VI MAGIC 136 VII COLLECTIVISM 153 PART III HISTORICAL AND PSYCHO LOGICAL ASPECTS VIII HISTORICAL SCHEMES AND REGIONAL CHARAC TERIZATION 167 IX HISTORY AND PSYCHOLOGY 185 X WOMAN AND RELIGION 205 XI INDIVIDUAL VARIABILITY 221 XII RELIGION AND ART 259 XIII ASSOCIATION 277 XIV CONCLUSION 321 BIBLIOGRAPHY 331 INDEX 343 PRIMITIVE RELIGION INTRODUCTION A WORK on Primitive Religion may well begin with a definition of the terms in its title, for neither unfortunately is unambiguous. The word primitive by its etymology suggests primeval, but when the anthropologist speaks de scriptively of primitive peoples he means no more at least, he has no right to mean more than peoples of a rela tively simple culture or, to be more specific, the illiterate peoples of the world...« less