Indigenous culture refers to a particular way of living that occurs naturally within a given society of people. These cultures differ according to various communities living in different parts of the world. Here, people practice different spiritual beliefs and uphold multiple moral values as per their religion. This paper entails detailed information about the Igbo community cultures in Africa and the Hopi tribe from northeastern Arizona in America.
Igbo and Hopi Cultural Beliefs and Practices
The Igbo people community occupies the southeastern part of Nigeria in Africa. The Igbo society practices various cultural beliefs that make it an exceptional area and a topic of study ( Agbasiere, 2015) . The practices include: First when a man dies in Igbo land, the wife gets restrained from going to any burial ceremony since they believed that she could eventually die ( Fisher & Rinehart 201 ). Second, the people from the earlier on mentioned community treated hazardous animals in unique ways. For instance, if a person happens to kill a green snake by mistake, the killers had a responsibility of giving the snake a befitting burial and produce some particular item proposed by the elders such as powder and mats to avoid calamity on his family. On the other, the Hopi people practiced special ritual rites during most of their ceremonies ( Fisher & Rinehart 201). For example, during the burial ceremony, all close friends and relatives of the family attended the occasion compared to the Igbo community where only the chosen people participated in the burial. The end of the ceremony got marked with a particular ritual carried out by the chief priest to prevent the departed from inducing the other family members to join the dead. Second, the Hopi people respected the animals around them. A snake in Hopi land got associated with the gods. The Hopi community had a special dance which entailed snakes since they got regarded as the gods of fertility compared to the Igbo society where snake killing meant invoking of calamities upon one’s family. Both the communities discussed above respect animals such as the snake since the snakes entail a special relationship with the gods. The practices and beliefs of the Igbo and the Hopi people got regarded as very sacred because of the rituals involved and their commitment to them to avoid the annoyance of their gods. Also, the cultural beliefs mentioned above indicate the evidence of indigenous beliefs present in the world due to their differences.
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According to Fisher & Rinehart (63) “Contemporary economic development schemes do not necessarily have positive effects in indigenous cultures.” Most of the globalization process going on around the world only affects the external part of the community and not the internal family or society affairs. Different societies still practice their various spiritual beliefs. In areas affected by development like the Hopi people who got displaced due to coal mining still appeal to the government to consider restoring their homes. “Indigenous groups are pressing for a legal action that would impose limits on the future destruction of any other indigenous group in the world,” ( Fisher & Rinehart 63) Development compliments change in our societies and mostly does not affect any communities’’ spiritual values hence its accommodation by different groups in the world.
References
Agbasiere, J. T. (2015). Women in Igbo life and thought . routledge.
Fisher, P. & Rinehart, R. (2010). Living Religion . Prentice Hall PTR.
