Deck 2: Indigenous Religions of North America

Question 1

What is the definition of the following term:
-American Indian Religious Freedom Act:

Answer 1

1978 U.S. law to guarantee freedom of religious practice for Native Americans.

Question 2

What is the definition of the following term:
-axis mundi:

Answer 2

(ak'suhs moon'dee; Latin) An academic term for the center of the world, which connects the earth with the heavens.

Question 3

What is the definition of the following term:
-Black Elk:

Answer 3

Famous Lakota religious leader.

Question 4

What is the definition of the following term:
-Changing Woman:

Question 5

What is the definition of the following term:
-chantway:

Question 6

What is the definition of the following term:
-cry ceremony:

Question 7

What is the definition of the following term:
-Ghost Dance:

Question 8

What is the definition of the following term:
-hogan:

Question 9

What is the definition of the following term:
-Holy People:

Question 10

What is the definition of the following term:
-Holy Wind:

Question 11

What is the definition of the following term:
-Jump Dance:

Question 12

What is the definition of the following term:
-kachina:

Question 13

What is the definition of the following term:
-Kinaalda:

Question 14

What is the definition of the following term:
-McKay, Mabel:

Question 15

What is the definition of the following term:
-Native American Church:

Question 16

What is the definition of the following term:
-Parker, Quanah:

Question 17

What is the definition of the following term:
-peyote:

Question 18

What is the definition of the following term:
-Popol Vuh:

Question 19

What is the definition of the following term:
-Quetzalcoatl:

Question 20

What is the definition of the following term:
-rites of passage:

Question 21

What is the definition of the following term:
-rites of renewal:

Question 22

What is the definition of the following term:
-sand painting:

Question 23

What is the definition of the following term:
-Sun Dance:

Question 24

What is the definition of the following term:
-sweat lodge:

Question 25

What is the definition of the following term:
-tipi:

Question 26

What is the definition of the following term:
-trickster:

Question 27

What is the definition of the following term:
-Two Spirit:

Question 28

What is the definition of the following term:
-trickster:

Question 29

What is the definition of the following term:
-vision quest:

Question 30

What is the definition of the following term:
-Wovoka:

Question 31

Which of the following is false?

A) Native American religions are very diverse.
B) There is one form of Native American religion.
C) Native American religions change over time.
D) Native American religions are practiced in many areas today.

Question 32

The creation narratives of indigenous religions may address which of the following?

A) The origins of humanity
B) The origins of sacred power
C) The creation of the earth
D) All of the above

Question 33

The essential teachings of Native American religions are often found in

A) sacred narratives or myths.
B) books written by gods or deities.
C) specific statements of belief of creeds.
D) sermons and liturgies.

Question 34

The Sun Dance is

A) practiced by only the Hopi peoples.
B) widely practiced in many Native American religious cultures.
C) a midsummer Native American ritual that spans nearly two weeks.
D) Both b and c

Question 35

The god Quetzalcoatl is recognized in

A) Cherokee religion.
B) all Native American religions.
C) Modoc religion.
D) Aztec religion.

Question 36

What is the Popol Vuh?

A) The Cherokee god of corn
B) The coming-of-age rite for Navajo girls
C) Another name for the Sun Dance
D) A Mayan creation narrative

Question 37

In the Popol Vuh,

A) the creation of humans took several tries.
B) stories about hero twins are relayed.
C) humans were created perfectly on the first try.
D) Both a and b

Question 38

Which of the following is an important method of healing?

A) Sandpainting
B) Kinaalda
C) Planting Corn
D) Basketry

Question 39

Myths may contain lessons concerning

A) how to behave appropriately in social situations.
B) how to farm or subsist off the land.
C) life and death.
D) All of the above

Question 40

Who was Black Elk?

A) A famous Lakota religious leader
B) One of the kachinas
C) One of the hero twins in Popol Vuh
D) The Aztec corn god

Question 41

Mt. Shasta is a sacred place to

A) the Aztecs.
B) many Native communities in northern California.
C) the Maya.
D) the Native communities of the southeastern United States.

Question 42

Tales about the landscape are important to the White Mountain Apache because they

A) help Arizona businesses decide where to develop land.
B) have helped people convert to Christianity.
C) convey important moral teachings.
D) None of the above

Question 43

The Pueblo peoples are from

A) the Southwestern United States.
B) the Northwestern United States.
C) eastern Canada.
D) Alaska.

Question 44

Mabel McKay was well known for

A) her skill in healing the sick.
B) her skill in basketry.
C) initiating the Kinaalda.
D) Both a and b

Question 45

The ancestral spirits of the Pueblo peoples are known as

A) the Hero Twins.
B) kachinas.
C) Jump Dancers.
D) None of the above

Question 46

Trickster figures in mythology

A) teach important life lessons through their actions.
B) are often animals.
C) always rescue humanity from decline.
D) Both a and b

Question 47

Which of following were aspects of ancient Mayan religion?

A) Complex pantheon of gods
B) Penitential bloodletting
C) A three-layered cosmos
D) All of the above

Question 48

The colonial powers of Spain, France, and Britain

A) were not interested in the religious lives of Native Americans.
B) thought European settlers should adopt indigenous American religions.
C) aimed for the conversion to Christianity of Native peoples, sometimes through force.
D) thought that Christianity was inappropriate for non-Europeans.

Question 49

The 1819 Civilization Fund Act

A) aimed to educate native children in an effort to "civilize" them.
B) led to the development of many boarding schools.
C) aimed to eradicate Christianity in the Americas.
D) Both a and b

Question 50

When the Spanish conquistadors arrived in Mesoamerica,

A) the indigenous religion of the Mayan peoples was banned.
B) written versions of holy texts were burned.
C) the Maya were often forcibly converted to Roman Catholicism.
D) All of the above

Question 51

Which is true about the Ghost Dance?

A) It originated in the fifteenth century as a religious response to the Spanish conquest of Mexico.
B) It began with a nineteenth-century religious leader of the Northern Paiute who had an important vision.
C) It is another term for a kachina dance.
D) It is only performed by women.

Question 52

Who was Wovoka?

A) The founder of the second Ghost Dance
B) A mythological trickster figure
C) One of the Mayan hero twins
D) None of the above

Question 53

The Ghost Dance came to a tragic end at

A) Wounded Knee.
B) Fallen Arrow.
C) Mt. Shasta.
D) the Place of Cottonwood Trees.

Question 54

In Wovoka's vision and teachings,

A) the Creator told him that the ancestors would rise up.
B) if enough people believed and danced, human misery and death would end.
C) he learned how to defeat the Spanish conquistadors.
D) Both a and b

Question 55

What happened at Wounded Knee?

A) American troops massacred hundreds of people who had gathered for the Ghost Dance.
B) Wovoka fell and hurt his knee.
C) The Popol Vuh was revealed to the Cherokee.
D) The first Kinaalda took place.

Question 56

The Native American Church

A) was founded by Mabel McKay and focused on healing the sick through singing.
B) adopted Catholicism but selected its own pope.
C) was founded in 1712.
D) was founded by followers of Peyote Religion to protect their religious practice.

Question 57

In the future, the indigenous religions of North America will likely

A) disappear entirely.
B) resemble Christianity in most aspects of belief and practice.
C) continue to provide spiritual meaning and religious fulfillment for Native and even non- Native peoples.
D) All of the above

Question 58

The American Indian Religious Freedom Act was passed in

A) 1801.
B) 1888.
C) 1978.
D) 2010.

Question 59

The American Indian Religious Freedom Act

A) was completely effective in ending all discrimination against Native American religions.
B) opened the door for teaching Christianity to Native peoples.
C) is a U.S. law aimed at guaranteeing freedom of religious practice for Native Americans.
D) None of the above

Question 60

Why do some Native Americans criticize the interest of non-Native people in indigenous religions?

A) Because they really just want to convert people to Christianity
B) Because they take practices out of cultural and historical context
C) Because there is sometimes conflict over the use of sacred places
D) Both b and c

Question 61

Sandpainting has been used as a healing rite by

A) Navajo peoples.
B) Cherokee peoples.
C) the ancient Maya.
D) the Yurok peoples.

Question 62

Which of the following is the best definition of a rite of passage?

A) Rituals that ask the gods for more rain
B) Ceremonies that install new political leaders into their offices
C) Rituals that mark the transition from one social state to another
D) Any ceremony involving a sun dance

Question 63

The Kinaalda is

A) another name for the Popol Vuh.
B) a Navajo puberty rite for girls.
C) an important rite of passage.
D) Both b and c

Question 64

Chantways may be used in which contexts?

A) Births
B) Puberty rites
C) Healing
D) All of the above

Question 65

Which of the following is not true of the Kinaalda?

A) Each girl has a sponsor.
B) The rite has foundations in sacred myths.
C) Each girl makes a giant cake of cornmeal.
D) The rite enacts important Lakota myths.

Question 66

Which of the following is an important goal of a vision quest?

A) Building a seaworthy canoe
B) Communicating with the spirit world
C) Baking a giant cornmeal cake
D) Immersing oneself in social life

Question 67

Many rites of renewal focus on

A) teaching young girls how to be adult women.
B) disrupting the sacred balance of the natural world.
C) maintaining the sacred balance of the natural world.
D) All of the above

Question 68

Sweat lodge ceremonies may

A) be used to purify the body.
B) take place in many different cultural contexts.
C) establish a bond between people who perform the ceremony together.
D) All of the above

Question 69

Which of the following was not one of the goals of a kachina dance, as discussed in the reading?

A) Teaching young people about morals and ethics
B) Purifying the body through sweat
C) Enhancing rainfall
D) Enhancing the fertility of the land

Question 70

Which of the following is a rite of passage?

A) The Kinaalda
B) The Vision Quest
C) The Jump Dance
D) Both a and b

Question 71

The indigenous religions of North America are all essentially the same.

Question 72

The major teachings of most indigenous North American religions are contained in written texts.

Question 73

Mythic narratives may contain stories about creation, supreme beings, and humanity.

Question 74

There is little diversity in the religions of native North America.

Question 75

Changing Woman is an important figure in Navajo religious tradition.

Question 76

Among the Pueblo peoples, ancestral spirits are known as kachinas.

Question 77

The trickster figure in myths is often an animal who has adventures and engages in mischief.

Question 78

Myths of North America may account for the origins of subsistence activities like hunting and farming.

Question 79

Black Elk was a famous Cherokee religious leader.

Question 80

According to Native American religious traditions, humanity is often thought to live in a reciprocal relationship with the land.