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The Old Man in Blackfoot’s religion: A god battered by Paradoxes

Table of Contents The Old Man in Blackfoot’s Religion His Creative Powers The Sun in Blackfoot’s Religion To describe the Old Man in Blackfoot’s religion as a sage without good fortune is a contradiction in terms or better still, a decrepit god battered by his paradoxes. The notion of the Old Man otherwise known as  “Na’pi”  in  Blackfoot’s religion is a central figure in Blackfeet cosmology. The Blackfeet are a Native American tribe from the Great Plains. Some writers have reasoned that the Blackfoot tribe consists of four different groups of Native Americans. There are the Siksika, Kanai, and Northern Pikuni who live in Canada. The fourth group, the Amskapi Pikuni settled mainly in Montana. Some writers have suggested that there are about 16,000 registered members, with over 80,000 people claiming Blackfoot heritage. Can the Old Man, who is a god be considered wise and foolish at the same time? Understood in this light confines the notion into a competing duality and ...

Same-Sex Marriage in Igbo Cultural Traditions

Table of Contents The Igbo Tribe Same-Sex Marriage – Definition & Brief History Same-Sex Marriage in Igbo Cultural Traditions Conclusion This writing claims that same-sex marriage in Igbo culture is necessary, an improvisation, and a  ‘like with like’  construal. By construal, it places Igbo same-sex marriage in a social psychological context and views an individual as finding out ways or means to understand and interpret his-her surroundings, and the behaviour and actions of the people around and towards him-her. The reason for this claim is not far-fetched. The Igbo Tribe The Igbo is a major ethnic group in Nigeria with an estimated population of about 32 million. It is one of the largest in Africa adding to 18% of the total 177 million people of Nigeria. Igbo land consists of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo states of Nigeria. However, Igbos can be found in these other states of Nigeria: Rivers, Delta, Akwa Ibom, and Cross River. Outside of Nigeria, the Igbo tribe ...

Gods’ Names of Ancient Times – Satisfactory but Actions Undesirable

Table of Contents The naming of the gods Gods' Names - Satisfactory or Undesirable? Adad   Allah   Anat   Anu   Ashur Baal   Dagon Elohim Ishtar   Marduk   Shamash Yahweh  (or YHWH)  This writing argues that these names of God-gods of ancient times were satisfactory while their actions could be construed as undesirable, hence the polytheistic nature of their religions. The naming of the gods Many ancient religions associated meanings with the names given to the gods; meanings that arguably were derived from their life situations. Gods’ names were contextualized from roles that were deemed beyond the natural activities of humans or what humans could not naturally control. Such feats were attributed to the supernatural. We see these definite names of gods in ancient Mesopotamia as classical examples. One god could not have dealt with all the human problems or sorrows of their times. It is believed that the Semitic world shares many things in co...

Begrudging & Infightings: Aztec’s Theogony & Cosmogony

Table of Contents Tezcatlipoca Quetzalcoatl Tlaloc Chalchiuhtlicue Nanauatzin Cosmic Order – The Balance Aztec is a name used to describe the Nahuatl-speaking people who thrived in central Mexico circa the 14 th  and 16 th  centuries as an empire and dominated large parts of Mesoamerica. Variously, the Aztecs had different names. They are known as Aztlan (which means ‘White Land’), the Tenochca (a name adopted from one of their ancestors called Tenoch), and the Mexica, which was a derivative from Metzliapan (which stands for ‘Moon Lake’). Ancient Aztec religious beliefs and practices were tied to their understanding of the world; the people were deeply amazed by the thought of the unknown, the universe and the end of time. These thoughts arouse some curiosity and awareness to understand better their world and how it came about. I used the term ‘theogony’ to describe the Aztecs’ generations of gods however, not in the context of Greek mythology where the ‘primordial deities’ we...

The stories of how Jesus was conceived as narrated in the Qur’an and Bible

Table of Contents Revelations or Representation?  The Mary Question   The Qur'an The Bible Today, I have chosen the eve of Christmas to write about how Jesus was conceived as narrated in the Qur’an and the Bible. Doing this, I intend to infer Mary’s role as the ark who delivered the child to the world. I must declare at this point that this is not an academic paper, even though I pose the question: Revelations or representation? Revelations or Representation?  Some scriptural scholars have argued that there are elements of biblical events and incidents noted in the Qur’an and because the bible came first before the Qur’an such events and incidents must have been from the Bible. Some have argued that they were as results of divine revelation, that is, God communicating his mind to humans. Whichever side you take, this writing aims to uplift human spirits to righteousness, peace and joy and seeks to bridge the gap between Christianity and Islam.   The Mary Q...