orenda

religion

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comparison to mana

  • In mana

    …be parallel, especially wakan and orenda among the Dakota (Sioux) and Iroquois Indians. From these anthropologists in the early part of the 20th century developed the theory that mana was a worldwide phenomenon that lay behind all religions but was later supplanted by personified forces and deities.

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nature worship

  • Charles Sprague Pearce: Religion
    In nature worship: Nature as a sacred totality

    The Iroquoian term orenda, like mana, designates a power that is inherent in numerous objects of nature but that does not have essential personification or animistic elements. Orenda, however, is not a collective omnipotence. Powerful hunters, priests, and shamans have orenda to some degree. The wakanda, or wakan,…

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