The Dani tribe is found in Balien Valley, New Guinea. The tribe lives in small units called villages comprising of between ten to thirty people who are either closely related or are family members. Their huts are made of sticks and local grass. Among the Dani, men protect the community against attacks from enemies while women engage in farming activities. The Dani tribe is always in constant war with its neighboring tribes. In most cases, wrongs perpetuated against the Dani people are avenged. The Dani mostly avenge quarrels and deaths. The Dani fight using spears, barbs, and arrows. The wars are always organized and a number of rules apply.
Dani Religion and Beliefs
Among the Dani , supernatural powers are believed to be responsible for enriching the fertility of the soil, curing diseases, and maintaining the community’s garden. There are acts of honoring the dead. This is done through making of emblems of ancestors referred to as Kaneka. The Dani tribe believes in the existence of ghosts of the dead. The dead are believed to be very dangerous and are the cause of deaths, illnesses, misfortunes among other ills in the community. People in the Dani community always live in constant fear of ghosts. It is believed that the ghosts are the spirits of dead people who were neglected and are thus discontented. These spirits are believed to hide by the sides of the road to eat and strike the living. The community tends to keep these ghosts away in the forests. Water and land spirits are also believed to be in existence. Magic is part and parcel of the Dani community, with several people possessing the magic powers to cure. However, magic is usually performed by males. The leaders of the tribe use secular powers and rituals to govern the community. Pigs are valued and form an important aspect of the community’s culture (Corrigan, Crump & Kloos, 2000).
Theories of Religion
In trying to explain and understand the structures and basic origins of ritual systems and beliefs, anthropologists have come up with many theories of religion. Efforts have further been made by scholars to explain the relationship between culture and religion. The Dani religious practices can be explained using cognitive and ecological theories of religion (Visala, 2013).
Cognitive Theory
The Dani religion can be explained using the cognitive theory of religion. Based on anthropological approaches, the cognitive theory lays emphases on the understanding of the social and natural worlds via appreciating the human needs. The theory is also based on the intellectual inquiry of spiritual agencies. The Dani religious practices seem to be based on the cognitive theory of religion. This is because the tribe has the utmost belief in spirits and supernatural powers. Among the Dani tribe, the formal science system’s role is greatly undermined. This is an aspect of the cognitive theory of religion. The evolutionary theories of the 9th century laid a lot of emphases on the religions’ intellectual functions, viewing it as “primitive mentality”. However, the modern cognitive theory bases more on a realistic view, seeking to differentiate scientific imaginations from religious beliefs. The Dani tribe offers the platform for modern cognitive approach as the community has an elaborate religion with several aspects. The Dani religion is characterized by various cultural expressions and myths that contrast the social and natural phenomena (Heider & Karl, 1997).
Ecological theory
Ecological theory fundamentally focuses on the relations between rituals and the supernatural beings. Further, the theory focuses on how the ritual practices shape the interaction that exists between the natural environment and the social groups. The Dani community has many rituals performed in their midst. This includes the ritual of cutting off some fingers of girls while the morning members of the community who die as a result of war. This perspective is characteristic to the prospects of the environmental theory. Additionally, the faith and fear of spirits and other supernatural beings grows the aspects of ecological theory (Bonvillain, Nancy & Schwimmer, 2009).
Some proponents of the ecological theory of religion hold the view that certain beliefs among communities are important in creating a balance between humans and domestic animals. This aspect of the theory is seen in the Dani’s consideration of pigs as being vital sources of food and important in some of their ceremonies. During the Dani’s Pig Treasure Ceremony, pigs were killed in the same place, and each and every part of the pigs has an important use. They eat the meat, give the fat to the spirits, and use the bones as tools. This provides a platform for the environmental theory’s application.
Conclusion
The Dani community believes in rituals and supernatural beings. The entire religious beliefs and practices of the Dani community can be explained using the cognitive and ecological theories of religion. I think the cognitive theory of religion explains better the religious beliefs and practices of the Dani people than the ecological theory of religion. This is because the cognitive theory bases its analysis mainly on the spiritual and supernatural aspect of religion. These are the main aspects that define the Dani religion.
- Bonvillain, Nancy, Schwimmer. (2009). Cultural Anthropology, Canadian edition. Pearson Canada
- Corrigan, J., Crump, E., & Kloos, J. M. (2000). Emotion and religion: A critical assessment and annotated bibliography. Greenwood Publishing Group.
- Heider, K. G. (1997). Grand valley Dani: peaceful warriors. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace College Publishers.
- Visala, A. (2011). Naturalism, Theism, and the Cognitive Study of Religion: Religion Explained?. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
