Beliefs Across The World Trivia Quiz

Answer: Pali Canon

Theravada Buddhism is followed primarily in southeast Asia, where the vast majority of the population (around 80-90%) of some countries are adherents, particularly in Cambodia (around 95%).

The Pali Canon is the oldest known Buddhist text, and was written in India in the Pali language, a dead language of the Bihari group. It is traditionally called the "Tipitaka" ("Tripitaka" in Sanskrit), meaning "three baskets" and referring to the three categories of the text: 1. rules for monks and nuns, called the "Vinaya Pitaka" or "discipline basket"; 2. teachings of the Buddha, called the "Sutta Pitaka" or "sayings basket"; and 3. a unique collection on metaphysics, called the "Abhidhamma Pitaka".

The seven stages of purification form a centerpiece of Theravadan orthodoxy, called "satta-visuddhi". These form the process to reach nirvana, the perfect peace of the soul. Monastic life is particularly valued in Theravada Buddhism, although there is still a place for laymen in the religion. Many people become ordained just temporarily as a monk or nun.

Answer: Korea

Cheondoism developed from Donghak ("Eastern Learning"), a 19th century academic movement that was itself based on Confucian teachings. Donghak was popular among the peasant classes suffering from poverty and persecution under the Korean Empire.

Under its third patriarch, Son Byeong-hui, Cheondoism was codified and became an official religion. The god of this religion is Hanulnim ("Master Heaven"), denoting not only the realm of Heaven but the entire universe. There is no concept of an afterlife, but that people become closer to Heaven through their personal development and help to create paradise on Earth through peace and morals, as well as reforming society for the better. The scripture of Cheondoism is called Dongkyeongdaejeon ("Great Eastern Scripture"), which contains the commandments of the Hanulnim.

There are around four million Cheondoists in North and South Korea, although less is known about the statistics of those in North Korea.

Answer: Druze

The Druze are descended from Jethro, the father of Moses's wife, Zipporah. Their religion is Abrahamic and it combines aspects from various other faiths and philosophies, including Judaism, Ismailism, and Neoplatonism. Strangely enough, the name "Druze" comes from a man regarded as a heretic in the faith, Muhammad bin Ismail Nashtakin al-Darazi, an Ismaili preacher who was executed in the 11th century.

The Druze worship in buildings called khalwa, meaning "retreat"; these usually comprise of modest rooms with different areas for each gender. One of the sacred texts is the Rasa'il al-Hikma, or "Epistles of Wisdom", and due to the overlapping with other religions, texts such as the Qu'ran and the writings of Plato are also considered within the Druze canon.

Souls, which are unable to live without a body, are instantly reincarnated upon death. In contrast to the reincarnation of Buddhism and Hinduism, in which souls may be reincarnated into animals as well as humans, Druze souls are only reincarnated into other Druze humans. As death is regarded as such a transient event, little mourning is done. The soul will continue through reincarnations until it is able to become united with the Cosmic Mind; this spiritual state is regarded as the Druze Heaven, while Hell is the bitter unrest of a soul as yet unable to escape from subsequent reincarnations.

Answer: Sami people

Animism is the belief that objects in nature as well as animals have a spirit, such as rivers, mountains, and trees. Spirits of the Sámi religion include Rana Niejta, a spring goddess who turned the mountains green in order to feed the reindeer. Some believe that the Norwegian municipality of Rana was named after her.

Sieiddit (singular: sieidi) are sacred sites with unusual formations in nature, often a rock with unusual shape. They are often described as places of offering, and many communities, for example, would slaughter a reindeer and offer the remains of the meal to the sieidi. Nowadays people still stop at sieiddit and offer coins.

Although the Sámi resisted initial waves of Christianisation, they are regarded to have been Christianised in the 18th century, long after other pagan communities around them. Although most Sámi are Lutherans today, some still practice parts of their traditional religion, including some who claim to be noaiddit (singular: noaidi), shamans who mediate between the human world and the spirit world.

Answer: Yoruba

Santería, meaning "worship of saints" was the name given by Spanish colonialists in Cuba to the religion practiced by enslaved Yoruba people brought to Cuba from western Africa, particularly from what is now Nigeria. This religion is based on ceremonies and worship of orichás (Yoruba: orisha), spirits that have been syncretised with Roman Catholic saints across the Americas in similar religions that developed from enslaved Yoruba people, such as Candomblé in Brazil and Trinidad Orisha in Trinidad and Tobago.

The Afro-Cuban people who practice Santería are called Lucumí people. They speak the Lucumí language which developed from the Yoruba language and is used as the sacred language of Santería. Santería and the Lucumí have strong spiritual traditional healing practices, including cowrie shell divination and herbal medicine.

The most commonly worshipped orichás include: Babalú-Ayé, orichá of diseases including smallpox and HIV/AIDS, syncretised with Saint Lazarus; Elegguá, orichá of crossroads and fate, syncretised with Saint Anthony; and Oko, orichá of agriculture and fertility, syncretised with Saint Isidore.

Answer: Gecko

The Dieri people live in the South Australian desert to the east of Lake Eyre. They speak a language of the same name which is part of the Karmic languages, a sub-group of the Pama-Nyungan family.

Adnoartina features in stories of the creation of Uluru, the monolith in central Australia, which is also sacred to the Pitjantjatjara people who live in the area. Adnoartina's gender varies in the stories, including some where the god is non-gendered. Taking the form of a gecko, Adnoartina hunted the same prey as Marandi the dog. During a fight, the god bit Marandi's neck and the spilled blood stained Uluru its distinctive red, which is due to red ochre. The blood is also said in some stories to have created the red ochre in various mines.

Other Aboriginal (Indigenous) Australian deities include the Rainbow Serpent, known by many names across the country including Yurlunggur (by the Murngin people) and Goorialla (by the Lardil people); Bamapana, a Yolngu trickster god who creates discord; and another lizard deity, Mangar-kunjer-kunja, who the Arrernte people believe created human beings.

Answer: Botswana

These beliefs developed in the Tswapong Hills in eastern Botswana. Most Batswana (Tswana people) follow Christianity with elements of Badimo mixed in, identifying the Christian God as their Modimo, with some claiming that the people believed in Modimo as a creator god before the arrival of Christian missionaries. The badimo (plural of "modimo") themselves, the ancestor spirits, are regarded as the "living dead" and connect the world of the living with that of the dead. They watch over people and protect them from evil forces, but badimo can also punish wrongdoers. They intercede with the more distant Modimo on behalf of people.

The concept of botho, or humanity, is a key value of Batswana. Better known as the Zulu term "ubuntu", it concerns respecting fellow people and viewing one's personhood as part of a broader community. This concept is summed up in the maxim "Motho ke motho ka batho": "A person is a person through other people."

Answer: Yes

Mummification was one form of burial that the Inca used, aided by the naturally dry climate of the Andes, where there was a strong worship of ancestors. Like the Ancient Egyptians, mummies were buried with items that the spirit might need in the afterlife, including precious items like jewellery. The bodies of Inca rulers generally underwent a more thorough process of mummification, including embalming and organ removal. Their mummies were worshipped on special occasions and treated as though still living; they were seated in a natural posture, dressed in finery, and food and drink were offered to them. When the Spanish conquistadors arrived, the Inca people tried to hide their royal mummies but unfortunately most were discovered and destroyed.

The three realms of the cosmos were called pacha, a Quechua word with various meanings including "world" and "era". The realms were temporally as well as spatially distinct. The upper realm was the celestial sphere, called hanan pacha. It was inhabited by the sun god Inti and the moon goddess Mama Killa. Kay pacha was the realm of humans and the natural world. Ukhu pacha was the realm of the dead and of rebirth.

Answer: New Zealand

Hine-nui-te-pō unwittingly married her father Tāne, god of forests and birds, and bore him children. Devastated by the knowledge, she fled to the underworld where she receives the spirits of the dead. Māui's father describes her appearance to him as a human body with eyes of greenstone, hair of kelp, and the mouth of a barracuda. Goddess of night, Hine-nui-te-pō is responsible for the sky's red colour at sunset.

Māui, a trickster figure, wished to gain immortality for humankind by passing through Hine-nui-te-pō's body while she slept. She crushed him to death, bringing mortality to humans, and Māui's piopio flew south to Piopiotahi (Milford Sound) in the south-west of the South Island. Piopiotahi is a beautiful landscape of valleys, cliffs and fiords formed from glaciers. In fact, it is so beautiful that people would stop and gape for such a long time that Hine-nui-te-pō brought biting sandflies to the area to move them on!

Answer: Spider

Although tricksters known for their cunning, neither Anansi and Iktomi are known only as bad or evil deities. For the Akan people of Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire, Anansi can take the form of a spider or a human or as a mixture, for example a spider with a human face or a human with eight spider legs. Stories of Anansi include him becoming the owner of all stories after fulfilling tasks from the sky god Nyame in exchange for all the god's stories. Many Akan people were forcibly taken to North America and enslaved and Anansi was seen as a symbol of resistance for these people as he used cunning to overcome his oppressors.

Iktomi of the Lakota people of North America is also said to be able to take the form of a human. Stories of Iktomi, who is a manifestation of wisdom, often end with his schemes backfiring and are used to teach about wisdom and folly. Sometimes he helps the people, such as weaving the dreamcatcher in order to catch good dreams and let evil pass through.