A periodic ritual is one that is:
a. performed because of the will or desire of a deity
b. associated with critical events in the life of an individual
c. celebrated on a ritual calendar
d. involved with an altered state of consciousness
Many religions similar to Vodou developed in the New World. In Cuba the deities are
called orisha and are know by their Yoruba names. This religion is known as:
a. Wicca
b. Santeria
c. Huichol
d. Rastafarian
Myths:
a. are regarded as fact by those who accept this on faith
b. include a great many sacred, supernatural elements
c. take place in the past
d. all of the above
The Jewish Yom Kippur and the Islamic Ramadan are both characterized by:
a. fasting
b. ingestion of wine
c. spirit possession states
d. meditation
Handsome Lake and Ngundeng were:
a. diviners
b. prophets
c. herbalists
d. priests
An early Christian symbol that predates the cross is the:
a. swastika
b. pentagram
c. fish
d. triangle within a circle
In the Navaho Creation Story, life was given to the first humans by the:
a. Wind
b. Sun
c. Mountains
d. Animal People
Descriptions of vampires are based upon:
a. early folk tales found in eastern Europe
b. observations made of corpses that were exhumed several months after burial
c. descriptions of invaders that overran eastern Europe from Asia during the 14th and
15th centuries
d. observations made of recently executed criminals
Image magic is an example of:
a. contagious magic
b. homeopathic magic
c. harmonious magic
d. representational magic
A definition of religion that is concerned with the role that religion plays in a society is
a(n):
a. analytic definition
b. functional definition
c. essentialist definition
d. psychosocial definition
Modern Wiccan beliefs are based upon the works of:
a. E. E. Evans-Pritchard
b. Margaret Murray and Gerald Gardner
c. Edward Tylor and James Frazer
d. Bronislaw Malinowski and Claude Lvi-Straus
An agnostic is one who:
a. is polytheistic
b. believes that the existence of a god in unprovable
c. believes that there is no god
d. none of the above
The background of the sarcophagus cover at Palenque depicts the:
a. trials of the Otherworld
b. Cosmic Tree
c. founding of Palenque
d. life of the king
A status given to someone based on attributes over which they have no control (e.g.,
gender) is called:
a. ascribed
b. achieved
c. attributed
d. credited
To people who practice magic it appears never to fail because:
a. if you do not get the expected result it is because you did not do it right
b. if it does fail, someone else was doing countermagic
c. humans tend to remember successes and forget failures
d. all of the above
A feeling that something is about to happen, such as an impending disaster, is known as:
a. necromancy
b. a presentiment
c. apantomancy
d. dowsing
Units of time that are not based upon astronomical movements include the:
a. week
b. day
c. year
d. month
Culture consists of:
a. innate behavioral patterns that humans share with the apes
b. an appreciation of the fine arts and literature
c. nutrients upon which bacteria can grow
d. learned and traditional patterns of behavior
An all-knowing deity is one who is:
a. omniscient
b. omnipotent
c. otiose
d. monotheistic
A _________ is a mouthpiece of the gods.
a. diviner
b. prophet
c. herbalist
d. priest
Among the Yoruba, the orisha are distinguished by several symbols including color.
The orisha are:
a. a series of shrines
b. military regiments representing certain villages
c. spiritual beings
d. the many Yoruba chiefs
An ethnography is a:
a. comparative study of the social systems of many societies
b. study of the physical characteristics of a human population
c. analysis of a nonhuman primate species
d. descriptive study of a society or culture
An isolated, remote village in the highlands of New Guinea sees an airplane for the first
time and creates a word to refer to it. This illustrates the fact that symbols, in this case
the new word of an airplane, are:
a. arbitrary
b. open
c. subjective
d. creative
Which of the following is true about the concept of the evil eye?
a. a person can cause misfortune by looking at a person
b. it is bad form to say something complementary about a child
c. spitting and particular hand gestures can be used to protect one against the evil eye
d. all of the above
An example of contagious magic as a part of American folk medicine is:
a. a tea made of red flowers is good for bleeding
b. drawings of deer on the side of a barn will bring success in hunting
c. rub a penny on a wart and then throw the penny away to get rid of the wart
d. none of the above
An example of a neo-pagan religious system is:
a. Wicca
b. Santeria
c. John Frum Cult
d. Branch Davidians
The Viking draugr was a(n):
a. animated corpse that could wander the countryside, much like a vampire
b. ghost seeking revenge for its own death
c. reanimated corpse, much like a zombie
d. soul that resided in Valhalla after dying in battle
Tarot cards and the reading of palms are examples of:
a. mechanical type of divination
b. possession
c. omens
d. ordeals
A goddess of agriculture is an example of a(n):
a. creator goddess
b. trickster goddess
c. attribute goddess
d. otiose goddess
All of the following statements about the story of Snow White are correct except:
a. many of the places and objects of the story are sacred
b. the story conveys a moral lesson about the evils of envy and jealousy
c. there are many supernatural elements in the story
d. the story contains an example of ritual cannibalism
An example of a secular (nonreligious) rite of passage would be a:
a. graduation ceremony
b. fraternity initiation
c. presidential inauguration
d. all of the above
Branislaw Malinowski theorized that magic rituals serve to help the person who
practices them to:
a. keep his mind off the upcoming activity
b. try to control or eliminate the elements of chance and uncertainty
c. fit into his society’s norms
d. remove the supernatural influence on everyday endeavors
Franz Boas and Bronislaw Malinowski are representative of proponents of the:
a. structural analysis of myth
b. psychological analysis of myth
c. functional analysis of myth
d. evolutionary analysis of myth
The calendar that is used for secular purposes in the industrial world today is the:
a. Julian calendar
b. Gregorian calendar
c. Hebrew calendar
d. Islamic calendar
Divination is a technique for finding out information about the unknown.
The power of a shaman lies in her ability to successfully memorize religious texts and
rituals.
There are two creation stories in Genesis. In one man and woman are created together;
in the other man was created first and woman was created later out of man’s rib.
The Fore of New Guinea believe that the disease kuru is caused by evil forest spirits.
Alcohol is used by the Huichol to achieve an altered state of consciousness during their
pilgrimage.
The psychoduct found in Lord Pakal’s tomb connected the tomb to the temple on top of
the pyramid.
Examples of endocannibalistic anthropophagers are the Yanomam and the Fore.
Possession and prophecy are examples of deliberate inspirational divination.
Gods that are remote and uninterested in human affairs are otiose gods.
In a Buddhist temple the swastika stands for evil.
Fundamentalism is found in a number of different religions, including Islam,
Christianity, and Judaism.
Okinawa is the only known society in which women lead a mainstream, official,
publicly funded religion that is practiced by both sexes.
Among the Dani a major function of a funeral is to appease the ghost.
UFO religions, such as the Unification Church and the Branch Davidians, describe
extraterrestrial beings in much the same way that supernatural beings are described in
more traditional religions.
The Hmong believe that at death the soul travels to the place where its placenta
(afterbirth) has been buried and puts it on like an article of clothing.
The first-fruit ceremonies of the Cahuilla of the California desert are an example of
both a technological ritual and a hunting and gathering rite of intensification.