Animism

Animism (from Latin anima "soul, life") is the religious belief that natural phenomena, including animals, plants, and sometimes even inanimate natural objects, possess a spiritual essence. Specifically, animism is used in the anthropology of religion as a term for the religion of indigenous tribal peoples, especially prior to the development of civilization and organized religions. Although each tribe is unique in its specific mythologies and rituals, the term animism is often used to describe the most common thread of native tribespeoples' spiritual or supernatural perspectives. Some non-tribal people also consider themselves animists (such as author Daniel Quinn) and, of course, not all peoples who describe themselves as a tribe would describe themselves as animist. Even most animist native tribal people do not have a word in their languages that corresponds to "animism"; it is a purely anthropological term rather than one self-designated by tribespeople themselves.