Religion
Before American missionaries came to the area comprising the modern Kachin state, the majority of the Kachin were Animists. Some worship various gods as well as the spirits of their ancestors. The ancestor of all the Jingpo, who is worshipped as a spirit or god, is held to be named Madai. Jingpo Animists believe that spirits reside everywhere, from the sun to the animals, and that these spirits bring good or bad luck. For the Jingpo, all living creatures are believed to have souls. Rituals are carried out for protection in almost all daily activities, from planting of crops to warfare.
Nowadays, most Jingpo people are Christians. There are also small groups of Buddhists and Animists.
Read more about this topic: Jingpo People
Famous quotes containing the word religion:
“Never has any one been less a priest than Jesus, never a greater enemy of forms, which stifle religion under the pretext of protecting it. By this we are all his disciples and his successors; by this he has laid the eternal foundation-stone of true religion; and if religion is essential to humanity, he has by this deserved the Divine rank the world has accorded him.”
—Ernest Renan (18231892)
“When Religion and Royalty are swept away, the people will attack the great, and after the great, they will fall upon the rich.”
—HonorĂ© De Balzac (17991850)
“... religion can only change when the emotions which fill it are changed; and the religion of personal fear remains nearly at the level of the savage.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)