Day Three: Building Religion 2
October 15th 2009 12:19
This post contains a section for those working on multiple Gods and those only working with one deity. Scroll down and find whichever one you need.
NOTE: AT THE END OF THIS EXERCISE IS AN EXTRA BIT MEANT FOR BOTH GROUPS; SCROLL ALL THE WAY DOWN NO MATTER WHAT NUMBER OF GODS YOU ARE CREATING
Multiple Gods
1. Name three traits/core principals/things that would have Gods to represent them; things that are fundamental to the life of your society. Think of a few minor traits, at least one that goes with each of the core traits you thought of.
2. Put one major trait with up to three minor traits that can play off of it well. This is a set of traits.
3. Take each trait and write a couple sentences about the kind of personality that could incorporate all of these traits. Remember the three cultures you researched? Pull up websites on them and look at some info on a couple of their Gods/Goddesses. Think about how their personality works with the things they are supposed to represent.
4. Make up a personality for them. Consider what they would like to appear as, male, female, neither, or both. Think about how this would effect gender roles on your world. Write a few point form thoughts on that.
5. Once you've gotten basic notes of each God's personality, name them. Pick names that sound similar to those of cultures that have evolved in places in the world similar to yours. Things that aren't English, don't sound too close but not too far.
Questions
1. How do perceptions of these deities affect gender roles of the cultures that worship them. (More than one culture can worship the same set of Gods and still be very different)
2. What are three major days of religious worship? (one for each deity) How are they celebrated? For this consider things like feasts for a God or Goddess of abundance, sacrificial hunts to a God or Goddess of hunting, and similar things.
3. What are some common methods of worship? Look at Gods similar to the one you have created in real-world cultures and do twenty minutes of research into how two of them were worshipped.
You can do this, in the end, with as many Gods and Goddesses as you like. I just think that three is a good starting point.
One God
1. Is this God all encompassing and omniscient?
2. Is this deity traditionally seen as male, female, both, or neither?
3. What are three commonly mentioned aspects of this God's personality (similar to the three traits)?
4. Why is this deity seen as the only one? (Is there really only one, and s/he has appeared and made this clear, was this idea started by a group of important people, has it always been this way...)
5. How does gender perception of this deity affect gender roles?
6. How does this deity differ from the Christian God? How are the two similar?
7. How is this God worshiped?
8. What do temples devoted to this God look like?
Either/Or
Write a short poem or paragraph that sums up the core beliefs of your religion.
NOTE: AT THE END OF THIS EXERCISE IS AN EXTRA BIT MEANT FOR BOTH GROUPS; SCROLL ALL THE WAY DOWN NO MATTER WHAT NUMBER OF GODS YOU ARE CREATING
Multiple Gods
1. Name three traits/core principals/things that would have Gods to represent them; things that are fundamental to the life of your society. Think of a few minor traits, at least one that goes with each of the core traits you thought of.
2. Put one major trait with up to three minor traits that can play off of it well. This is a set of traits.
3. Take each trait and write a couple sentences about the kind of personality that could incorporate all of these traits. Remember the three cultures you researched? Pull up websites on them and look at some info on a couple of their Gods/Goddesses. Think about how their personality works with the things they are supposed to represent.
4. Make up a personality for them. Consider what they would like to appear as, male, female, neither, or both. Think about how this would effect gender roles on your world. Write a few point form thoughts on that.
5. Once you've gotten basic notes of each God's personality, name them. Pick names that sound similar to those of cultures that have evolved in places in the world similar to yours. Things that aren't English, don't sound too close but not too far.
Questions
1. How do perceptions of these deities affect gender roles of the cultures that worship them. (More than one culture can worship the same set of Gods and still be very different)
2. What are three major days of religious worship? (one for each deity) How are they celebrated? For this consider things like feasts for a God or Goddess of abundance, sacrificial hunts to a God or Goddess of hunting, and similar things.
3. What are some common methods of worship? Look at Gods similar to the one you have created in real-world cultures and do twenty minutes of research into how two of them were worshipped.
You can do this, in the end, with as many Gods and Goddesses as you like. I just think that three is a good starting point.
One God
1. Is this God all encompassing and omniscient?
2. Is this deity traditionally seen as male, female, both, or neither?
3. What are three commonly mentioned aspects of this God's personality (similar to the three traits)?
4. Why is this deity seen as the only one? (Is there really only one, and s/he has appeared and made this clear, was this idea started by a group of important people, has it always been this way...)
5. How does gender perception of this deity affect gender roles?
6. How does this deity differ from the Christian God? How are the two similar?
7. How is this God worshiped?
8. What do temples devoted to this God look like?
Either/Or
Write a short poem or paragraph that sums up the core beliefs of your religion.
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Comment by Glas
Comment by Dianna G
I Wish This Was 42
Fictional Worlds
Interesting thoughts. Glad to see that you're working with this.
I understand what you're getting at. Definitely something to work with.
I can't tell you much about Catholicism, but that's one of the easier religions to find information about.
~Dianna