Mahorney World Cultures

       The Sami people are pastoralists who mainly herd reindeer as well as hunt, fish, and raise other animals like sheep and cattle. They live mainly in Scandinavian countries such as Norway, Sweden, and Finland although a smaller number of them live in north-western Russia as well. The lands they live in is sometimes called "Lapland" by non-Sami people, with the Sami being called "Laplanders", although they do not call themselves that name. Today, we are looking over the Sami's mythology(773), various sacred objects and places (778), and their spirits and gods (776). One popular myth of the Sami religion involves the Scandinavian god Thor. Many centuries ago, one group of Sami had adopted this god of Scandinavian myth into their religion although the majority of Sami do not worship Thor or any other Scandinavian deities. This group also changed Thor's name as well, deciding to call him Aijeke. The myth goes that in a cave under Lake Enare, Aijeke lived th...

  The Zulu people are agro-pastoralists that live in the province of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. Their name comes from their word for the sky, "izulu", as they believe the first humans originally lived in the sky. The Zulu's mythology(773), various objects and places that are sacred (778), and their spirits and gods (776). The Zulu mythology states people long ago lives in the sky with their deities. Their creation myth states that all people originally lived in the sky with the gods. However, one man got in trouble for riding the favorite ox of iNkosi, the Zulu sky god or "Lord of the Sky". iNkosi punished the man by cutting a hole in the sky that led down to Earth and throwing the man through the hole. The man was exiled there and had to struggle to survive for a month. Taking pity on the man, iNkosi has the most beautiful woman of the sky go down to Earth and become the man's wife. The two would become the first humans of Earth, according to Zulu tradi...