The Religions of Pre-Columbian America

Abstract

This essay examines the religious life of the inhabitants of Pre-Columbian America, that is of Central and South America, up until the 16th century. The method used is the phenomenological method of concentric circles. The body of this research paper constitutes an analysis of holy cities, holy men - shamans - and the mythology of a people. The holy cities of Teotihuacan, Tikal, Chichen Itza and Cuzco are a manifestation of the link between architecture and the principles astronomy and sacral art. Ancient American societies all had their shamans – holy men who had the ability to travel to «the other world» by means of ecstatic shamanic technics. The final chapter discusses Pre-Columbian America's world of mythology which explains the creation of the universe and of man in Central American and South American mythology.