Kaharingan, is a folk religion professed by many Dayaks in Kalimantan, Indonesia.

The Dayak indigenous religion has been given the name Kaharingan, and may be said to be a form of animism.

The practice of Kaharingan differs from group to group, but shamans, specialists in ecstatic flight to other spheres, are central to Dayak religion, and serve to bring together the various realms of Heaven ( Upper-world ) and earth, and even Under-world, for example healing the sick by retrieving their souls which are journeying on their way to the Upper-world land of the dead, accompanying and protecting the soul of a dead person on the way to their proper place in the Upper-world, presiding over annual renewal and agricultural regeneration festivals, etc.

Among the non-Balinese communities considered to be Hindu by the government are, for example, the Dayak adherents of the Kaharingan religion in Kalimantan Tengah, where government statistics counted Hindus as 15. 8 % of the population.

A few practise a distinct Dayak form of Kaharingan, known as Liko.

As a result, followers of various native animistic religions such as Dayak Kaharingan have identified themselves as Hindu in order to avoid pressure to convert to Islam or Christianity.

Compared to their counterparts among Javanese Hindus, many Dayak leaders were also more deeply concerned about Balinese efforts to standardize Hindu ritual practice nationally ; fearing a decline of their own unique ' Hindu Kaharingan ' traditions and renewed external domination.

Examples of cultural fusion include the fusion of Islam with Hindu in Javanese Abangan belief, the fusion of Hinduism, Buddhism and animism in Bodha, and the fusion of Hinduism and animism in Kaharingan ; others could be cited.

The word Kaharingan means life, and this belief system includes a concept of a supreme deity — although this may be the result of the need to conform to the idea of " One Supreme God " ( Ketuhanan yang Maha Esa ), which is the first principle of the Indonesian state ideology Pancasila.

The main festival of Kaharingan is the Tiwah festival, which lasts for thirty days, and involves the sacrifice many animals like buffaloes, cows, pigs, and chickens as offerings to the Supreme God.

Shamanic curing or balian is one of the core features of Kaharingan ritual practices.

* Kaharingan entry on adherents. org

These include the Durga ( locally known as Chandi, Narayan, Vishnu ) and many other folk Hindu – animist gods.

In contrast, the abangan tend to be from village backgrounds and absorb both Hindu and Muslim elements, forming a culture of animist and folk traditions.

* New tribalist American author Daniel Quinn identifies himself as an animist and defines animism not as a religious belief but a religion itself, though with no holy scripture, organized institutions, or established dogma.

Twenty-five to thirty percent of the population practises the animist Marapu religion.

In Vodou, an animist, or nature-based religion, the Boum ' ba Maza are a group of powerful spirits or deities known as loa.

Despite Russian efforts at proselytizing in Sarai, the Mongols clung to their traditional animist or shamanist beliefs until Uzbeg Khan ( 1312 – 41 ) adopted Islam as a state religion.

Animism is the native religion of most of the Mon – Khmer and more recent Hmong – Mien and Tibeto-Burman minorities, as well as the traditional religion of the Tais before Buddhism, although some Tai tribes to this day are still animist.

Most Azande traditionally practiced an animist religion, but this has been supplanted to a large extent by Christianity.

* Mo ( religion ), an animist religion of the Zhuang people of China

The majority of Dogon practice an animist religion, including the ancestral spirit Nommo, with its festivals and a sect in which Sirius plays an important part.

It transcends religion, with animist and Christian ethnic groups in Borneo, Flores and Sulawesi playing kulintangan ; and Muslim groups playing the same genre of music in Mindanao, Palawan and the Sulu archipelago.

Although some Derung have converted to Christianity, the vast majority continue to believe in their animist native religion.

Animist beliefs include both animist based festivals and traditions ( such as the Bori cult ), practiced by some syncretic Muslim communities, as opposed to several small communities who maintain their pre-Islamic religion.

Since time immemorial in Australia, indigenous people had performed the rites and rituals of the animist religion of the Dreamtime.

The Biak Numfor culture revolves around their ancient animist religion, although today they are Christian as well.

The Torajas have continued many practices of animist nature, but their conversion to Hinduism has allowed them to keep on their traditions within the framework of an organized religion.

Baka religion is animist ; they worship a forest spirit known as Jengi, also called Djengi or Ejengi, whom they perceive as both a parental figure and guardian.

Outside the animist religion, Christianity and Islam are practiced religions and there are a number of churches and mosques in the area.

Nevertheless, the native animist beliefs were never completely extinguished, and traditional practices have enjoyed a resurgence since 1945, such as the Bwiti religion and, as has a flowering of new styles of music and dance, such as the Bikutsi of the Ewondos.

From the descriptions of the early missionaries, the native religion was animist in nature, in one case presided over by priestesses called Inibs.

This story illustrates the importance of the sky in traditional Bunun animist religion.

Garos are mainly Christians although there are some rural pockets where the traditional animist religion and traditions are still followed.

The 2001 census identified 80. 6 % of the population being the religion of Hinduism and Buddhism was practiced by about 11 % of the population ( although many people labelled Hindu or Buddhist often practice a syncretic blend of Hinduism, Buddhism, and / or animist traditions ).

Since time immemorial in Australia, indigenous people had performed the rites and rituals of the animist religion of the Dreamtime.

The Ilongots, meaning people of the forest, were the fierce headhunters and animist tribes who occupied Carranglan and the mountainous terrain of Sierra Madre and Caraballo.

Traditional beliefs are still strong, however, and large numbers of people still adhere to various animist beliefs, often in tandem with Christian beliefs.

In front of her is a kaffir lime in a bowl of water, a form of divination used to locate lost items or people. In traditional Batak society datuk ( animist priests ) as well as gurus practiced traditional medicine, although the former were exclusively male.

Many Manusela and Nuaulu people of Seram follow Naurus, a syncretism of Hinduism with animist and Protestant elements.

The creation of accurate estimates of the number of Buddhists in Laos is complicated by the paucity of information made available by the Laotian government, and the close connection between Buddhist and animist practices in Laos could make the numbers of nominal adherents of both Buddhism-Animism as much higher as over 90 % because these traditions have influenced on mostly Lao people.