Religious Syncretism In Indonesia

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Religious syncretism is when two or more religious belief systems are blended or combined into a new system. There are many reasons why religious syncretism happens. One of the most common ways that religious syncretism occurs is when two or more religious systems exist and are actively practiced in the same area. Eventually, the two religions may blend and become one. Religious syncretism may also happen when a conquering culture imposes its religion on the people it has conquered, but the conquering culture is unable to completely convert the individuals or get them to abandon their previous practices. When this occurs the original religion of the group and the religion imposed on them blend to eventually become one.
2. What is gamelan?
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Indonesia has experienced the melting of cultures for thousands of years since it is along important trading routes between the Middle East and Far East Asia. Every culture that has interacted with the Indonesian groups has left a mark on their culture, producing a mix of cultural norms, ideas, and religions. One factor that has allowed so many distinct groups to maintain their cultures in the fact that these cultures developed and grew on islands, which cuts down the amount of interaction that a culture has with others. Another factor that allowed so many distinct groups to maintain their culture is that although interaction still occurred, it was much less frequent than if the cultures lived right beside one another. Also, because the cultural groups think of themselves with a local identity over a national identity this allows the groups to hold on to their customs and beliefs more …show more content…
Some people suggest that the Austronesians originated in Taiwan between 10,000 and 6,000 BC. As the population of the Austronesians grew, it began to populate new areas between 5,000 and 2,500 BC. Over the following thousand years, the Austronesians populated that Pacific Ocean, island by island. They islands they populated include Borneo, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Polynesia. The Austronesians are related to Indonesia because the indigenous groups in Indonesia mainly descended from them. The Austronesians who settled in Indonesia were still influenced by other cultures as they trading with the mainland and discovered religions, such as Hinduism, Islam, and Buddhism. The Austronesians developed different cultures among the different islands that make up Indonesia. The Austonesian people in Indonesia started to trade with other cultures centuries ago. This brought new religions to the islands. Overall, the Austronesians are related to Indonesia because they are the people who lived in Indonesia long ago and developed many different cultures among the islands. The indigenous groups in Indonesia descended from the

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