In the first part we discussed 5 forgotten religions; here are 5 more which completes the list of 10 forgotten religions of the world.
Manichaeism-
This religion was born around the 3rd century AD and at first, was thought to be a Christian sect, but then it got recognized as a different religion. A Persian man named Mani was the founder of Manichaeism. His vision was to merge all the religions of the world into one. Manichaeans believed that the achievement of salvation can only be done through an advanced form of knowledge. The “Elect” was the highest disciple of this religion and lived like Buddhist monks but had to be from a nomadic origin. This religion lost its way during the middle ages. The creation story of this religion describes a war between the World of Darkness and the World of Light. While maximum manuscripts have been lost, few were found by the archeologists, showing the true nature of Manichaeism.
Time- 3rd Century AD
Minoan religion-
The Minoan people living on the island of Crete gave birth to this polytheistic religion. The unique thing of this religion is the dependency on nature. Few traditions of Minoan religion, like hosting contests resemble many modern-day traditions. Being one of the ancient religions, the Minoan religion also didn’t have any centralized texts. All the evidences of this religion have been gathered from the cave paintings and other archeological discoveries. The Minoan people use to praise a goddess making it different from all the other patriarchal religions of those times. Evidences say that human sacrifices were also a tradition.
Time- Bronze age
Atenism-
This was the official religion of Egypt during the reign of Pharaoh Akhenaten. Aten was another name of the Egyptian sun god. Though at first other Egyptian deities were accepted in this religion, later on, they were all rejected and Atenism was established as a monotheistic religion. It was a very restrictive natured religion, saying that only the Pharaoh can talk to Aten. Due to this many Egyptians continued their old beliefs; hence transition was easier after Akhenaten’s death. Archeological discoveries show the obsession Akhenaten had for this religion, mainly after the death of his wife Queen Nefertiti.
Time- 14th Century BC
Canaanite religion-
Between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, lived the Canaanite people. They were the founder of this religion. The only evidence we had for thousands of years was the mention of Canaanite religion in the Torah and Bible as an arch-nemesis of the Israelites. But history changed its course when tablets were discovered on the northern coast of Syria between 1927 to 1937. This was also a polytheistic religion with El as the main deity and Baal the god of rain and thunder, his son. This religion vanished when it came to Israelite pressure and conquests.
Time- Bronze age
Finish Paganism-
Before Finland was Christianized, Finnish Paganism was the main religion, which was polytheistic. Few features had a resemblance to Shamanism like venerating with other religions. The Finns used to believe the presence of soul in every mobile and immobile objects. These were very close to nature and thought that the earth was created from the egg of a divine duck (I think they can answer what came first, the chicken or the egg?)
Ukko, the god of thunder and sky was the main deity and his feast day used to be on April 4th. The sacred animal of Ukko was believed to be the ladybug and hence was known as “Ukko’s cow.”
Time- Not known definitively
These forgotten religions show us how it’s not a god that made religions but us the humans did. In ancient times things that were not easy to explain became the word of god and this tradition has spread to our modern beliefs too. But while these have been discovered there are chances that millions are still hidden among the bruised pages of history.
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