Asia is the largest continent and home to a wide spectrum of Indigenous religious traditions. Many of these are shamanic, animistic, and ancestor-focused, existing long before the rise of the organized Eastern religions. Some remain vibrant today, while others survive only in fragmentary form alongside Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, and Islam.
Siberia and Central Asia
- Siberian Shamanism (Evenki, Buryat, Yakut, Nenets, Chukchi)
- Shamans (tengeri, böö) mediate with sky, earth, and underworld spirits.
- Drum and trance journeys central to healing and divination.
- Turkic and Mongolic Traditions
- Tengrism – sky-god Tengri, sacred mountains, ancestor cults, shaman-khans.
- Fire, horse, and ancestor rituals integrated into later Mongol empire practices.
South Asia (Pre-Vedic and Tribal Traditions)
- Adivasi Religions (India’s Indigenous Peoples)
- Santhal, Munda, Gond, Bhil, Oraon, and many others.
- Nature deities, village guardian spirits, ancestor shrines.
- Festivals tied to agriculture and seasonal cycles.
- Pre-Vedic Dravidian Cults
- Snake worship, fertility goddesses, sacred groves.
- Survivals absorbed into modern Hinduism.
Himalayan and Tibetan Traditions
- Bön (Tibet, pre-Buddhist)
- Mountain, sky, and water spirits; shamanic rituals.
- Exorcism, divination, and healing ceremonies still practiced.
- Nepalese and Bhutanese Indigenous Faiths
- Kirat (Rai, Limbu) with ancestor worship and nature deities.
- Shamanic healers (jhankri) mediate between humans and spirits.
East Asia
- Chinese Folk Religion
- Worship of Heaven (Tian), earth spirits, city gods, kitchen god.
- Ancestor rites forming the core of family piety.
- Spirit mediums, feng shui, and temple festivals.
- Korean Shamanism (Muism)
- Mudang shamans perform kut rituals for healing, prosperity, spirit appeasement.
- Mountain and nature spirits central.
- Japanese Indigenous Religion (before codified Shinto)
- Local kami (spirits), clan-based rituals, sacred groves and shrines.
- Later formalized into Shinto under state structures.
Southeast Asia
- Mainland Southeast Asia (Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam)
- Nat spirits (Burma/Myanmar) – tutelary beings honored alongside Buddhism.
- Phi spirits (Thailand/Laos) – household, forest, and guardian spirits.
- Village cults of rice and fertility.
- Indonesia and the Philippines
- Dayak (Borneo), Toraja (Sulawesi), Batak (Sumatra) – ancestor houses, spirit journeys, ritual sacrifice.
- Tagalog, Visayan, Ifugao (Philippines) – anito ancestor spirits, diwata nature beings.
- Priestesses (babaylan) and ritual specialists central in pre-colonial times.
Cross-Cutting Patterns
- Shamanism and Mediumship – drum, trance, possession as universal forms.
- Ancestor Veneration – family and clan rituals as religious core.
- Nature Spirits – forests, mountains, rivers, animals as sacred.
- Syncretism – survival within Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, and Islam.
- Sacred Kingship – rulers often seen as divine mediators (Mongol khans, Southeast Asian god-kings).