A General Order of Mounds

An areal photo of a group of effigy mounds found in the Effigy Mount National Monument area.

Q: "Explain how these mounds reflect the 'system of symbols' in Geertz's definition of religion. Another way to think about this would be to ask how effigy mounds 'formulate conceptions of a general order of existence.'"
Geertz's definition of religion: "A system of symbols which acts to establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations in men by formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic."


A: As a sort of disclaimer, we will never truly know the reasons and thoughts behind the construction of effigy mounds. That being said, I am of the opinion that they were more than burial sights or art work. I take this position from looking at other ancient earth-based religions and spiritualities, in particular the ancient Irish idea and importance of the three realms of Sky, Land, and Sea, which correlate with categories (or "realms," as the book puts it) that the effigies are put into: air, earth, and water. These sorts of similarities bring me to firmly believe that these mounds (and their depictions) should be thought of in the realms of both spiritually and religiously relevance.


I doubt that we can ever fully know what these symbols mean spiritually, but my guess as far as religious symbols would be that these mounds represented the needs or traits of the tribe who built them. For example, think of how in some places there would be a number of bird mounds, but then one or two bears or snakes built as well. It seems sort of like an equation, doesn't it? Perhaps they were trying to draw in the power of "air" or "bird," but needed to balance it out with "earth" or "water." Or, maybe, as the book mentioned, it had to do with the status of the tribe. Maybe a surplus of bird mounds represented a warrior clan. In either of these ways, I think the symbols could (and would, if these hypotheses were proven true) provide a common mindset among those who made them, and certainly show some sort of uniformity. 

A magnificent serpent in Ohio.

As I mentioned earlier, I believe that there is something deeply spiritually about these mounds, even if they also served more "practical" purposes, such as burial spaces or status symbols. From this perspective, it's easy to see how the regularity in the spread and use of the effigies could "establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods" among tribes and their people.