Tx̣ex̣uq

Tẋeẋuq (also known as Ngunism or Dze Shamanism) is a set of closely related ethnic Dze beliefs and traditions that descend from a common spiritual ancestor centered around the Ŋuŋnyyŋ, ethereal representations of concepts and personifications of the universe and all of its aspects.

A polytheistic religion, it has prevailed as one of the main unifying factors of the Dze species and has been a constantly evolving concept since the first recorded traditions, dating to over 40,000 years ago, and has been the prevailing religion of all Dze political entities and, more recently, of a small collection of human groups and states. According to Dze theologians the nature of the religion shifted throughout the years, starting as a monotheistic concept that later evolved into polytheism sometime before the Late Dze Neolithic Collapse.

The term itself has been equated to religion, but it can just as well mean belief or thought. The Ŋuŋ themselves are viewed more as abstract concepts and entities than personified tangible deities.

Terminology

The word Tẋeẋuq (Old Dze pronounciation: ['tχeχuq]) and related terms are a combination of tẋe "high, holy" and ẋuq "belief". The word has been found in several archaic texts where it refers to the collection of religious traditions followed by the Dze.

The terms Ngunism and Dze Shamanism have been coined in recent years, specifically by theologian Divyani Ghoshal from Santi Rasta, as a way to convey the more broad concept of Dze religion, rather than the original term which is both more vague etymologically and harder to pronounce for non-Dze.