Spiritual beliefs in the World of Avatar

Spiritual beliefs in the Four Nations is defined mostly through respecting various nature spirits, with the exception of the Air Nomads. Individual nations have regional variations.

Earth Kingdom
Due to its immense size, practices in the Earth Kingdom are likely very diverse: however, almost all share a common cultural thread. Small shrines, temples, monasteries, with some dedicated to Avatars like Kyoshi. The Earth King, because of his divine connection, has several ceremonial temples on his palace grounds, one of which (the Royal Shrine) is forbidden to anyone else. In the past, farmers in the region of the Great Divide used to offer sacrifice to resident Earth Spirits (it is, in fact, a legend that the Divide was carved by these same spirits angry for not receiving proper tribute). Sandbenders have slightly different views of world, shaped by their forbidding home. Much of their mythology concerns the desert and its formation; for example, they believe the Si Wong Rock was dropped from Heaven by the spirits as a display of strength when the people stopped obeying their priests.

Fire Nation
Despite being the only nation with an established clergy, little is known about the Spiritual Beliefs of the Fire Nation. It is possible that since the beginning of the Fire Nation's rampant industrialization, spiritual practices have been purposefully eradicated by the government to make its citizens more obedient to the state (as in the case of Sozin's subjection of the Fire Sages or his idea of hunting dragons, an animal once held to be sacred in the Fire Nation). Today, most upper-class citizens and government and military officials show little care for the Spirit World, as evidenced through Zhao's murder of the Moon Spirit or General Mung's willingness to drive away the Painted Lady with his factory. However, many Fire Nation peasants still carry strong faith in local patron spirits, like the Painted Lady, and often look for them to guidance and intervention in problems; by the same card, many also willingly attribute problems to evil spirits or witches. Reverence for the Avatar is a sticky issue in the Fire Nation; though Roku is still revered, near universal belief in Fire Nation cultural/physical superiority and the animosity towards the current Avatar have left it, for the most part, extinct.

Water Tribe
Due to the seperation between the tribes, the Spiritaul Beliefs of the Water Tribe are difficult to describe. The Northern Water Tribe is the most explained. There is clear reverance of the Moon and Ocean spirits. The legend of the origins of waterbending claim that the Moon spirit was the first waterbender, noticing how it pushed and pulled the waves of the ocean.

Air Nomads
The Air Nomads have Spiritual Beliefs similar to those of traditional monks. Every aspect of life is sacred, and they try not to disturb the earth as best as possible. (Being that Aang is an Air Nomad, and that he is a vegetarian due to the belief that life is sacred and is the shared philosophy of the Air Nomads, it is most likely that all Air Nomads are vegetarians as well.) The Air Nomads had a philosophy of peace, and as a result, did not have a formal military. This lack of a formal military in conjunction with the power lent to Sozin's Armies by the comet were probably contributing factors in the near extinction of the Air Nomads.