Even though Duckburg is the dominant organized religion in Duckburg, other religions are pictured in a more (or less) positive way. This usually happens when the ducks travel (often exploiting other people's religion), but syncretism does occur in Duckburg too. "The Witching Stick" (US 28-04) is probably the turning point in Donald's relations to non-chrisians religions. After having mocked Scrooge for his belief in dowsing rods, he has to swear: "I'll believe in ANY KIND of witching - even to old ladies riding around on brooms!" You can read about mythology from all around the world at Encyclopedia Mythica.

Islam

Islam is hardly mentioned in the duck stories taking place in Islam dominated areas. "McDuck of Arabia" (US 55-01) mentions Allah, and in "Cave of Ali Baba" (US 37-02), we find references to the belief in (jinns. In this story, and in "Rug Riders in the Sky" (US 50-01) the mythic bird roc is mentioned. And that is about it.

Taboos

Most religions have some things to holy for (ordinary) humans to touch. In the Bible we have the ark of God which was so holy that Uzzah died when he touched it (2. Samuel 6:7). The ducks meet some taboos on their journies. Once they even land on an island called Tabu Yama (in "The black pearls of Tabu Yama", (CID 1-02) - an island to stay away from. This name is probably a remnant of volcano worship. Huey, Dewey and Louie manages to blow the volcano to pieces with the help of "The Junior Woodchuck guide". In the end Scrooge's money god defeats the islands volcano god - he ends up with a pile of black pearls after the mountain has exploded.

Other religions and myths

One story involves a number of gods. It is a good example of the syncretism in Duckburg. The story is "Mythtic Mystery" (US 34-01). A new planet threatens to crush Duckburg, and the ducks arrives at the planet (Valhalla) with the help of the Norse god Thor and strong winds caused by the planet. Gods from all around the world lives on this planet - Greek, Roman and Norse gods, and probably gods from other parts of the world. Towards the end of the story Hercules tells Huey, Dewey and Louie that humans were blown up to Valhalla centuries ago, and gave the inhabitants names according to what gods they believed in (there is no Jahwe or Jesus, btw). I guess the planet must effect the way time works, since we find the gods of the Greek and Romans alongside the gods of the vikings, but the story tells us nothing about this. An alternate explanation is that history in the ducks world is different from history on earth, but this assumes that the ducks do not live on our planet.

Once, in "The Quest for Sampo" (D 99078), Scrooge brings the others ducks to Finland. He wants to get hold of Sampo, a mill that makes flour, salt and gold. Once in Finland, they meet many characters from Kalevala. The visit the underworld and meets wizards and sorceresses (one of them being Magica de Spell).

The ducks travel to Australia on a number of occations. In part VII (D 92314) of "The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck". The aborigine's religion (their belief in dreamtime) plays an important part in this story. You can read more about this story at The $crooge McDuck Page. We also meet the aborigines in "Adventure Down Under" (OS 159-02), but the story is coloured by the Duck's ethnocentrism. Gyro is a religious person. His relationship to Jonah, greek gods and goblins is discussed elsewere. In "The Future Forecaster" (US 16-03) we see that his belief in crystal balls is gone. Gyro responds by making a machine that answers questions about what will happen next. Gyro discovers that the questions are more important that the answers. The machine works, but only answers questions - it does not tell him more important things about the future. While Gyro does not believe in crystal balls, Donald does. This leads to Gladstone Gander's tricking Donald at least twice: In "Trail of the Unicorn" (OS 263-03) he uses a light bulb to get money from Donald, and in "Raffle Shuffle" he tricks Donald to dig for a pearl necklace. (He also uses Donald's belief in astrology in this story)