Kinship is:
- assigning responsibilities to pass on knowledge of the dreaming from elders to the younger generations.
- providing the basis on which aboriginal society is structured on; maintained since the beginning of the Dreaming.
- defining spiritual identity.
- also expressed through Totems which identify one’s kinship line and provide the individual with a direct link to sacred matters. (9)
Date and Time: 06-11-10; 5:30pm
Ceremonial Life
The spiritual core of the Dreaming is recognised and honoured in ceremonial life, including performance of rituals at sacred sites. (7)
Rituals heighten the presence of the Dreaming:
- Link the present world to the Dreamtime.
Art is used to communicate the dreaming:
- By providing maps of the land; clans, sacred sites, water holes etc.
- Used to pass on sacred knowledge.
Stories describe the Aboriginal law and lifestyle:
- Describe how ancestral beings move through land creating nature.
- Provide foundation for Aboriginal existence by explaining creation & sharing how dreaming shapes daily life.
- Used as a form of oral history.
Totems represent individual as they existed in the dreaming:
- Form of animal, plant or natural phenomena
- Links individual and ancestor spirit
- Totems carry ceremonial responsibilities (balance rights) (9)
- Rites of Passage: ceremonies to inform both the individual and society of the new status. Initiations and funerals.
- Social Information: passed from the older to younger generation. Such people are the elders of the future. Changes the custodians of social history.
- Intertribal or totemic group trade: cultural meetings to pass on information, goods and traditions or support personal friendships. These meetings support personal or the group activities.
- Ceremonies maintain the link between the real world and spiritual world. (3)
Initiation Ceremony: teaches young people about the law and the spiritual beliefs. Allow the young person to take their place as an elder and holds the law for the next generation.
Funeral Ceremonies: a rite of passage from living world to the spirit world. Sprinkling of water and smoking the coffin. Family bringing flowers to pay their respects. Usually a wake or memory celebration after the funeral for relatives and friends. Continuation of the ceremony in some tribes is to restrict the naming of the deceased person. (3)
Death is not the end of life for Aboriginal people but the last ceremony in the present life. They believe the spirits of the dead return to the Dreaming places they had come from, part of the eternal transition of the life-force of Dreaming. (4)
'Balance' is important for the hunting ad gathering Aboriginals. In an environment where there as uncertainty about the continuity of essential supplies, the most common of their rituals related to ensuring the continuation of a particular species and so, of their food supplies.
As the spirit of a particular species is thought to inhabit certain sites, it is necessary for the groups who have responsibility for these sites to perform proper rites to ensure that the spirits emerge to give birth and life to species. (4)
Obligations to land and a people:
Aboriginals believe that people were created and related to the natural world which has existed since the beginning of time and that it is therefore the sacred motherland, ‘My Country’.
Ancestral beings dwell in the land and therefore the people have a responsibility to keep and respect the land.
The aboriginal people must be careful not to enter the sacred spaces of other clans. This shows the interconnection that exists between obligation to the land and a people. (9)
Ownership of the land means that they have a responsibility to care for it and nurture it. The land and all the forms of life it contains are regarded as a sacred trust, to be preserved and passed on. Land not only provides food & water, but is also the place of the sacred activities of Dreaming Beings.
A group will have land which they regularly search for food & water. They will be familiar with the important ritual features of all that land. The area of land for which they do have responsibility is their ritual estate. (4)
Date and Time: 08-11-10; 3:30pm
Separation from the land:
With the arrival of European settlement and the forced dispossession of Aboriginal people from the land, Aboriginal Spirituality came under immense stress. Separation from the land had a hugely negative impact on Aboriginals. Their rituals/ceremonies are meaningless and the people become misplaced spiritually and psychologically with no home and no stable base of life.
Separation from their Dreaming meant they had lost their spirituality and totemic identity and
become 'non-beings'. (1)
Removal from this land would then be likely to cause a severe disruption to the normal pattern and processes for handling traditions
Physical presence in the country was important to the people in keeping the lore (stories, songs, dances, art, customs) alive and passing it on. The lore is related land were their shared personal property, perhaps the most important ‘permanent’ and ‘tangible’ constant in their nomadic life. (9)
Separation from kinship groups:
Meant that the aboriginal society lost its point of fixture and every personal affiliation became lamed. One of the main purposes within an Aboriginal person's life; to fulfil their spiritual obligations; a major reason for their very existence was gone. (1)
No longer could they unite with their Dreaming family in ceremonies and rites.
When the kinship system is destroyed it members inevitably suffer from psychological distress such as withdrawal and depression where the individual has suffered a loss of identify this extends to the breaking up of communities and a spirit of solidarity. (9)
The Stolen Generation
Aboriginal children were forcibly removed from homes by government officials to be placed in missions or reserves such as the Cootamundra Girls’ Home between the 1900 and 1970’s as well as being adopted or fostered into white families if the children were ‘half caste’.
- Aboriginal race could be bred out of existence.
- Maltreatment, sexual exploitation and humiliation. (9)
Separation from elders - no generation to pass knowledge, language and traditions to. This results in a loss of identity and self esteem the Aboriginal culture deteriorated.
The young indigenous generation is lost in-between two opposing cultures in a struggle to find balance. The removal of these children from their traditional lands means that they could no longer learn or fulfil their ritual responsibilities.
Separation from family removes the sense of belonging to oneself, removal from oneself removes the concept of what it means to be human. Without family, it is as if Aboriginal people have no map, no way of knowing where they are and who they are or where they should be going and how. (3)
(3)
EVALUATION
In learning about this topic and reading the sources 1,3 and 9, I grew an understanding of the Aboriginal system of their Dreaming such as Kinship and Ceremonial Life. I discovered that this was deeply connected to the land and how significant it is to them to be connected to their land and Dreaming and to fulfil their purpose in life.
I learnt that the dispossession of their land and family/kinship caused a negative effect on all Aboriginal generations and that they lost their sense of purpose in life.
Bibliography
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Bulmer P & Doret K, 2008, Excel Studies of Religion, Vivienne Petris Joannou, Pascal Press.
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Hayward P, Buchanan J, Gerner K & Cheek J, 2003, Macquarie Studies of Religion, Macmillan Education.
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Clark H, 2009, Spotlight Studies of Religion HSC, Science Press.
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Morrissey J, Mudge P, Taylor A, Bailey G & Rule P, 2005, Living Religion, third edition, Pearson Education Australia.
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Korff J, 2010, Aboriginal Indigenous spirituality and beliefs, 6th November 2010, <>
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Yarraga M, 2009, Kinship & Families, Web Design Experts, 6th November 2010, <>
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Wikispaces, 2010, Aboriginal Spirituality, 6th November 2010, <>
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Welch D, 2009, Ceremonial Life, 6th November 2010, <>
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Board Of Studies, 2008, Contemporary Aboriginal Spiritualities, 6th November 2010, <>
- Quote, "The Dreaming means...... we have around us." Merv Penrith, Elder, Wallaga Lake, 1996.
These sources were relevant and valid because the content links with the topic and is accurate with each source being backed up by another. The information relates and contributes to the information from the school textbook and syllabus.
