Aboriginal Spirituality

as Determined by the
Dreaming
Discuss how Aboriginal spirituality is determined by the Dreaming
-

- kinship
- ceremonial life
obligations to the land and people

The Dreaming

The Dreaming is at the CENTRE of aboriginal spirituality/ life - living religion

The Dreaming is a term referring to Aboriginal spiritual beliefs about creation and existence.
According to Aboriginal belief, all life as it is today - human, animal and plant is part of one vast
unchanging network of relationships which can be traced to the ancestral spirit beings of the
Dreaming.

The Dreaming includes an explanation of the origins of the universe, that is, how the world
came into being as a result of the actions of ancestral spirit beings upon the land. These
ancestral beings could be found in the form of animals, plants, humans or part humans. They
determined the rules by which all living creatures should live by.

The Dreaming is inextricably connected to the land, as the land is the physical medium through
which the Dreaming is communicated, since it is within the land that the ancestor spirits of the
Dreaming continue to dwell. The Dreaming incorporates the past, present and future reality as a
complete and present reality.

Dreamtime story

Kinship

Kinship ties identify a network of relationships and responsibilities within a clan. All
relationships interlink and overlap

It is based not only on familial relations but also on relationships springing from
one's totem, usually a plant or animal, which represents a person or group's
connection to the ancestor beings within the land.

Kinship ties govern the day to day life of the Aboriginal people by determining
issues from whom an individual is permitted to talk to and marry, to determining
what are an individual's responsibility is to other members in the clan.

Kinship ties also assign the responsibility to transmit the knowledge of the Dreaming
from elders to the younger generation. People are initiated into the Dreaming by
different degrees according to their age and position in the community.

Ceremonial Life
(Initiation & funerals - rituals, art, stories)

Initiation & Funerals - Rituals:

A ceremony is not simply a retelling of the story but rather they represent the
reliving of the story in a powerfully sacred way.

The ancestral beings are made present through the people, objects, words and
movements of the ritual.

An example of an action used in traditional ritual is the smoking ceremony in which

smoke is used to cleanse and heal. Smoking rituals can be used symbolically at
public events but other traditional uses include the use of smoking ceremonies
during pregnancies.

Ceremonial Life cont.

(Initiation & funerals - rituals, art, stories)

Initiation & Funerals - Rituals:

Initiation is the Aboriginal ritual ceremony or religious rite of passage denoting the
transition from childhood to adulthood.

Male and female initiation practices differ.

Funeral ceremonies are the most important ceremony to Aboriginals.

Art:

Art illustrates the actions of the ancestral spirit beings in the land.

Paintings offer an aerial representation of the land and its inhabitants, using certain
symbols to represent particular features of the land, plants and animals. At a deeper
level, paintings offer a narrative representation of the activities of an ancestor spirit
upon the land.

Aboriginal Artworks

Ceremonial Life cont.

(Initiation & funerals - rituals, art, stories)

Stories:

The Dreaming is primarily expressed through stories that describe how the ancestral
spirits, often in the form of animals or people, moved through the land creating
rivers, lakes and mountains and other natural phenomena.

Their conflicts and other interactions provide a foundation and explanation of

various aspects of Aboriginal tradition and law, by explaining the creation of the
natural world and how the Dreaming shapes the day-to-day life of people and
animals.

Learning the stories of the Dreaming, a life-long process, is an important tool for
the socialization of Aboriginal children as it is a major way of teaching Aboriginal
children about right and wrong behaviour in society.

Obligations to the land & people

The land is of paramount importance to Aboriginal spirituality.

Aboriginal people have traditionally regarded the land as their mother and hence
have worked to deepen their understanding and appreciation of the land.

The Dreaming is inextricably connected to the land, as the land is the physical
medium through which the Dreaming is lived and communicated. The land provides
the foundation for Aboriginal beliefs, traditions, rituals and laws because the stories
of the Dreaming are embedded in the land. The land acts as a dwelling place for
ancestral spirit beings.

Since the land is revered as a mother of the people, the identity of an Aboriginal
person is inextricably linked to the land. At the commencement of many formal
public events in Australia an acknowledgement of the traditional owners of the land
indicates this significant link between the indigenous people and the areas in which
they have lived for thousands of years.

Totems:

Totems are the embodiment of each individual in his or her primordial state. In
other words, totems represent that person, as they existed in the Dreaming,
whether it is in the form of an animal, plant or natural phenomena.

They are thus links between an individual or community and particular ancestor
spirits in the land. Totems carry with them,ceremonial responsibilities commonly
known as balance rites.

Balance rites aim to assist the proliferation of a particular species, which embody an
individual's ancestral spirit being as they existed in the Dreaming. For example,
suppose that in the Dreaming, people in a particular tribe were part echidna and
part human. As a result, this tribe would have important ritualistic responsibilities
towards echidnas, as this animal represents the embodiment of their ancestral spirit
being.

Men of the Yirritja moiety, painted

with red ochre and white clay,
emerge from the secret ground and
perform the dance associated with
the Catfish totem, with light steps,
hopping on each leg; this is followed
by the Bandicoot totem dance, where
they sit on their haunches, moving
forward. The men and boys are
painted up in their respective moiety
designs and emerge running,
dancing in two lines towards each
other; first dancers of the Dua moiety,
followed by those of the Yirritja with
very distinctive body decorations. In
Numbulwar, an Aboriginal
community, Northern Territory,
Australia.

ACTIVITY HANDOUT LINKED HERE