By Sarah Schoch, Craig Vincent, Lexi Rudolph, and Nathan Straughan Australia International Internet Project Your Logo

Your own sub headline Templates 4 4 Sacred Texts 1 1 History of Aborginial Religion History of Aborginial Religion 2 2 Basic Beliefs and Customs 3 3 Geographical Influence on Religion

History of the Aboriginal Religion Outline The Beginning Progression of the Race European Settlement

 Aboriginal ◦ First or earliest known  Indigenous ◦ Another term for Aboriginal

 World’s most primitive culture  Entered continent from south Asia  7 million - 40,000 years ago ◦ “Traditional” period  40,000 years ago ◦ First evidence of culture

 Australian continent isolated  Life developed: ◦ Differently ◦ Slowly ◦ Peacefully

 Developed different way of living  Productive and without need of improvement  “Primitive”

 Managed reproduction of plants and animals  Controlled underbrush growth using controlled fires

 Time period of change varied: ◦ Sydney and Parramatta ◦ Cowpastures area - early 1800’s ◦ Illawarra district  “Historical Period”

 Forced a change in living  Much like Native Americans  Encroached on land and destroyed homes and villages

 Remaining tribes moved to reserves and missions  “Managed” by Europeans  Management lasted for decades ◦ Many aborigines today do not know origins

Your own sub headline Templates 4 4 Sacred Texts 1 1 History of Aborginial Religion 2 2 Basic Beliefs and Customs 3 3 Geographical Influence on Religion

 Relationship between man and nature  Songs and stories  Dreamtime Myths  Different tribes, same fundamental beliefs

“I am a child of the Dreamtime People Part of this Land, like the gnarled gumtree I am the river, softly singing Chanting our songs on my way to the sea My spirit is the dust-devils Mirages, that dance on the plain, I’m the snow, the wind and the falling rain I’m part of the rocks and the red desert earth Red as the blood that flows in my veins I am eagle, crow and snake that glides Thorough the rain-forest that clings to the mountainside I awakened here when the earth was new There was emu, wombat, kangaroo No other man of a different hue I am this land And this land is me I am Australia” Not actual dreams Creation process—ancestors traveled Earth Totems/ancestors Images of wisdom Specific dreaming

Biami:  God-like creator  Made land, mountains, rivers, living things  Went back into sky

 Different Names  Supreme being  Creator  Watches over  Wiradjuri People  Rainbow Serpent

 Physical pain for dead  “Sky Camp”  Based off of Dreamtime  Djanggau Sisters  Inquiry

 Inner Spirit born again  Transmigration  Fundamental belief for all tribes  Some believed would go to a Heaven after Reincarnation

 Strict moral code  Ceremonies to carry on culture  Coroborees Ritual

 Religion v. Spirituality  Dreamtime  Superstition  Animal and Evil Spirits  Body and Spirit—all things  Ancestral heroes—Mt. Ranges  Spirits were supernatural being— blamed for what occurred

 Sacred pile of rocks  Will to increase  Head of family journeys to shrine  Sickness isolation, not tarlow

 Superstitious by nature  Pointing of the bone  “cured of sickness”

 Male initiation rituals  Pain endurance  No initiation for females  Began at early age/puberty

 Respect Elders  “the facts and stories about a particular subject or topic”  For entering other tribes  Welcome rituals

 Express each person’s artistic ability  Pictures of spirits

 Ritual death and resurrection  Abduction by powerful beings  Body parts rearranged  Aerial ascents journeys  Transformation

 Long lasting culture  “Dreamtime”  Art, Song, and Dance  A lost culture

 Culture survived through many others  Before Egyptians built pyramids  While Greeks built the Pantheon  While Britain ruled Roman Empire  Existed more than 40,000 years ago

 Time before creation  Man rose from earth, water, and sky  Some rose to form nature  No superiority; equality with nature

 All forms of culture involved religion  Songs reflect “Dreamtime”  Dance and artwork tell stories of land and tradition

 Includes  Bark and Rock paintings  Baskets and beadwork  Sculptures

 Instruments made of wood  Most famous instrument associated with aborigines  Five feet long and produces low, vibrating hum  Used in ceremonies like at sunsets, circumcisions, and funerals

 Europeans settled in Australia in 1788  Took over land  1880’s - tribes assimilated to one area  Disease killed many tribes and cultures with them  Traditions have geographic connection but many traditions have been forgotten

Your own sub headline Templates 4 4 Sacred Texts 2 2 Basic Beliefs and Culture 3 3 Geographical Influence on Religion

Fundamentals  Themes of Aboriginal religion are centered around nature. Especially the animals and landscape  Believed physical landmarks (i.e a mountain) was their creator  Most religious ceremonies occurred around or on this landmark  Holy Grounds are called Bora Ground and are marked by 2 circles raised in the earth  Many ceremonies were to ensure that there were enough plant and animal resources.

Fundamentals Cont.  Many traditions are centered around harvesting crops which is difficult because of the lack of water.  Totems: Items in the natural world which can be paralleled into the social world.  Tribes picked totems to represent them  Rooted in the animal diversity in Australia, many animals ferocious or docile were used a totems.

Rainbow Serpent  The dry plains of Australia influenced the Religious ideology of the rainbow serpent.  It brings rain to the people only when they have done things to please him.  A centerpiece of the religion because of the immense necessity for rain.

Interpretive Dance  Aborigines employ interpretive dance in their ceremonies to remind them of the connection between themselves, nature, and the land.

Your own sub headline Templates 4 4 Sacred Texts 3 3 Geographical Influence on Religion

Sacred texts are among the aspects of indigenous spiritual ecology which evidence the tendencies among many if not most indigenes to think, feel, and live in unity with nature as the sacred. They emphasize kinship, interdependence, and reciprocity with nature as well as care, respect, and reverence for nature. All beings and things are seen as a sacred community and are involved in communication spiritually.

American Indians believe that breath and language represent the most tangible expression of the spirit in all living things. Language is an expression of the spirit because it contains the power to move people and to express human thought and feeling. It is the breath, along with water and thought, that connects all living things in direct relationship. The interrelationship of water, thought (wind), and breath personifies the elemental relationship from that place of the Center where all things are created.

[I]t’s not only the Indians that sing the song at the Winter Dance. It’s all over the world. All nations, they all have a song. That’s what my people say. When you’re a baby the first thing you do is learn to hum, to make a little noise. That’s what they call a song. Each nation in their own language in their own way have a song. Clear ’round the world [the centering tree] in all the four directions... don’t matter what nation it is. The world has a song. The rivers, the creeks, the winds, the trees, everything has a whispering sound.

There are two very different religious philosophies on this Continent. One is the aggregate of the centralized, hierarchical world religions and the other rigid schools of thought, including Indian religion. The other is the philosophy and world-view of the Ahnishinahbae � t jibway and other Aboriginal Indigenous people. The Ahnishinahbae � t jibway Mid � is a way of living in harmony and community; a facilitation of each person’s Sovereign relationship with Grandmother Earth, with Grandfather Mid �, with the Circle of Life which encompasses us, and with the Great Mysteries of the Universe. The Mid � is experienced, it is directly connected to Grandmother Earth; they are married. This is where we come from. 3 3

Sources Basic Beliefs/Rituals: – – –

THANK YOU! Your Logo