Title: Australian Aboriginal Religion

1. Title: Australian Aboriginal Religion LO’s: Identify and explain features of Australian aboriginal religion, including the Dreaming, totems, rituals and myths, and initiation.

2. Starter Quiz: Which Region? • I for Indonesia, M for Melanesia 1) Strong influences from India 2) Influenced by European beliefs, as they saw power essentially as a religious matter. 3) Their motto –Unity in Diversity- reflects its efforts to build a modern developed nation out of diverse religious and ethnic groups 4) Central belief in ancestor-spirits who by drawing upon supernatural powers can bring good or evil to their living descendants. 5) Magic is widely practiced. Through divination, the living commonly seek out the spirits of the recently dead, in order to discover why their deaths occurred. 6) Rituals accompany planting, growth, ripening, harvesting and storing.

3. Belief in something above humans but below supreme being Cult or worship is directed to spirits, ancestors or God Moral code – handed down by generations, sanctioned by spirits, ancestors and occasionally God Strong sense of the sacred Aspects of Indigenous Religion Traditional Religions don’t lay claim to revealed books. Rare they trace themselves back to a founder. Negative elements: inadequate ideas about God, superstition, fear of spirits Attention to the earth. They respect life and celebrate birth, entrance to adulthood, marriage, death. Strong sense of family, love of children, respect for elders. A love for ritual

4. Aboriginal Religion Key points • Aborigines are the indigenous people of Australia • Organised into separate tribes, 40 distinct languages • No temples, gods, priests or sacrifices • ‘Dreaming’ is basis of all Aboriginal religion

5. Dreaming • World was formless • In past ancestors roamed the earth • The ancestors shaped the earth and created life forms, including humans • When finished the ancestors departed the earth leaving behind signs & symbols of their presence (paintings, natural landmarks)

6. The time the ancestors were on earth was called “The Dreaming”. • This period lives on because the spiritual sense the ancestors remain in the signs and symbols • Sacred sites associated with landscape features, only a few allowed to enter • They re-enact the mythic events of the Dreaming & gain great spiritual power

7. Rituals and Myths Human Beings Ceremonial performance, song and dance Continual nourishment and renew human life and the natural world Connection with an Ancestor and the power of the Ancestor flows through humans and the environment Links with the sacred power of the Dreaming are experienced

8. Key features continued • Totems :Each Aborigine becomes a living representation of an Ancestor and symbolised by a Totem • Taboo: Only certain people are allowed to come into contact with sacred objects or participate in certain actions • Initiation: • Introduces adolescent boys and girls as adults (10-16yrs) • Only those physically and mentally worthy are initiated • Bodies painted, tooth removed or piercing, or flesh cut. Finally circumcised • Only at this time is the spirit of the ancestor they represent awakened • Education about the dreaming at this time

9. The Rainbow Serpent