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The Aboriginal Australians live in a world of Sacred Dance, Dreaming Tracks and Storytelling. For the Aboriginals of Australia, spirituality and the sacred is deeply rooted in the landscape and in their relationship to the environment which sustains them. Aboriginals belong to a place, an area of land in Australia where their totemic ancestors were born, lived, and died. Dreaming Tracks delineate the area of land created by the Ancestral Spirits where a tribe was created, their belonging place. This "belonging place" was the territory of land created for their kin group, their clan, and their tribe during the Dreamtime. The sacred symbols of these totemic bloodlines were implanted in the Dreaming stories used by the Elders to teach the wisdom of the ancestors to each new generation. Storytelling and symbolic mythos plays an important and an integral role in everyday Aboriginal Australia life. It is used to educate children about Aboriginal Australia cultural heritage; to pass on knowledge about Creation, ancestral beings, and places, and, how the land, plants, animals, and humans came into being; to explain Aboriginal Australia spirituality and laws; and to pass on information about the boundaries of tribal lands.
Ritual ceremonies
are performed at Sacred Sites which tell the Dreamtime lore connected with the
place. Aboriginals sing their country; and, perform ceremonies for their
country, using ochre depictions of the Dreaming images.
Although the overall themes are the same, Dreaming stories vary throughout Aboriginal Australia. For instance, the story of how birds got their colors in Western Australia is different from the story of how birds got their colors in New South Wales. Today, in order to preserve the stories, the custodians are spreading the stories as widely as possible so the children can retain their belongingness and connectedness to the sacred world. Traditionally these stories have been passed down by the Elders through song and dance usually around campfires. Complex community and kinship patterns determine the ownership of Dreaming Stories; and, ancient initiatic rite and law protects the conveyance of the ceremonial knowledge and wisdom. Paintings of story images and symbols on natural canvases such as rocks depicting tracks, waterholes, stars, rivers, hills, sacred sites, and ceremonial activity can only be done by those authorized by tribal law to do so. Storytelling and Song often accompanied by dance movements have been a central element of Aboriginal Australian life since the beginning of time. There are songs for every event including: hunting, funerals, seasons, animals, and landscapes. Traditional music, song, and dance were a vital and powerful part of sacred ceremonies. Corroborees are symbolic dramatic reenactments through song and dance of the tribal history. There are different types of rituals that fulfill various purposes. There are non-secret ceremonies around campfires where one group of men will chant songs while another group of men whose bodies are decorated with sacred symbols will enact legendary occurrences through dance movements before men, women, children, and Elders. There are also ceremonies for youths wrapped in secrecy, where women and adult men are not allowed. After decorating their bodies with their totemic symbols, the young men use dance movements to express their totemic Dreamtime. It is an important step for the youths in integrating their tribal law and lore... Continue on
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