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Aboriginals belong to a place, an area of land in Australia where their totemic ancestors were born, lived, and died. 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. Aboriginals sang their country; and, performed ceremonies for their country, using ochre depictions of the Dreaming images. Corroboree Ceremonies were performed by Aboriginal Australians for their country. Ritual ceremonies were performed at sacred sites which told the Dreamtime lore connected with the belonging place. These ritualized Corroboree Ceremonies were dramatic reenactments through song and dance of the tribal history. Traditional music, song, and dance were a vital and powerful part of these sacred ceremonies.
There were different types
of rituals that fulfilled various purposes. There were non-secret ceremonies
around campfires where one group of men chanted songs while another group of men
whose bodies were decorated with sacred symbols enacted legendary occurrences
through dance movements before men, women, children, and Elders.
There were rituals in which only men or only women could participate. For instance, only the male Shamanic initiates were permitted to listen to the resonance made by a sacred men's instrument called the Bullroarer. Made from a flat piece of wood with a long plant string attached to one end, the Bullroarer, made a low, deep sound when it was whirled round and round the body that was the voice of Biami, the creator all father, communicating with men. Women were forbidden to listen to this highly sacred instrument used in men's initiatic rites. There were also ceremonies for youths wrapped in secrecy, where women and adult men were not allowed. After decorating their bodies with their totemic symbols, the young men used dance movements to express their totemic Dreamtime. It was an important step for the youths in integrating their tribal law and lore. Both Storytelling and Song often accompanied by dance movements have been a central element of Aboriginal Australian life since the beginning of time. The Aboriginal Australians performed their ritual obligations to the land by singing for the country the songs of the Dreamtime, often accompanied by dance, and sometimes sand drawings...Continue on
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