SOR - Contemporary Aborigional Spiritualities

• What are 5 parts of Aboriginal spirituality

  1. Dreaming outlines law

  2. Oral traditions

  3. Totemic relationships

  4. Land and how it is inextricably bound to a person

  5. Time and events of the creation
• Aboriginal Spirituality is the foundation of culture and community
• Aboriginal belief systems guide their morals, values, traditions and customs to ensure a healthy and balanced relationship with the world around them
• Kinship


  Identified through the Dreaming, plays an essential role in Aboriginal spirituality
• Every single person is related to everyone and everything else; kinship is law, it outlines the right way to live
• Foundations of kinship in Aboriginal communities


  • Moiety
  • Totems
  • Skin Names
• Moiety


  A system whereby everything is considered a half of a whole, and therefore is a mirror of the other
• Totems


  An individual will hold at least four Totems representing their nation, clan, family group and personal totem
• Skin Names


  Indicate a person's blood line, demonstrate how generations are linked and how they should relate
• Things kinship systems determine


  • Who you must share food with
  • Who you can marry
  • Who you are to avoid
  • Who you are allowed to joke with
  • Who has responsibility to educate you
  • Who you are to look after
  • Who will look after you
• Kinship is connected to the Dreaming as that is when they were born/created
• Kinship systems show exactly how a person is linked to the land through, the animals, plants, songs, rituals, art, stories and the Law as laid down in the Dreaming
• Ceremonial life


  Part of Aboriginal people's belief system, shows what they believe in is a part of everyday life
• Reasons for ceremonies


  • Nature
  • Creation
  • For people in the world at that moment
• Examples of ceremonies


  • Smoking ceremonies, for cleansing and healing
  • Welcome to country
  • Initiation
  • Increase rituals ensuring the vitality of natural species and phenomenon
  • Marriage and death rituals and ceremonies
• 4 kinds of ceremonies

  • Rites of passage
  • Social information
  • Personal connections
  • Spiritual connections
• Ceremonial life allows an individual to be connected to the land, people and Dreaming
• Land is understood within the wider framework of kinship - something that they are related to and have an obligation to care for
• Aboriginal identity is inextricably connected to the Land, and to their Ancestral Beings
• Rituals and ceremonies are performed on sacred sites (which are on the land), and serve as a meeting point between Aboriginal people and the Dreaming
• Aboriginal people consider themselves caretakers of the land, as it is in their best interests to maintain and preserve nature
• Totemic systems dictate what can be eaten by certain groups as well as who cares for what and who informs who about their certain pieces of cultural knowledge
• Cultural knowledge is passed down through each generation and reinforces the obligation to the land and people
• Outline 2 effects of dispossession on Aboriginal spiritualitiesregarding

  1. Separation from the land

  2. Separation from kinship groups
• Removal of Indigenous peoples from their land has been a process that has been going on since the arrival of European settlers in 1606
• Short term impacts of separation from land


  • Lost access to land which itself had strong connection to Aboriginal peoples
  • New diseases introduced, such as smallpox, leading to massive death rates
  • Conflict with colonizers
  • Major health decline
• Long term impacts of separation from land


  • Loss of identity, e.g. totems
  • Lost the cultural frame of a healthy Australia in the eyes of Aboriginal peoples
  • Population was ultimately reduced and has stayed this way
  • Lost their land
  • Knowledge of the land was ignored
• Separation from land directly resulted in loss of spiritual identity
• Separation from kinship groups destroyed thousands of years of tradition, relationships and culture
• Aboriginal youth were not able to learn their traditional stories and beliefs
• Many languages were lost or severely restricted in their use
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples lost their sense of identity and belonging, not only to the land, but also to each other
• Many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people grew up not knowing about their heritage
• Aboriginal peoples were denied their own language and the Dreaming couldn't be passed down
• There was a disconnection of daily cultural practice
• This created generational trauma
• Separation from the land and removal from kinship groups destroyed thousands of years of tradition, relationships and culture
• Ceremonies related to kinship were not enacted and so were lost
• The place and role of tribal elders were undermined, and much cultural information regarding kinship obligations and taboos was also lost
• These impacts led to generational trauma that has been passed down through many generations