The Religious World

    Beliefs:

 “Aboriginal spirituality is so incredibly diverse”, meaning there is not one Aboriginally Spirituality, but many. However, the centre of all Aboriginal religions and life is Dreaming. ‘Dreaming’ cannot be expressed in the English language. Mudrooroo, an Aboriginal writer said ‘Our spirituality is a oneness and an interconnectedness with all that lives and breathes, even with all that does not live or breathe.’

They have a deep connection with the land. They have an obligation to look after their land, which has been law that has been passed down for many years. They best way to describe Indigenous peoples spiritual connection to their land is found in a publication of the ATSIC, ‘We don't own the land, the land owns us. The land is my mother, my mother is the land. Land is the starting point to where it all began. It's like picking up a piece of dirt and saying this is where I started and this is where I'll go. The land is our food, our culture, our spirit and identity.’ 

‘Aboriginal spirituality is the belief that all objects are living and share the same soul or spirit that Aboriginals share’, this is said by Eddie Kneebone, an Aboriginal Reconciliation campaigner and painter.

This means that the Aboriginal person’s soul or spirit is believed to “continue on after our physical form has passed through death”.

After the death of an Aboriginal person their spirit returns to the Dreamtime from where it will return through birth as a human, an animal, a plant or a rock. The shape is not important because each form shares the same soul or spirit from the Dreamtime. After their death, their spirit returns to the Dreamtime from where it will return through birth as a human, an animal, a plant or a rock. However, the shape has no relevance as each form shares the same soul or spirit from the Dreamtime.

 

Myths & Other Stories:

Bill Neidjie , a Kakadu elder, said, ‘Our story is in the land ... it is written in those sacred places ... My children will look after those places, That's the law.’ The term myth is used to describe the sacred stories that explain the origins of the land, the people, and their way of life. Myths explain profound religious truths about the important questions of life about how the world came into being, how people came into existence and relate to their land. All these myths come form he ancestral spirit beings of the Dreaming. A great number of these spirits are in animal or other form, which gives a greater rise to totemic connections with the human beings who descend from them. These myths and stories are told in pictures or they are sung and danced, acted out in rituals.

 

Sacred Texts:

Aboriginal spirituality do not have specific sacred texts, as they pass on their stories and teachings verbally. Their sacred stories are found on cave walls, ceremonial boards, ritual stones or rock walls. All of these sacred drawings are believed to have been made by their ancestors. Aboriginals believe these drawings hold power and authority.

 

Religious Rituals:

Rituals give structure and meaning to Aboriginal lives. Rituals consist of a basic pattern: preparation of the ritual place, making or refurbishing the ritual objects, and the preparation of the participants. Rituals are performed in a few days or hours. It consists of a series of songs and dances. An important part of rituals is that bodies must be painted in designs that link them to their spirit ancestors. There are many types of rituals including, birth rituals, male initiation, female initiation, death rituals and increase rituals.