CEREMONIAL LIFE

Question 1

What is ceriamonial life

Answer 1

Connects Aboriginal people to the Dreaming. As a result Ceremonies recreate external moments of Dreaming = spiritual connection with the ancestors

Question 2

How do adherents maintain relationships with ancestral beings?

Answer 2

through rituals which as a result sustain animal and plant life, and ensure rain and sun when needed.

Question 3

what is considered to be the most important ceremony in aboriginal spirituality

Answer 3

Initiation into adulthood can last weeks though storytelling, and display body dedication and ceremonial objects.

Question 4

Songs and stories connected to?

Answer 4

each of the Ancestral Beings. ( some being open or Taboo)

Question 5

Male initiation

Answer 5

Performed at the first sign of puberty.
Consists of circumcision and incision scars on his chest, shoulders, arm and buttocks.

• which initiates them into an adult man and their blood becomes the blood of his ancestors.

Question 6

Female initiation

Answer 6

Female Elders initiate girls for adulthood.
Taught culinary and medical knowledge of plants, roots and how to track small animals and find bush tucker.

• some include ceremonial bathing, coping with parting from the group for long periods, and which foods are forbidden.

Question 7

Funerals

Answer 7

Aboriginal people paint themselves white, cut their bodies to show remorse and conduct a series of rituals, songs and dances.

• Done to ensure the person’s body leaves the area and returns to its birthplace. Later to be reborn.