Aboriginal Spirituality Case Studies

The Yolŋu People of North East Arnhem Land

Yolŋu are divided into two skin groups (moieties), Yirritja and Dhuwa, each of which owns distinct lands and traces descent from different Ancestors. All living things are divided into these two moieties. The most climactic ceremonies occur at funerals, the time for singing and dancing the spirit to rest. The body or coffin is elaborately painted, and at the appearance of the first star, a slow poetic dance and song cycle is performed at which sacred morning star poles and feathered strings are slowly let out across lines of dancers to represent the journey of the star across the sky. This is also the pathway the spirit of the deceased must follow to its resting place.

Tiwi People of Bathurst and Melville Islands

The main traditional Tiwi ceremony is the "llaninga." It is, during and after the Christian burial, still performed to a large degree. Carved and painted poles, commissioned by the family of the deceased, are displayed on the site where the funeral dances take place, near the house of the dead person. The place is named "Pukumani", a term that means something like "taboo": the name of the dead person may not be spoken and his or her belongings also become "Pukumani". There is dancing and singing, believed to give guidance and protection for the deceased. While the actual burial is now a Christian one, those clan dances are still done near the grave.

The other ceremony that is sometimes performed is the "Kurlama" (yam ceremony), held at the end of the wet season when a certain kind of yam is harvested, cooked in a specially made earth oven (indicated by sticks placed around it), and eaten by the men. Particular songs are sung by men and women, accompanied by tapping sticks. 

Ngan Girra

This is held at Mungabareena, near the Murray River in NSW, around November. It celebrates the arrival of the Bogong moths - a traditional source of food. More recently it also celebrates the coming together of people; both European and Indigenous Australians. Ngan Girra means 'gathering place' and this festival celebrates Indigenous culture: dance, stories art. In this way, the traditions of indigenous Australians are passed on to younger people.

Initiation Ceremony from the Warlpiri People of Central Australia

In most traditional Aboriginal communities boys are initiated into manhood in a cycle of ceremonies in which they are taught their traditional songs and dances. The most common ceremonies among the Warlpiri people are the "kurdiji" initiation ceremonies in which a number of boys of the same subsection (or "skin") are initiated together. "Kurdiji" means shield and refers to the wooden shields decorated with designs representing the "dreamings" or song cycles that are performed for that particular set of ceremonies.

The boys, usually aged 12 to 16 years, are taken from their mothers and painted with redochre. A belt, made of strands of human hair is tied around their waist and they are taken on a journey to different communities, gathering people to participate in the rituals. The women dance and wail as the child will be lost, returning later as a man. The men perform dances associated with the dreaming belonging to the subsection of the boys; these may not be observed by women and children. The boys are taken into the bush to be shown a series of secret-sacred ceremonies, but return to the general camp where they are kept in seclusion, only visited by men and boys. A number of all-night ceremonies are performed; some can be seen by all, some only by men and initiates.

On the last day, the boys are painted with white ochre and then have to "demonstrate" to their mothers, when they enter the ceremony ground, that they have learned sacred knowledge. Everybody may watch that until the man who will perform the circumcision enters; women and children have to cover their faces and then the old men will shout, the "witi" poles are set alight as giant torches and the women and children flee the scene: the boys are then circumcised, marking the transition from child to "young man."

Yanyuwa People from the Gulf of Carpentaria

The Yanyuwa people are made up of four clan groups in two moieties. In the Yalkawaru ceremony, men and boys are painted with designs in white and decorated with tufts of cotton wool, nowadays glued onto the body with sugar water. The "kujika" or song cycle, describing the travels and deeds of the Dreaming being, is sung and danced over a number of days. Paper bark headdresses are worn and the ceremony finishes around a decorated pole, representing the deceased. Young men and boys personify the mythical Brolga, their heads plastered with clay and cotton wool.

Numbulwar Community from the Gulf of Carpentaria

During a ceremony known as "Ngarrag," men are painted with designs representing their "Dreaming" or clan association. There are many different rituals, some taking place on a secret ceremonial ground, only to be seen by men; others may be seen by all. The ceremony culminates in ritual bathing, in which everybody, men, women and children, go to the beach and immerse themselves, dancing in the sea and washing off the ochre and clay with which they were ritually painted; this way the actors, men and women, reenacting the deeds of the Dreamtime beings, leave the designs sung and painted on their bodies behind and re-emerge from the water as people again.

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