Australian Aborigines Tribal Religion
The Lightning Brothers in the Victoria River District, Northern Territory
(http://www.aboriginalculture.com.au/religion.shtml)
Basic Information and Tenets:
Over 50,000 years ago, the Aboriginal people migrated from Africa, through Asia and into Australia. While there are
over 400,000 aboriginees in the region today, many of them are Christians and some still practice this Dreamtime
animist religion. The Aboriginees of Australia believe the world began formless and shapeless. At some point in
the mythic past, supernatural Ancestors emerged and shaped the landscape and created all forms of life. This was
called the Dreaming. The landscape and all of creation has sacred power. People follow the paths of the Ancestors
and reenact the Dreaming to access this sacred power. Every individual has an essence of the Ancestors, which
is activated when the relatives make contact with a sacred site. There are rituals performed to draw the Ancestor
towards the child. The Ancestors are represented by totems, which may be any naturally created site, animal or
landscape feature. These totems are similar to other primal traditions use of totems. If you want your Ancestor
(acknowledged through your totem) to nourish the world, you must perform the proper ritual and seek the spiritual
perfection of harmony and balance between the supernatural, the human and the natural worlds.
Seven Dimensions of Religion:
Ritual is essential to give life its meaning. All rituals are based on Ancestor mythology and are re-enacted at the
sites believed to be involved, by the people whose totems are involved. The Aboriginal people believe the Ancestors
to be within themselves and can be called upon to nourish and replenish the world through ritual. Religion is
interwoven with society in this culture. Society is structured around the rituals involved. It is taboo for certain people
to participate in certain rituals and anyone violating that may suffer consequences, even death. Some are for men
only, some for women. Age may restrict someone until initiation rituals have occurred. Initiation rituals awaken the
totem identity and also the social identity of the young person in the tribe. Myths are taught through rituals to the
young. Often these include images of death and rebirth. Circumcision and the knocking out of teeth may be involved
for the young men. Another ritual involved relatives letting their own blood fall on and cover the young men, to show
unity and connection. The young man would often live alone in the wilderness for months at a time, until he was
healed and clean. Once this happens, he can return to the village as a man. Because the laws and rituals were given
by the Ancestors at the time of the Dreaming, they cannot change.
WORKS CITED
Brodd, Jeffrey. World Religions: A Voyage of Discovery.2nd ed. Winona: Saint Mary’s Press, 2003. Print.
Aboriginal Australia. Tourism Australia, 2012. Web. 6 January 2013.