Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Definitions
• Aboriginal
– original or earliest known; native; indigenous
– May also refer to a group of people
• Native
– of, pertaining to, or characteristic of the indigenous
inhabitants of a place or country
• Indigenous
– originating in and characteristic of a particular region or
country
• Others??
Spirituality of Indigenous People
• Though there is a wide variety of religious
practice among the many different and
culturally diverse indigenous groups around
the world, there are some basic themes and
characteristics of their spiritual beliefs that are
shared
Indigenous Religious Traditions
• No distinction between spiritual world and their
traditional way of life
• Sacred and secular are not separate
• Many NA languages have no word for ‘religion’
• Strong sense of the sacred in various forms
– Spirits, gods, ancestors, supreme impersonal power
• Influenced by their methods of acquiring food
• Rituals revolve around promoting, preserving and
being one with their environment
– ie Fertility
• We can examine and divide groups
regionally
• Indigenous groups worldwide have been
organized into three main cultural types
• Geography
Hunters and Gatherers
• Ancestors of all humans from beginning of our history until
agricultural revolution
– Gatherers
– Small game hunters
– Big game herd hunters
– Fishers
• Religious ideas focus on sacred powers of:
– the sky
– Gods associated with the life power of animals
Inuit
Australian
Aborigines
Planters
• Those groups who cultivate the earth to raise food
– Root plants – yam / potato
• (Maori)
– Cereal and grains – wheat / rice / maize
• (Native Americans)
Aztecs
Pastoralists or Herders
• Those who raise their own cattle, sheep, goats or camels
– Nomadic – moving with their herds among pasturelands
– Domestication of animals occurred as early as agriculture
Individual is connected
with different animals that
accompanies each
person through life
Totems
https://canadac3.ca/en/video/art-totem-poles/
Totem Assignment
• Consider the characteristics and meaning of the Totemic animals on the
back page to create a totem pole / symbol signifying who you are as a
person
•
• NA Native belief holds that 9 different animals guide you through life but
for this assignment choose only 5
• Write a brief paragraph at the bottom of the page describing your totem
and outlining why you chose those particular animals.
Evaluation:
• T - 5 - Text
– Clarity and originality of statement
• A - 5 - Illustrations/Visuals
– Varied, effective & meaningful
• C - 5 - Writing Mechanics/Neatness
– Spelling & grammar / visual clarity & colour
Total - 15 Marks
Some questions to ask yourself to help determine your animal
totem:
• Have you ever felt drawn to one animal or another without being
able to explain why? (animal, including birds and insects)
• When you go to the zoo, a park, wildlife area, or forest, what are you
most interested in seeing?
• Is there a particular animal that you see frequently when you’re out
in nature?
http://maps.google.ca/maps?q=wallaga+lake+australia&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x6b3e721cb976f5e5:0x
40609b490441060,Wallaga+Lake+NSW,+Australia&gl=ca&sa=X&ei=rWgrUYTvLsfM2AX7vIGwCw&ved=0CJIB
ELYD
What is the Dreaming or Dreamtime?
• 'Dreamtime' is most often used to refer to the 'time
before time', or 'the time of the creation of all things‘
https://youtu.be/J4rAa6PReQM
Dreaming Tracks or Songlines
Complex pathways of spiritual, ecological and cultural
knowledge across the land or sky
Often mapped the presence of; and routes followed by
local 'creator-spirits' during the Dreamtime
Aborigines can navigate across the land by singing
the songlines describe the location of landmarks
and other natural phenomena of their land
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVOG-RKTFIo
What are Songlines Seven Sisters Songline, by
Josephine Mick, Pipalyatjara, 1994.
https://youtu.be/33O08xrQpR8
Understanding Songlines
Songlines or
Dreaming tracks
Visitors guidepost –
"the climb is not prohibited, but we
prefer that, as a guest on Aṉangu land,
you will choose to respect our law and
culture by not climbing."
• The Myth of Aboriginal Stories being Myths
https://youtu.be/aUIgkbExn6I
Rabbit Proof Fence
Assignment
• How can Aboriginal people of Australia heal
from the atrocity of forcible removal from their
homes and loved ones and cruel treatment at
the hands of those with power? How can
aboriginal society as a whole recover from
this?