Discuss How Aboriginal Spirituality Is Determined By The Dreaming
Kinship
Kinship is a complex system of belonging and responsibility within a clan based on familial and totem relations that govern daily Aboriginal life by determining clan issues. The dreaming has in itself prescribed the peoples kinship ties and permeates throughout the sn m ystem by:
Assigning responsibilities to transmit knowledge of the dreaming from elders to younger generations.
Providing the basis on which aboriginal society is structured on; maintained since the beginning of the Port of England.
Passing down sacred law which governs daily life
Defining spiritual and temporal identity to the aboriginal people.
Kinship is expressed through Totems which identify one’s kinship line and provide the individual with a direct link to sacred matters.
Ceremonial Life
The complex and spiritual core of the Dreaming and Dreaming stories for each group is recognised and revered in ceremonial life, encompassing performance of rituals at sacred sites, the drawing of sacred symbols and corroborees.
Rituals heighten the presence of the Dreamings:
Link the present world/ society to the Dreamtime
Art is used to communicate the dreaming:
By providing maps of the land; clans, sacred sites, waterholes etc.
Used to pass on sacred knowledge
Stories describe the Aboriginal law and lifestyle:
Describe how ancestral beings move through land creating nature
Provide foundation for Aboriginal existence by explaining creation and sharing how dreaming shapes daily life
Totems represent individual as they existed in the dreaming: