Chapter 1- Aboriginals Flashcards
Primal religions provide two of the basic elements of many religions. What are they?
Myth and ritual
Why use the word “primal”?
These religions came first in relation to other religious traditions
How has culture been passed down?
Through paintings, story-telling, artifacts, traditions
What major events happened about 150 years ago?
Europeans cane, took control, brought illnesses and introduced horses
How do the Gagadju myths explain the landscape of Kakadu?
- crocodile (creates mountains)
- kangaroo (creates valleys)
- snake (creates water)
What modern images are painted on the rock walls of Kakadu?
Animals, spirits, stories, blood, men holding guns
What does the use of red ochre pigment in the paintings symbolize?
It symbolizes blood (blood is the symbol of life)
What happens to a persons spirit when they die?
Its snatched away by Maruutis’ (eagle) huge claws, then it flies away
What beliefs are associated with the species of bat called flying fox?
Forces of darkness and evil
What is the importance of a hand stencil?
Makes your mark, signature
Why are the Gagadju elders worried about their peoples future?
They are scared the when the elders pass away that the Gagadju will die out, few young people will return to learn about their traditions and customs
What do non-literal people depend on?
They depend on oral material (myths, stories passed down from generations)
What is empathy?
Being able to see something from anothers perspective
What is the dreaming?
Spiritual essence of the Ancestors remain in various symbols left behind. Sights are sacred-charged with spiritual powers. Certain individuals are allowed to approach sacred sights, but must take an original path.
What is a totem?
A natural form in which the ancestor appears in the dreaming. May be an animal or rock formation
What is a taboo?
Dictates that certain things or activities are set aside for specific members
What are initiation rituals?
Each Aboriginal possesses at birth a spiritual essence that serves to awaken young people to their spiritual identity
What is mythology?
Stories of creation of the earth, Biblical myths
What four elements makes up a dream catcher?
Earth- hoop and beads (metal, sand, rock, clay)
Air- feathers
Fire- represented by all
Water- symbolized by the materials
How does a dream catcher work?
The charm has a hole in the middle, which allows good dreams to pass through and the web catches the bad dreams
What 4 parts does the medicine wheel represent?
A) colours
B) medicines
C) directions
D) stages of life
What do the 4 colours in the medicine wheel each represent?
White (N)- white race (wisdom, maturity, elders, respect)
Red (S)- red race (natives, warm+love, compassion, family)
Black (W)- black race (peaceful, visions (dreams))
Yellow (E)- asian race (sun comes up=new day/thoughts/friends)
What is the sweetgrass ceremony?
A rite involving the burning of sweetgrass as a sign of cleansing or purification
What is the pipe?
The sharing of the pipe is considered a very sacred act, regarded with the same respect as communion
What is the prayer in the 4 directions?
A form of prayer where the person prays alternately facing each of the four directions (north, east, south, west)
What is the eagle feather?
The eagle flies higher than other birds. The feather therefore represents Gods power, transcendence and strength
Who are the elders?
- men and women who are recognized by their community to be a wise person full of knowledge and experience
- passes on knowledge, traditions, and stories
- highly valued
What is stewardship?
The idea that we must all take care of the environment and take only from the earth what us needed
What is the sun dance?
- a sacred leader guides the dance
- the sun dance features long periods of dancing while facing the direction of the sun
- music and drum beats accompany the dancing
- some dancers skewer flesh of their chest and attach themselves to a tree with a leather thong
What is the vision quest?
- when an individual gains access to the spiritual power
- done under the supervision of the medicine man
- before beginning, the individual undergoes a ritual of purification in the sweat lodge
- once purified the individual goes off alone to endure the elements for a set number of days
- eventually a vision comes in the form of an animal, object or force of nature
- the vision influences the individual for the rest of their life
What is animism?
Spiritual belief that everything in the world is alive. All living things, humans and non-humans, have a soul or spirit and they live on after death
What are creation stories?
Stories that are told orally. They respond to questions of existence, where we come from, where they go when they die. Each cultural group has their own stories
What is death and the afterlife?
The basic element of most religion is the belief in the afterlife. Many aboriginal legends tell stories of reincarnation and rebirth
What do the sioux believe in death and the afterlife?
- 4 souls depart person at death and travel along a spirit path where it us judged by an old woman
- she determines whether spirit should carry on to reconnect with ancestors or return to earth as a ghost
- other souls enter fetuses and are reborn into new bodies
