Aboriginal Culture

Aboriginal education and socialization is very different from the West. Instead of learning to strengthen the one's separate identity and ego, the children are taught the importance of kinship with the entire world. The acquisition of material possessions is not a goal. Humility is a trait that is cultivated. Strict laws, customs, and roles are followed for the maintenance of stability and harmony within and among the tribes and clans. Ritual and ceremony are important.

The totemism that is central to Aboriginal religion describes the linking of humans, nature, and the gods. Each tribe ( 500-1000 people ) and each clan ( several hundred

people ) is considered to be descended from and is associated with a particular animal species. ( A band is a smaller group of related people who camp and forage together .) The land of each tribe and clan is a sanctuary for that species. The spirit of the species is believed to flow from the spirit world into the physical world at a particular site within the sanctuary. The species is honoured through song, rhythm, and dance. It is considered taboo to eat one's totem animal.

The Aboriginal culture is full of initiations beginning at birth and ending at death. Ceremonies provide rites of passage throughout one's life and assist the soul to move to it's destination after death.

Like all culture, the Aboriginal culture includes positive and negative uses of power. There are the shamans who heal and the sorcerers who practice black magic, such as "pointing the bone." There are varying degrees of initiation for men and women, each with a deeper piece of Aboriginal knowledge. Elders and wise men and women are treated with great respect.

Children are very important in the Aboriginal culture. They are raised by the entire clan. At the age of three they are placed in front of a mirror and encouraged to verbalize their preciousness as human beings. Through the deep knowledge of their innate value they are able to walk through life with a humility that is based on high self-esteem. Humility is a trait that is cultivated in the Aboriginal culture. To them arrogance comes from separation, feeling less-than, and having to prove one's worth.

Their stories also include the creation of the animals, birds, reptiles, and fish. Everything in the physical world came from a vibrational blueprint, and this is the Dreaming. Many of the ceremonies are a call back to the primal origins of creation.  

The Aborigines talk of a time when metaphysical beings walked the Earth. They have many stories about how these beings molded the shape of the land.