РефератыИностранный языкThThe Death And Dying Beliefs Of Australian

The Death And Dying Beliefs Of Australian

Aborigines Essay, Research Paper


The Death and Dying Beliefs of Australian Aborigines


Although the Aborigines are often classified as a primitive race whose


religion is based upon animism and totemism like the American Indians, the


Aboriginal funeral practices and beliefs about death have much in common with


other cultures. This paper will discuss the death and dying beliefs of the


Aborigines that share a common thread with many popular religions of today.


Aboriginal beliefs in death and dying are original in that they combine all


these beliefs in a different way. The purpose of looking at the commonalties is


to examine the shared foundations of all religions by investigating the aspect


of death and dying in a very localized and old set of beliefs.


As in many religions, Aborigines share a belief in a celestial Supreme


Being. During a novice’s initiation, he learns the myth of Daramulun, which


means ?Father,” who is also called Biamban, or ?Master.? Long ago, Daramulun


dwelt on earth with his mother. The earth was barren and sterile. There were


no human beings, only animals. Daramulun created the ancestors of the tribes


and taught them how to live. He gave them the laws that are handed down from


father to son, founded the initiation ceremonies and made the bull-roarer, the


sound of which imitates his voice. It is Daramulun that gives the medicine men


their powers. When a man dies, it is Daramulun who cares for his spirit. This


belief was witnessed before the intervention of Christian missionaries. It is


also used only in the most secret initiations of which women know nothing and


are very central to the archaic and genuine religious and social traditions.


Therefore it is doubtful that this belief was due to missionary propaganda but


istruly a belief of the Aborigines (Eliade, 1973).


Another belief that is reminiscent of the Christian faith is that death


came into being only because the communications between heaven and earth had


been violently interrupted. When Adam and Eve were thrown out of the Garden of


Eden, death came into existence. This belief of the origin of death is common


to many archaic religions where communication with heaven and its subsequent


interruption is related to the ancestor’s loss of immortality or of his original


paradisal situation (Eliade, 1973).


The Australian ritual re-enactment of the ?Creation? has a striking


parallel in post-Vedic India. The brahmanic sacrifice repeats what was done in


the beginning, at the moment of creation, and it is only because of the strict


uninterrupted performance of the sacrifice that the world continues and


periodically renews itself. It is only be identifying himself with the


sacrifice that man can conquer death. The ritual ensures the continuation of


cosmic life and at the same time introduces initiates to a sacred history that


ultimately will reveal the meaning of their lives (Charlesworth, 1984).


The Egyptian concept of the soul has many similarities to the totemic


cosmology of the Dreamtime. Unlike Christian philosophy, in which the soul is a


possession of the individual, the Egyptians conceived of the soul as an aspect


of a cosmological process. Like the ancient Egyptians, the Aborigines consider


the perceivable world an incarnation or projection of similar realities that


exist in a universal, spiritual sphere. For them, the human soul shares the


threefold nature of the soul of the creating spirits: a universal soul, a


natural soul of the species, and a unique individual soul. After death the soul


of each person merges first with the spirit species of nature’s soul before


merging with its ancestral source in the Dreaming (Lawlor, 1991).


In the Aboriginal tradition, death, burial and afterlife are rich in


meaning and metaphysical interpretation. Aborigines use a wide variety of


burial practices, including all of those known to have been used in other parts


of the world, as well varieties not practiced anywhere else. Although these


rites vary, all Australian Aborigines share many fundamental ideas about death


and its relationship to life.


The most fundamental concept of death in the Aboriginal tradition is the


doctrine of three worlds, the unborn, the living, and the dying, and the Land of


the Dead. Therefore their concepts of death are their concepts of life. Each


individual passes through these domains only once. After death it is the


profound responsibility of the living to ensure that the spiritual component of


the dead person is separated from this world and can proceed to the next. The


Aborigines believe, as do Native Americans, that the notion of reincarnation


depends on two factors: (1) the obsession with the illusion of individuality


extends into the belief that the ego survives death and remains intact in the


afterlife; (2) such cultures have lost the knowledge of burial practices that


assist the spiritual energy of the deceased to separate from the earthly sphere,


and so the spiritual atmosphere is polluted with fragmented, disembodied,


energies of the dead. Fragments of spirit from the dead can interact with the


living, sometimes inhabiting, shadowing or controlling conscious behavior and


destiny. The Aborigines say that the atmosphere of the earth is now saturated


with dead spirits and that this pollution parallels the physical pollution of


the biosphere — both of which contribute to the self-destructive course of


civilization (Lawlor, 1991).


The second universally held Aboriginal belief about death is that at the


moment of death, the spiritual component of the individual splits into three


distinct parts. This is similar to the Egyptian concept of the soul. Unlike


Christian philosophy, in which the soul is a possession of the individual, the


Egyptians conceived of the soul as an aspect of a cosmological process. Like


the ancient Egyptians, the Aborigines consider the perceivable world an


incarnation or projection of similar realities that exist in a universal,


spiritual sphere. For them, the human soul shares the threefold nature of the


soul of the creating spirits: a totemic soul, an ancestral soul and the ego soul.


The totemic soul is related to the sources of the life of the body: the earthly


location of the birth and the spirit of the animal and plant species to which


the person’s bloodlines are connected and from which he or she has derived


nourishment throughout life. After death, the totemic soul essence, once


incorporated in the psychic and physical makeup of a person, is returned in


ceremonial ritual to the spirits of nature. Returning spiritual energy to the


animating forces of the totemic species reciprocates the debt to all those


living things that were sacrificed for the sake of humans. The second aspect of


an individual’s spirit force that is released at death is called the ancestral


soul. This is the aspect of the deceased’s soul that emanates from the


Ancestor’s journeys to the constellations in a particular part of the sky. Each


region of the heavens has not only a pictorial constellation, usually an animal,


but also a particular pattern of invisible energy. These patterns are


symbolized in the geometric clan designs painted on the abdomen of the corpse


during burial rites. The same clan design was painted on the person at the time


of his or her first initiation. At the person’s initiation and at the time of


death, the celebrants chant, ?May from here your spirit reach to the stomach of


the sky.? The third aspect is referred to by the Aborigines as the Trickster.


It is the spiritual source of the individualized ego and can be characterized as


the ego soul. It is the spirit force bound to locality and to the finite. At


the time of death, the Trickster is the most dangerous with which to deal. It


resents death, because this change removes contact from the material or local


world in which it functions. It may become stuck in this world after the other


aspects of the soul have departed. The ego soul works throughout its life to


plant the possibilities of an earthly immortality. The totem soul, ego soul,


and ancestral soul correspond to the cosmic trinity of the unborn, the living


and the dying, and the Land of the Dead, as well was to the earthly order of


species, place and clan (Lawlor, 1991).


In many aspects of Aboriginal life, the concentration is on the


interaction between the visible and the invisible, the external world and the


Dreamtime reality. The Aboriginal view of death is not any different. The


Aborigines consider dying to be a constant complementary process to life, both


in a biological sense and in the sense of death throughout initiation.


Following physical death, the most significant stage of the dying process


begins: the spirit dies away from the earthly atmosphere in a process that can


take months, even years (Lawlor, 1991). In the Mahayana Buddhist tradition, the


spirit takes only twelve hours to leave the corpse, but there is also the delay


in the spirit leaving the body after death (Parry, 1995).


After an Aborigine dies, the news is quickly communicated to all clan


groups, no matter how distant, in which kin members are living. The messengers


approach distant groups and display the collection of clan totemic designs with


which the deceased was affiliated. The displays alert people in the camp of


their kin relationship and their responsibilities to the dead person. The


messengers may also sing songs that hint at the person’s identity, but they


never reveal the name (Lawlor, 1991).


In some tribes, certain mourners must not speak for some time, and in


all, the name of the dead may not be mentioned for months or even years. The


taboo against pronouncing the name of the dead is strictly observed because it


is believed that the vibratory pattern of the person’s name can act as a hook or


anchor to which the spiritual energy of the deceased can attach itself and


thereby remain on earth (Lawlor, 1991). In addition, any persons or objects


bearing the same name must no longer be referred to by that name (Elkin, 1964).


In traditional cultures, name avoidance may prevent provocation of the spirit.


Whereas in today’s societies, avoidance of a name may avoidance of pain due to


loss (DeSpelder, 1996). Widowed Aboriginal women also maintain vows of silence,


even after remarriage, to publicly express sorrow. Many of these women will


communicate to one another in sign language. In Indian yoga, vows of silence


are believed to instigate rapid inner changes. This aspect of silence would


benefit Aboriginal women, who must completely restructure their lives when they


move from one marriage to another (Lawlor, 1991). In many other cultures, women


have distinct restrictions placed on them after a death. An Islamic widow must

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wait four months and ten days before remarrying (Parry, 1995).


Some generalizations found throughout the Aboriginal tribes are that the


actions of those associated with a dying or dead person are regulated by certain


forms of social organization, or in particular, the kinship system, generation


or age-levels, moiety and cult group. When a person is dying, people watch


nearby or at a distance, according to relationship rules; they wail or chant,


gash and draw blood from themselves, and maybe throw themselves on the sick


person. After death, all of this emotion is usually intensified and often a


state of frenzy is reached (Elkin, 1964). Sorrow and grief are highly


dramatized in Aboriginal society. Much like Muslim women who are infamous for


their dramatic wailings as a release of grief, both men and women wail and


lament long after the death of a relative. The tearful demonstrations continue


until ?they become empty of grief.? Grieving is sometimes accompanied by ritual


wounding. Bloodletting, like emotion, is an outpouring of spirit into a larger


reality. In the dramatization of sorrow, both spirit and blood escape the body


in an acknowledgment of the suffering and death that universally befell


humankind (Lawlor, 1991). This is not only a sign of real or standardized grief


but also of the disturbance of the general sense of well-being. It is also a


reaction to the magical death-dealing forces that are ever about and had just


been put into effective operation (Elkin, 1964).


The feeling of sorrow expands from the individual and society to include


a relationship to the land. When someone dies, the places of conception, birth,


initiation, marriage, and death of the person receive as much respect and


attention as the deceased relative. In this way, grieving moves beyond the


individual’s death and becomes more a catalyst for remembering places and events


and myths associated with those places. The rule in Aboriginal society is to


avoid, for a long time, the place where a kin has died, until the memory has


faded in intensity. Approaching the death site of a recently deceased relative


would imply disrespect. During their absence from these sites, the Aborigines


dramatically express nostalgia for the features of that countryside. Often the


demonstrations of grief need not be spontaneous or authentic, yet they express a


continuing relationship that the living have to the dead. The emotion of grief


must be fully released, since any sorrow withheld in the psyche would form alink


to which the deceased spirit might cling (Lawlor, 1991). Gradually the


heightened emotions and rage die down and come under control as they become


centered in traditional manner. After this initial display of grief, the body


is attended to and is usually shifted at once to the place of burial or


preparation for the burial (Elkin, 1964).


There is a standardized process of grief followed by the Aborigines.


The self-inflicted pain and loud lamentings are not a measure of the grief


actually felt. To a certain extent, the excessive display is due to tribal


custom and as such has a very strong hold upon the imagination of a people whose


every action is bound and limited by custom. There is also the fear that unless


a sufficient amount of grief is displayed, he will be harmed by the offended


spirit of the dead person (Spencer, 1968).


All religions have some sort of purification rituals. The Jews have


many laws detailing ritual cleanliness and in the Hindu caste system those who


touch the dead are the lowest caste (Parry, 1995). For the Aborigines,


everything that was associated with the dead person is destroyed, avoided or


purified. The campsite where the person died is deserted by the group, and the


exact place of death is examined by the tribal elders and then marked completely


deserted for years (Lawlor, 1991). Though he will no longer need his body as a


means of action, it is weighted down, tied up, or the legs are broken so that he


will not be able to wander. A zigzag path is followed to and from the grave


site at the time of burial, or a smoke screen is passed through so that the


spirit of the dead will not be able to follow the mourners (Elkin, 1964). Even


in the Roman Empire, the burial customs reflected the belief that the dead might


come back and haunt the living (DeSpelder, 1996). Those who take part in the


burial are brushed with smoking twigs, and the wives who were closely associated


with the diseased during his lifetime, are usually separated from the general


camp for a prescribed period of time.. Food taboos are observed and there are


special ones adopted because the food was the deceased’s totem or was one of


which he was fond. In all these ways, the deceased, the thought of death and


the gap caused by it are banished from consciousness. When the various taboos


have been lifted, the widow is remarried or the widower resumes his habitual


ways of living and society regains its equilibrium. The society ?bequeaths to


the past the associations of death, and faces the future with renewed hope and


courage.? (Elkin, 1964)


Burial practices of the Aborigines are meant to prepare the spirit of the


dead person for its new life as well as a mark of respect. Within the Arunta


tribe, the body is buried in a relatively short period of time. It is placed in


a sitting position with the knees doubled up against the chin and is interred in


a round hole in the ground. The earth is pile directly onto the body so as to


make a low mound with a depression on one side (van Beek, 1975). There are many


forms of burial used by the Aborigines. These forms include interment,


mummification, cremation, platform-exposure and delayed burial, and burial in


hollow trees. There is a wide spread distribution of a two-fold burial


procedure, with the consequent lengthening of the time of the mourning ritual.


So persistent is the idea that it is seen in many forms. The different


combinations include platform exposure and delayed burial, mummification and


final disposal, interment and disinterment for later mourning over bones, and in


the removal of bones from one grave to another. Such procedures emphasize the


significance of death and the length of time the society requires to adjust


itself to the death (Elkin, 1964).


Although Aboriginal burial are usually long and elaborate and the


disposal of the corpse can be complex, the ritual focuses on the spiritual


ramifications of death, not physical disposal or preservation. The primary goal


of Aboriginal funeral rites is to safeguard the well-being of the living. The


correct funeral procedures and rituals are valued for their benefit to the


living (Lawlor, 1991).


As in ancient Egyptian and other traditions, the Aboriginal journey to


the other world is imagined in a sacred bark or spirit canoe with a mythic


ferryman at its helm. Water itself is often used symbolically and associated


with death, especially in African culture (Parry, 1995). The ancient Greeks


also had such a belief with the skeletal ferryman, Charon, who travels the River


Styx to the Underworld. The spirit canoe sets out across the sea to the island


of the dead. In many world myths the helmsman is an important figure at the


beginning of the journey toward death. In the Aboriginal belief, he is always


abusive. He beats the men and rapes or demands sex with women. The beating or


rape by the helmsman symbolizes the severe assault and trauma the consciousness


undergoes in its initial separation from the body (Lawlor, 1991).


Most of the initiation rituals in Aboriginal society follow a pattern of


death and rebirth. For example, a novice dies to the profane world of childhood


and irresponsible innocence, the world of ignorance, and prepares himself for


rebirth as a spiritual being, much as Christians receive a new soul at First


Holy Communion. The tribe understands this death literally and mourns over the


novices as the dead are mourned (Eliade, 1973). The Aborigine sees life in


death and is exposed to it throughout his lifetime in the initiation processes


that allow an internal experience of the journey from life to the realm of the


dead. The African-American approach to death is also as a rite of passage where


the soul passes into another phase (Parry, 1995). The American society denies


death and views it as a threat to life. The Aborigine, on the other hand,


understands the spiritual reality of death and its necessity. To the Aborigine,


it is impossible to understand how to exist in this life without knowing howto


exist in death and therefore it is once again apparent that the society’s views


on death are reflected by their views of life. The world only has meaning to


the degree that Death and the Unborn have meaning. To deny or distort the


purpose and meaning of one is to deny the same for all (van Beek, 1975).


The Aborigines have very defined rituals and expectations dealing with


the death of a person. They also have highly evolved meanings to accompany


their rituals. Although this paper has shown many similarities between other


religions and that of the Aborigines, they have their own distinct compilations


of these beliefs and practices. Their standardized grief process, concepts of


an afterlife and burial practices are not foreign to today’s American society


when looking at the meaning and purpose behind their death and dying practices.


Certain human emotions manifest themselves across many cultures in their death


practices and in the end differences are often in the technicalities when the


significance stays the same. However this is not always apparent to people from


different religions and can cause certain religions to be labeled primitive and


the people to be called savages.


BIBLIOGRAPHY


Charlesworth, M., H. Morphy, D. Bell, and K. Maddock. Religion in Aboriginal


Australia. Queensland, Australia: University of Queensland Press, 1984.


DeSpleder, L. A., A. L. Strickland. The Last Dance; Encountering Death and


Dying. London: Mayfield Publishing Company, 1996.


Eliade, M. Australian Religions: An Introduction. Ithaca: Cornell University


Press, 1973.


Elkin, A. P. The Australian Aborigines. Garden City, New York: Doubleday and


Company, Inc., 1964.


Lawlor, R. Voices of the First Day: Awakening in the Aboriginal Dreamtime.


Rochester, Vermont: Inner Traditions, 1991.


Parry, J. K., A. S. Ryan. A Cross-Cultural Look at Death, Dying, and Religion.


Chicago: Nelson-Hall Publishers, 1995.


Spencer, B., and F. J. Gillen. The Native Tribes of Central Australia. New


York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1968.


van Beek, W. E. A., J. H. Scherer. Explorations in the Anthropology of Religion.


Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1975.


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