ADRIANA NAVARRO
RELIGION
1 UNIT NOTES

Page 2: Aboriginal Spirituality
Page 5: Post 1945
Page 7: Judaism page 10: marriage
Page 12: Chrisitianity page 13: marriage
Page 18: Ethics page 18: Christianity page 21: Judaism

Aboriginal Spirituality
Country: term used to describe ones land which they belong to and their place of dreaming
Elders: Key persons and keepers of knowledge within Aboriginal communities
‘Elders’ – kinship and owners
‘Elders’ - leaders of large extended family
‘Elders’ – knowledge given
Kinship: the system of relationships traditionally accepted by a culture and the rights and obligations they hold
Ritual estate: land which they are responsible for
Represents the idea of ‘my country’
Contains sites of spiritual significance (sacred sites)
Dreaming: basis of all aspects of life which is expressed through:
Network of relationships
Rights and obligations within a society
The Dreaming stories provide the entire ethical and moral basis b y which Ab. people live on their land and relate to each other.
Kinship systems Are not separated or additional to their spiritualities; They are the expression of Dreaming in a physical sense
Obligations to the land

People that follow from their kinship

Their expression in ceremonial life

Ceremonial life: includes rites of passage such as initiation, death and burial and periodic ceremonies
Aboriginal ceremonies have 2 major purposes:
Mark humanities relationship to spiritual world: aboriginal – Dreaming – ancestors
Mark the stages in individual human life
Ceremonies importance as they bring and unite the community together
Ensure the well being and continuation/balance of a particular species and food supply

Kinship: complex family system – extended family relationships are the core of Indigenous Kinship systems which are central to way culture is passed on and society is organized
Defines where a person fits into the community
Defines roles and responsibilities for raising and educating children
Provides moral and financial systems within the community
As part of an Aboriginal community, what is important is the role played within the community

Obligations to the land and people
For aboriginal people, ownership of the land means that they have a responsibility to care for it and nurture it
A scared bonding of trust within a cycle of a mutual dependence: land needing man, man needing land
Land not only provides food and water (physical estate) but is the basis for the secret/ sacred activities of the Dreaming and ancestral beings (where spirits come from, their dreaming meaning)
People will be familiar with the rituals of all the land but not responsible for it all
It is the learning of the story of ones country that is a lifelong process that brings it ever greater rights and responsibilities.
Rules: Sacred sites must not be approached nor can a person talk publicly about the story of that country.
Each ritual estate has at least one site left there by ancestral beings where the spirits of that particular site have thought to have lived
Beliefs: Land is the spirit from which Aboriginal existence comes from.
It is something yet it is not a thing. The land is a living entity; “it belongs to me, I belong to it” –mutual dependency.
Land provides for their physical needs as well as for their spiritual needs – Dreaming and stories begin with land and can be traced back to the land.

The Impact of Europeans on Aboriginal spirituality:
Systematic destruction of Aboriginal Spirituality
Europeans invaded Aboriginal lands – denied rights to land and there was a total disregard of land rights – Europeans used the term terra Nullius
Impact of disease and conflict over land environmental destruction by livestock
Loss of life
Loss of traditional authority structures
Loss of language
The stolen generation – government policies
Protection 1830’s: Europeans forced Aboriginals to abandon culture and live on reserves, taken from parents and trained as servants, put