Title: Koori
Course: REL 201 RTZ > Section: Week 2 - Indigenous Relgions

Take a moment and think about all the religious groups that you are familiar with. Imagine placing them on a timeline.  What religion do you think is the oldest religion?  Christianity? Judaism? Hinduism? Buddhism?  Granted each of these religious groups have existed for long periods of time they are all still in their childhood years compare to the religions of Australia.  The Aborigine religions of Australia are the oldest living religion.

The Abrahamic Religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) are prophetic apostatizing religions.  These religions believe that God sent prophets and messengers across the world to all people.  The message that was brought to the people was a warning to correct them in the ways of living properly.  Also, to come was a final prophet and scripture that would herald the end of the current ways of living and a new and proper life.  This message can be found in many Eastern religions as well as the Abrahamic religions.

After careful review of Australian Aboriginal religions we discover a culture that has been untouched by Western and Eastern Religions that had never heard the prophetic message of a coming prophet.  This isolated culture gives proof that God DID NOT send warnings from prophets and messengers to all people on Earth.  Another common theme in Western and Eastern Religions is the concept of eternal punishment or a Satan like figure.  This concept is not found in Australian religions.

The Australian Aborigine prefer to call themselves Koori.  The Koori saw their first white person in 1770’s when Captain James Cook landed in Botany Bay.  What the Europeans found was a culture that believed in sacred ecology and had very different concepts of time.

A Koori Creation Myth

There was a time when everything was still. All the spirits of the earth were asleep - or almost all. The great Father of All Spirits was the only one awake. Gently he awoke the Sun Mother. As she opened her eyes a warm ray of light spread out towards the sleeping earth. The Father of All Spirits said to the Sun Mother,

"Mother, I have work for you. Go down to the Earth and awake the sleeping spirits. Give them forms."

The Sun Mother glided down to Earth, which was bare at the time and began to walk in all directions and everywhere she walked plants grew. After returning to the field where she had begun her work the Mother rested, well pleased with herself. The Father of All Spirits came and saw her work, but instructed her to go into the caves and wake the spirits.

This time she ventured into the dark caves on the mountainsides. The bright light that radiated from her awoke the spirits and after she left insects of all kinds flew out of the caves. The Sun Mother sat down and watched the glorious sight of her insects mingling with her flowers. However once again the Father urged her on.

The Mother ventured into a very deep cave, spreading her light around her. Her heat melted the ice and the rivers and streams of the world were created. Then she created fish and small snakes, lizards and frogs. Next she awoke the spirits of the birds and animals and they burst into the sunshine in a glorious array of colors. Seeing this the Father of All Spirits was pleased with the Sun Mother's work.

She called all her creatures to her and instructed them to enjoy the wealth of the earth and to live peacefully with one another. Then she rose into the sky and became the sun.

The living creatures watched the Sun in awe as she crept across the sky, towards the west. However when she finally sunk beneath the horizon they were panic-stricken, thinking she had deserted them. All night they stood frozen in their places, thinking that the end of time had come. After what seemed to them like a lifetime the Sun Mother peeked her head above the horizon in the East. The earth's children learned to expect her coming and going and were no longer afraid.

At first the children lived together peacefully, but eventually envy crept into their hearts. They began to argue. The Sun Mother was forced to come down from her home in the sky to mediate their bickering. She gave each creature the power to change their form to whatever they chose. However she was not pleased with the end result. The rats she had made had changed into bats; there were giant lizards and fish with blue tongues and feet. However the oddest of the new animals was an animal with a bill like a duck, teeth for chewing, a tail like a beavers and the ability to lay egg. It was called the platypus.

The Sun Mother looked down upon the Earth and thought to herself that she must create new creatures less the Father of All Spirits be angered by what she now saw. She gave birth to two children. The god was the Morning Star and the goddess was the moon. Two children were born to them and these she sent to Earth. They became our ancestors. She made them superior to the animals because they had part of her mind and would never want to change their shape.

Sacred Ecology

Rachelle Dickie speaks extensively on sacred ecology in the Pacific Islands.  Dickie describes sacred ecology as:  “These 250 million aboriginal people see humankind and nature as inseparably linked, and themselves as guardians of the ecosystem. They believe that people belong to the land and not the land to the people; and with this, they have gained a strong sense of identity. They also see the land as a source of life: it nourishes, supports, and teaches; it is the core of culture; it connects people with the past (home of the ancestors), the present (provides resources), and the future (a legacy they hold and touch for the grandchildren).” (Dickie, 2005)

In the creation myth shared above Father of all spirits encourage Mother Sun to create life and life was created from the Mother Sun. The Koori have adopted the respect and creation of Mother Sun into the daily lives and are influenced by nature in how to they interact with the planet and one another. This can be seen through their belief system. Dreamtime.

Dreamtime or dreaming

Dreaming is the center of the Koori life.  Dreaming is not related to our understanding of dreaming, where one goes to sleep and during the REM cycle you have images playing like a movie.  Dreaming to the Koori is sacred and important to existing.

Dreaming originates to creation of all things – keep in mind the creation story you read above.  During this creation story Mother Sun created the world as we know it today.  Dreaming is hidden beneath the tangible world that we exist in.  Yet, the dreaming world is not intangible and esoteric.  Actually the dreaming world is more real and tangible than the world we live in.

The Dreaming world is what affects our mundane daily lives.  Through rituals that re-enact the creation process the power of dreaming is made present in the here and now.  Through the use of music, songs, stories, symbols, imagery and rituals dreaming is activated and can experienced through the rituals.  This experience is personal and shared.

Dreaming is sacred ecology because it reflects on the special connection between the original ancestors who created the world and the land through the process and love that was given in the creation process. These ancestors reside in the natural objects of the world – rocks, rivers, canyons and such.  Sacred sites are part of the power of the dreaming process bringing the Koori closer to the dreaming world and experiences.

Types of Dreaming

Shared dreaming is called the dreaming by the community.  This dreaming provides the greater knowledge of the creation process, purposes and relationships.  The personal dreaming is called my dreaming and tells the story of how the individual is connected with life.  My dreaming connects each person back to the beginning of creation.

Below is a general and simplistic view of the Koori in terms of the nine criteria of categorizing a religion:

Belief Systems

Cosmology: The Koori believe that dreaming is cyclical; dreaming has always existed, still exists and will always exist.  Without dreaming the world would not exist. Those who live in the world now will return to the dreaming world.

Salvation:  The Koori do not have a concept for salvation or deliverance from evil.  What the Koori do believe in is congruence with the world and its powers which includes the respect and care for nature and dreaming.

Community

Community is greater than a connection of humans for the Koori.  The idea of community consists of people, the land, animals, weather and the ancestor beings.  All are responsible for caring for each other and everything.  The people are responsible for leading and mentoring each other, especially in the ways of dreaming and Koori laws.

Central Myths

The Koori do not need to look far for their stories – they are written in the nature that surrounds them.  A rock, valley, cave even a path has a sacred story that is being told by the ancestors in the dreaming world.  These stories are sacred and considered as a myth because scholars are unable to corroborate the stories as facts. There are no other cultures to compare the Koori stories with.  Researchers are unable to validate the stories as true or false.  They exist and they are to remain sacred to the Koori.

Rituals

The Koori have rites of passages for birth, puberty, marriage, and death.

Rites of devotion are a form of communication with the ancestor beings.  These include dancing, music, prayers, songs and offerings.

Material Expression

As you will recall nature is filled with ancestor beings and all of nature is sacred.  Some aspects of nature houses the power of the ancestor beings while other parts tell the stories of the ancestor beings. These sacred spaces are occupied the ancestor being become centers of rites and rituals.

Time is a form of material expression for the Koori. They have specific times that are more sacred than other times.  These times are designated for rituals that may coincide with certain natural events such harvesting, fertility of animals and natural forces.

Emotional Experience

Through dreaming the Koori are intertwined with the creators – the ancestral beings.  Through dreaming the Koori can create a tangible connection to the esoteric and to see and understand the sacred in tangible forms.

Symbols

Koori symbols are found in totems, natural objects and man-made artistic works.  These objects are used to connect the Koori to the dreaming world and create a connection between the humans the ancestor beings in the dreaming world.

Ethics

Koori ethics were established by the sacred ancestor beings and are shared through dreaming.  These laws are about how to co-exist with the land, nature and fellow humans.  These laws are both religious and social to the Koori.  What is interesting is that the ancestor beings have broken the laws given to the Koori providing them guidance to the forbidden actions.  Disobeying the laws results in punishment and natural disasters.

Sacredness

Certain object and people are considered sacred.  The Koori have designated people who own certain rituals, objects, art work and music. These individuals in turn are responsible for performing specific rituals.

There are no sacred text for the Koori.  However, they have sacred words that tell their stories.  The Koori has sacred stories and songs that are shared from generation to generation.  Images are used to tell sacred stories as well via drawings, man-made objects or natural objects.

Bibliography

Dickie, R. (2005). Indigenous Traditions and Sacred Ecology in the Pacific Islands. UW-L Journal of Undergraduate III, 9.