It is a tradition of the Aboriginal people that when someone dies, their bodies are painted in the relevant totemic symbols of their people, sung over and mourned. Their body is then taken to their traditional homeland and left to decompose. Later on, their bones are collected and placed inside of these hollowed out logs. White ants are used to eat away the wood from the middle, creating a tube like structure. Once the bones have been placed inside, the log coffins are placed upright and left to decompose.
These coffins are beautifully decorated with totemic designs of their clan, and the bones are painted with red ochre.
This entire burial ceremony is said to ensure the safe arrival of the spirit of the deceased on its perilous journey from the earth to the land of the dead.
Log Coffins in the Aboriginal Memorial (National Gallery of Australia)
I feel that this entire process shows how much the Aboriginal people valued the land in the fact that they are giving their bodies back to mother nature who has given them so much. The respect that these people have for members of their clan is truly inspirational. The ceremonies that they conduct show how the Aboriginal people embrace death as another part of life and believe that there is something to look forward to beyond the grave. And because there is this strong belief, their families want to provide safe passage for their loved ones. Examples of such respect is beautiful to see within cultures, maybe more so because it is something not highly evident in our own society. That is one of the issues I have, being part of a western cultural group. We have been brought up lacking the education and enforcement of true values such as respect, and consequently, this causes major rifts in our inner social groups. In this sense, I envy the Aboriginal people and their overall sense of love and family, and their commitment to one another.
I find it truly fascinating that their burial procedure can take such a long period of time. Imagine having to create a coffin for your loved one... In western society we merely look in a catalogue and either pick a coffin based on price, our favourite (appearance wise) or the one we find most suited to the deceased. Once our loved one is buried, that's it. We remember them and may visit their graves, and in a way I suppose the give back to the land, but not really on purpose.
ReplyDeleteTaking the decomposed bones and giving them a new life may seem rather odd to us, but if you think about it, and as you've already said, their love for their 'people' and for mother nature is really something we can reflect upon and learn from.