M3 - Learner Manual

Organisational Structure

All clan groups have key people who are keepers of stories and creation stories and maintain connection or contact with the Creation spirits through cultural practice.

Certain Elders for instance are keepers of specific stories or rituals, with responsibilities for cultural maintenance broken down into men’s business and women’s business.

Indigenous spirituality is broader than a religion.

The term Judeo-Christian groups Judaism and Christianity, either about Christianity's derivation from Judaism or due to perceived parallels or commonalities shared between the two traditions. ... The term "Abrahamic religions" is used to include, Christianity, Judaism and Islam

·       Catholic means “Universal”

·       Judaism means” from/ of Judah’’ the old name for Israel

Islam places emphasis on the individual’s relationship with God. The framework for this relationship follows the guidelines set out by the Qur’an and Sunnah. This relationship, in turn, defines a Muslim’s relations with everyone, which brings about justice, organization, and social harmony.

In many Islamic countries the government, justice and law-making is directly related to the teachings of Islam

Islam means "submission" (to the will of God)

Western cultures refer to Hinduism like other faiths is appropriately referred to as a religion. In India the term dharma is preferred, which is broader than the western term religion.

Hinduism is a polytheism (many gods) rather than the Judeo-Christian monotheism (one God only)

Hindu (or Indu) means sea and is from the Sanskrit word for the Indus river. ‘Hindu’ was used by Greeks to denote the country and people living beyond the Indus river. 

Key Beliefs

Key Beliefs

Key Beliefs

The earth is eternal, and so are the many ancestral figures / beings who inhabit it.

These beings are often associated with particular animals, for example Kangaroo-men, Emu-men or Bowerbird-women.

As they journeyed across the face of the Earth these powerful beings created human, plant and animal life; and they left traces of their journeys in the natural features of the land.

They also connected particular groups of people with particular regions and languages.

Some groups held belief in a supreme being – Biami, The Lightening Brothers, Wandjina

The Dreaming continues to control the natural world.

Spiritual practice is linked to country through everyday life, ceremony and ritual. This is manifest in the landscape rather than as words in unchangeable text. The land and the stories are the teacher.

All Judeo-Christian religions hold the 10 commandments at the core of their beliefs.

Judaism focuses on the relationships between the Creator, mankind, and the land of Israel.  Judaism does not have formal mandatory beliefs (other than the 10 commandments) but looks to 13 principles of faith:

·       God exists

·       There is only one God

·       God is incorporeal (not flesh but spirit)

·       God is eternal

·       Prayer is to be directed to God alone and to no other

·       The words of the prophets are true

·       Moses' prophecies are true, and Moses was the greatest of the prophets

·       The Written Torah (first 5 books of the Bible – The Old Testament) and Oral Torah (teachings now contained in the Talmud and other writings) were given to Moses

·       There will be no other Torah

·       God knows the thoughts and deeds of men

·       God will reward the good and punish the wicked

·       The Messiah will come

·       The dead will be resurrected

Though there are some similarities between Judaism and Christianity, followers of the Christian religion base their beliefs on the life, teachings, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, written in the Gospels – The New Testament. Like Jews, Christians believe in one God that created heaven, earth and the universe. Christians believe Jesus is the "Messiah" or saviour of the world. In contrast, Jews believe the Messiah is yet to come.

Christianity teaches that we are all born as sinners (original sin) where Jews believe that we are all born pure and free from sin.

Muslims believe that Islam is the complete and universal version of a primordial faith that was revealed many times before through prophets including Adam, Abraham, Moses and Jesus.

Muslims consider the Quran to be the unaltered and final revelation of God.

Muslims have six main beliefs

·       Belief in Allah as the one and only God

·       Belief in angels

·       Belief in the holy books (this includes the Judaio-Christian text - The Old Testament)

·       Belief in the Prophets. e.g. Adam, Ibrahim (Abraham), Musa (Moses), Dawud (David), Isa (Jesus)

·       Mohammed is believed to be the last law bearing prophet sent by God

·       Belief in the Day of Judgement

·       Belief in Predestination

The formal beginning of the Muslim era was in 622 CE. Therefore, the year 2000 (based on the Gregorian calendar derived from the birth of Jesus as being year 1) was the Islamic year 1378.

Based on a lunar calendar with days lasting from sunset to sunset Islamic holy days fall on fixed dates of the lunar calendar, which means that they occur in different seasons in different years according to the Gregorian calendar.

·       Dharma (righteousness, ethics) is considered the foremost goal of a human being in Hinduism. The concept Dharma includes behaviours that are considered to be in accord with Rta - the order that makes life and universe possible

·       Truth is eternal

·       Brahman is Truth and Reality

·       The Vedas are the ultimate authority

·       Everyone should strive to achieve dharma

·       Individual souls are immortal

·       Individual souls are repeatedly reincarnated until achieving moksha

·       The goal of the individual soul is moksha.

Major scriptures include the Vedas and Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, and the Agamas

Prominent themes in Hinduism include the four Puruṣārthas, the proper goals or aims of human life, namely:

·       Dharma (ethics/ duties)

·       Artha (prosperity/ work)

·       Kama (desires/ passions)

·       Moksha (liberation/ freedom/ salvation)

·       karma (action, intent and consequences)

·       Saṃsāra (cycle of life, death and rebirth)

·       various Yogas (paths or practices to attain moksha)

Practices, Rituals and Festivals

Practices, Rituals and Festivals

Practices, Rituals and Festivals

·       Ritual ceremonies involving special sacred sites, song cycles accompanied by dance, and body painting, and even sports, invoke these mythic and living beings and continue to provide the means to access the spiritual powers of The Dreaming

·       Smoking is used for spiritual cleansing

·       At important stages of men and women’s lives, ceremonies are held to seek the assistance of spiritual beings. This makes them direct participants in the continuing process of the Dreaming

·       Other ceremonies are known as increase rites, in which the willingness of ancestral beings to release the land’s fertility depends upon humans

·       Smoke is used for cleansing

Recent years have seen major modern Indigenous festivals emerge. Some of these are celebrated nationally, they include:

·       Stompin’ Ground

·       Yeperenye Dreaming

·       Barunga Festival

·       Laura Festival

·       NARLA Knock Out

·       Survival

·       Coming of the Light

·       CROC Eisteddfod

·       NAIDOC

·       Reconciliation Week.

Judaic:

·       Various dietary restrictions and requirements, e.g. no eating pig meat, kosher preparation and production for foods and beverages and the slaughter of animals

·       Covering the head is an act of respect for God – especially during prayer, with a skull cap (yarmulke)

·       Male circumcision (brit milah)

·       Bat Mitzvah – at age 13 (12 for girls) becoming responsible for observing the 10 commandments

·       Shabbat – Saturday is day of rest - spent with family

·       Yom Kippur – annual day of atonement, a fasting day

·       Chanukkah -  Many non-Jews consider this as the Jewish Christmas a there is elaborate gift-giving and decoration

Catholicism’s 7 Sacraments:

·       Baptism – usually as an infant

·       Confirmation – at age 12

·       Confession

·       Holy communion

·       Marriage

·       Taking Holy Orders

·       Unction (Anointing of the Sick) This follows on to receiving the Last rites – at death

Burning of incense is used for spiritual cleansing

Many of the other branches of Christianity have similar practices/ rituals.

Christian Festivals/ Celebrations

·       Christmas –the birth of Jesus

·       Lent – fasting etc. 6 weeks leading up to Easter

·       Easter–The death and resurrection of Jesus

·       Various dietary restrictions and requirements, e.g. no eating pig meat, halal is the strict Islamic specification for the slaughter and raising of animals and preparation of meat for eating. Kosher and halal methods of animal slaughter are very similar, making kosher meat acceptable to Muslims

·       Shahada, the declaration of faith

·       Salat, - prayers - five times a day

·       Zakat – charity -alms-giving.

·       Sawm - fasting such as in Ramadan

·       Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca

·       Ritual purity in Islam, an essential aspect of Islam

·       In pictures: Hajj

·       male circumcision (Khitan)

·       Hindus are vegetarian

·       Cows, in particular are sacred and must never be harmed in any way

·       Puja – worship that includes regular ritual and recitation usually with offerings of food, flowers, etc.

·       meditation

·       family-oriented rites of passage

·       many annual festivals (some examples below)

·       occasional pilgrimages.

Some Hindus leave their social world and material possessions, to engage in lifelong Sannyasa (monastic practices) to achieve Moksha.

Festivals

·       Diwali (the festival of lights) is the best known

·       Holi

·       Navaratri (celebrating fertility and harvest)

·       Raksha Bandhan (celebrating the bond between brother and sister)

·       Janmashtami (Krishna's birthday)

·       Festival days for the many Gods and Goddesses, mean that most days of the year hosts a celebration/ veneration

·       Many people align themselves with particular Gods or Goddesses or group of deities to practice their primary devotion