Awabakal Culture And Spirituality: A Discussion On Self-Definition In NSW

Awabakal Culture in NSW

Question:

Discuss about the Awabakal Self-Definition at Local Level for Economically.

Awabakal community in NSW are a cohort of Indigenous individuals of Australia. They were united by shared language, firm kinship ties as well lived as skillful hunter-fisher-gatherers in the clans or family groups that were spread along the coastal regions of the modern day Mid North Coast area of NSW, Australia. The Awabakals traditional border stretches from Wollombi (south) to Lower Hunter River close to Newcastle and Lake Macquarie (north). The Awabakal was utilized to explicate individuals of the Awaba area (Lake Macquarie-plain/flat surface). The Awabakal’s alternative name is Awabagal with Awaba being the present name of small town in the area and they use Awabakal language.  They engage in such practices as eaglehawk which is highly of special importance for the people. The use Koun as a celestial entity that appears like Aboriginal man, yet in fight takes after eagle-hawk. 

Awabakal cultures has shown a significant different socially, economically and politically in Australia. The paper is therefore a discussion how the indigenous cultures of the Awabakal differ significantly with other cultures in Australia in terms of the stamp Awabakal Self-Definition in NSW. I seek to investigate the extent to which the Awabakal cultures vary with the rest of the cultures in the country (Hayhurst & Giles, 2013). Further, the paper explicates a clear and precise consistency by synthesizing and illustrating the understanding of the Awabakal people’s cultural beliefs and traditions to explain the processes use by them to fight for their self-determination and self-management. This will help in the explanation and identification of the models and practical strategies Awabakal that will bring about the most substantial outcome or changes for all Aboriginal communities in NSW to attain their true self-determination. 

In essence, the paper presents an in-depth understanding of the Awabakal. Therefore, to effectively accomplish this essay, I will focus my discussion to distinguishing features between the practices of death and dying for the Australian Awabakal as compared and contrasted to the non-indigenous Australian. Thus, in short, the paper puts a close eye on the reflection on the Awabakal’s values and beliefs about their self-definition and to showcase closely how such noted beliefs impacts on the personal and professional interactions. Further, I will ultimately focus my enquiry on the identification of sources of spiritual, psychological and social support for the Awabakal with life constraining illness as well as their respective families to understand the Awabakal self-definition.

Beliefs and Traditions: Death and Dying

The Awabakal religion has beliefs in gods that created them as wells as the surroundings. The Awabakal greatly believe in religion as well as spirits and are hence highly religious and spirituals people. The Awabakal however, do not worship and pray to one invisible god, particular cohort of Awabakal believe in many various deities. The deities have their image portrayed in recognizable and tangible forms such as individual landscape feature, a rock art shelter image, plants and animal’s images (Clark & Williamson, 2016). The Australian Awabakal attaches no belief to the animism. However, there is a likelihood that an Awabakals will believe on the existence of a deity’s creation behind an outcropping rock. In other words an outcropping rock is believed to be a representation of a deity from Creation Period.

The Awabakals believe that several plants and animals do interchange with human life. This continuous process of interchangeability occurs via re-incarnation of the spirits and soul as reflected in the Creation Period where they believe that plants and animals were initially people. Interestingly, there is never a single deity that gives a full representation of the Awabakals as individual tribes possess a particular deity. Also, the beliefs of the Awabakals overlap in the similar manner words do overlap across the language groupings. The Awabakals also believe in the Totemic Beings, Ancestral Beings and Creation Beings. The Totemic beings lies between as it create many species whereas people perceive themselves to have been drawn from these abundance species (Dudgeon, Wright, Paradies, Garvey & Walker, 2010).

The Awabakals practice initiation ceremonies linked to boys and girls transition to the adulthood. The ceremonies are accompanied by singing and dancing, body decoration display as well ceremonial objects as well as storytelling. Moreover, the Awabakals particularly Arnhem Land and Central Australia hold rituals to ensure Ancestral Beings supply adequate food from plants and animals. Such rituals are based on singing, dancing and chanting as well as ritual actions aims at invoking the Ancestral Beings to supply rain and adequate food.

The stringent cultural practices of Awabakal have made it difficult for the Australian to lift the health standards in the country’s indigenous communities. Accordingly, the Awabakals have persistently suffered from the worsening health crisis based on high mortality rates, low life expectancy and sexuality transmitted disease just to mention a few. The Awabakal smoke, alcoholic and eat unhealthy foods. The Awabakal hold that health and healing can never be isolated and hence, it goes beyond being not being sick but rather integrates mental, emotional, spiritual and cultural health. However, Australia has remained the only place where indigenous wellbeing takes a backward form. 

Awabakal Spirituality

Similar to other world cultures and religions, Awabakal culture has its beliefs in terms of how dying and death is interpreted and related to. The Awabakal people believe in soul re- incarnation after death, a process that involves a transition from one being to another through the process of death and rebirth. The process is renewed each and every time a spirit detaches from the physical world (Hayhurst & Giles, 2013). The soul interchanges between humans, animals, and plants. Subsequently, Awabakal people practice respect to the dead as it is traditionally wrong to refer directly to a dead person by name for about twelve months to several years later depending on the nature of death. Names sakes of deceased are referred to using a substitute name during the avoidance period.

Upon a person’s death, the bereaved often paint themselves white and cut themselves as a sign of remorse and grief on the loss of their family member (Richardson, 2017). A series of songs and dances, chants and rituals are conducted in hopes of accompanying the spirit as it leaves the area to return to its origin where it undergoes the transition to rebirth. Burial practices vary throughout Australia. In the northern communities, burials are carried out in two stages each with specific ceremony and rituals (Clark & Williamson, 2016).

The first category of burial commonly referred to as primary burial involves the corpse being laid out on a raised wooden ground. The corpse is then covered with branches and plant leaves and left for several months. Upon the rotting of the flesh, bones are collected, and this begins the second phase of the burial (Rowse, 2016). In addition, the collected bones are painted with red ochre and then dispersed in different locations. At times, a relative carries with him a portion of the bones for a year or less and in some occurrences more than a year. In other cases, the bones are wrapped and left in a cave shelter where they decompose with time (Pinto, Pinto, Blue and Blue 2017).                 

The Awabakal spirituality is anchored firmly on the land that possess them. The Awabakal spiritually attributes all object to life and sharing similar soul or spirit Awabakal people. In essence, the spirituality of this particular cohort of people is oneness and closely interconnected with every object that is believed to be living and breathing (Stanton, Adachi & Huijser, 2015). Further, their spirituality is interconnected and in togetherness with the objects that do not breath or live (Schnarch, 2004). Thus, these people are spiritually driven by oneness and sense of belonging that is interlocked and intertwined with the innermost feelings whereas everything else remaining secondary. Thus, land is central and a key driver to the Awabakal spirituality as beliefs and tradition of these people are invariably about the land Awabakal people dwell (Parker & Milroy, 2010).

Challenges and Health Issues

Thus, according to the Awabakals they believe on a geosophical that means that their spiritually is earth centered and never theosophical that imply that of God-centered. The Awabakal country is the earth that is impregnated with the Ancestral Spirits’ powers that is drawn by the Awabakals (McHugh, 2004). Thus, unlike the non-indigenous people, particularly the whites, Awabakals experience a connection to their geosophical land that is far flung for the whites. Thus, the Awabakal spiritually is primarily characterized by the obligation to look after their land that has even integrated into the laws over the centuries (Cunneen, 2001).

Thus, to the Awabakals, spiritually is explicated and fathomed to be all about tapping into the still places when travels or strolls while on the country with an innermost feeling of a sense of belonging and the interconnection to all objects in one’s surroundings be it living and breathing or not (Haswell et al., 2010). Further, the Awabakal believes on silence as the key point of their connection to the land as the spiritual contact with their earth (mother) strongly anchors them on the place.  In essence, Awabakals are closely and linked to the land as they firmly believe that it is the land that possess them rather than the common believe by the non-indigenous that they always own land (Johns, 2011).

The land is rated the mother to the Awabakals and everything be it positive or negative has the land as its stepping stones. Indeed, they believe to have originated from the land as the land remains the spirit, identity, foods as well as culture (Papillon, 2014). Thus, the Awabakal spirituality goes beyond a mere common perception of the non-indigenous that only attributes humans and animals to have souls but extends an Olive branch to rocks to be possessing souls and thus living and equal to any other living Awabakals (Schnarch, 2004). Thus, an Awabakal believes that once someone’s physical form has passed through death, the soul and the spirit remains livings and continue on. Therefore, the Awabakal attaches less importance to the shape as every form shares same spirit and soul from the Dreamtime upon death as the spirits resurfaces to the Dreamtime and thus restores via birth as an animal, a plant a rock or a human (Stanton, Adachi & Huijser, 2015).

The Awabakal spirituality is the bedrock of their respective religion that shapes the Awabakals religious expression and practices. However, it is key to note the absence of a common or singular Awabakal spirituality. This is due to the presence of over 250 languages before the invasion and particular language cluster possessed particular creation stories and spirituality (Walker, 2008). Thus, Awabakal spirituality is diversely incredible as presently there exist fifty languages with the thirty of these being critical based on individual cultures, spirituality, creation stories as well every diverse differences in all aspects of life.

Conclusion

Sexual orientation is diverse, and it is quite difficult to distinguish the gay population. Most of them look fairly normal, and one may take a long time to get a sense of their sexual preference. This section will analyses the Awabakal culture and how the indigenous community looks at homosexuality using moral and liberal lenses (Napoleon, 2005).

Just like in many other tribes, the Awabakals forbid homosexuality acts but consider the fact that certain people can possess both male and female spirits in their bodies. In relation, such orientation is approved when they have similar sexual preferences (Myers, 2016). The culture approves of anal sex in male-male relationships, but it is disapproved or deeply frowned upon in others. Simply said, there are several complex rules that govern heterosexual relationships and are also applied to homosexual relationships if any exists (Peterson & Myers, 2016). Consequently, this illustrates that homosexuality is disapproved but considered acceptable under the conditions mentioned above.

The moral compass of the Awabakal points out at the deviant as punishable and unethical while on a liberal ground; they argue out that the nature of an individual dictates his/her sexual preference and hence should not be subjected to torture and criticism based on that. Those who oppose homosexuality in totality among the Awabakals consider it an abominable and god-forsaken deed linked to Sodom and Gomora. In relations, the reactions differ per subgroup, and the underlying factor is that homosexuals still have a mount hill giant to tackle so as to get their preferences approved by all native and indigenous groups (Zubrick, Dudgeon, Gee, Glaskin, Kelly, Paradies & Walker, 2004).

The underlying factor, however, is embedded on the need for a family, the community and the wisdom of elders. Consequently, the values remain important for all indigenous groups and hence those who go against the values may be subjected to discrimination, harassment, and violence to a greater level. 

Conclusion

In conclusions, Awabakal have held on to their native cultures as the main source of fighting for their self-definition. This culture remains very dear to them and hence this has ensured their endurance without being assimilated into the modern practices. As has been seen from the discussion, Awabakal have remained resilient in defending their culture based on their strong values and beliefs in the originality thereby stamping their authority and presence in the NSW. 

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