The customs of Australian aborigines

Faith is the most important part of indigenous life. Every piece of land or aboriginal tribe has its religious origin, so there has never been any dispute between them over land and other sources of livelihood. Most of the conflicts between them are caused by religious activities and folk customs, and they are offended by foreigners. Conflicts are usually resolved by the elders of the tribe through mediation. This implies to us that when visiting indigenous cultures, it is best not to take photos casually without the consent of the parties concerned.

Indigenous people believe that all land and natural things were created by the ancestors of God who existed in the dream period before human beings appeared. And these ancestors still exist in nature, affecting everything in nature. Totem is the ancestor of God and the intermediary between human beings. Everyone has his own totem, which is usually acted by some animals such as kangaroos, birds and fish.

About the dream period or creative period, each story gives the religion and customs related to each tribe, as well as the origin of each tribe's land, and tells where to get living resources, such as finding resources and how to find a life partner. This is actually a life textbook for each tribe, which is why the life of indigenous people cannot be separated from religion.

Indigenous people love the sacred places related to their ancestors very much, and everyone will consciously safeguard them.

Language and music culture

There are many indigenous languages, but most of them are facing extinction. Before the arrival of Europeans, there were about 250 dialects, but now there are only about 100 dialects, and only about 20 dialects are actually used. Most indigenous people use English as their first or second language. Many languages can only be spoken by the older generation. Indigenous languages are in danger of becoming obsolete.

Indigenous music is the most wonderful part of indigenous culture, daily life and celebrations. Most of them have a strong religious color.

There are three kinds of indigenous music:

First, it is sacred, used for sacred and secret celebrations, and can only be used for special purposes in specific places. Its theme is usually related to certain events and the ancestors of God. Some songs are only known to certain people. Women also have their own secret ways to celebrate.

Second, it is semi-sacred, and this kind of music accounts for the majority. They usually have men singing and women dancing, and he can only perform in some celebration places. Men would never sing these songs on other occasions.

Third, non-sacred entertainment music. There are all kinds of people who can perform everywhere.

Music is a very important part of indigenous people's daily life, and indigenous children are required to sing and dance as their daily homework. Children learn different songs at different times.

The Didgeridoos on the left is the most important instrument of indigenous people, made of hollow wooden pipes and played by adult male indigenous people.

Indigenous music consists of rhythmic songs and limited musical instruments. Except Didgeridoos, most of its musical instruments are composed of simple and primitive percussion instruments, such as clapping hands, patting the body and hitting sticks.

Painter's style

Hundreds of years ago, in Australia, an ancient and isolated continent, there was a nation unrelated to other races in the world-Australian aborigines. At that time, they didn't have their own history and language. They accompany eucalyptus trees all the year round, interact with kangaroos and platypus, and live a life of almost complete isolation from the outside world. In the mountains and hills, they live in caves in case of accidents; In the forest and bushes, they build sheds with branches and cover them with skins and bark to keep out the cold; In the dry desert of Yuan Ye, they built sand walls to keep out the wind. It is in this long-term struggle with nature that Australian aborigines formed their own unique history and culture. During our short stay in Australia, we found that through Australian museums and art galleries, and through the painting art of Australian aborigines, we can see the precious history and culture of their owners.

According to an expert who specializes in the art of aboriginal painting in the National Museum of Australia, because there is no cultural record of Australian aborigines in history, their culture is mostly manifested in fairy tales, songs, paintings, sculptures and customs handed down orally. Painting is a particularly important medium to record history and spread indigenous culture, and is regarded as an important material to understand the historical formation and cultural development of this nation. The cave wall carvings discovered by NULLABOR in South Australia are stone murals of indigenous people, with a history of 20,000 years. These paintings not only show their understanding of nature by symbolic means, but also record their customs, deified stories and fishing and hunting life by concrete means. Therefore, Australian aboriginal painting is also called "visual culture". "Dream time" is regarded by indigenous people as the beginning of the whole world, where everything in the sky, the earth and human beings was born. At that time, there was chaos in the world, and there was only one python-the aborigines thought it was the incarnation of God. After the python fell asleep, it dreamed of land, and land appeared. Dreaming of people, people appear. So the world was created by God, and God controls the changes of everything. This understanding of nature is naturally reflected in indigenous painting art, and has become the theme that indigenous painting art has always described.

A scholar in Canberra, the capital of Australia, told us that there is no word "painter" in the local indigenous language, and painting is generally regarded as a compulsory course for indigenous people. When indigenous children reach a certain age, they begin to draw all kinds of things with their elders. With the growth of age, the scope of painting is gradually expanding and the content is becoming more and more complicated, so the painting skills are constantly improving. However, due to the limitation of material conditions, indigenous painting forms are basically divided into three types: stone murals, bark paintings and sand paintings.

Stone murals are carved into concave patterns on the stone walls of caves or rocks, hence the name. Its contents are mostly deified legends, figures in the dream-making period, animals and plants, etc. The form of painting is relatively simple, including geometric figures and objects, which generally have certain meanings. It is a visual language that records or symbolizes something or events, such as the geographical location of rivers and mountains, the footprints of ancestors and hunting routes. Stone murals are divided into knife carving and direct painting. The pigments used are mostly taken from brown and white minerals near the painting site and ground into powder, and the picture is generally the same size as the real thing. At present, this simple stone mural can be seen in most parts of Australia, most of which are well preserved in Kinberleys in Western Australia and Cape Peninou in Queensland. Although these paintings have gone through vicissitudes of life, some of them have a history of tens of thousands of years, but they are still clear and identifiable.

We saw some stone murals in Kimberly, and the most spectacular one was a picture of a dinosaur. This behemoth is pumping water leisurely by the pond in the forest, and a few people are watching it not far away, as if afraid to approach it. The brown pigment on the dinosaur's head is very clear.

Sand and stone paintings can be said to be masterpieces created by indigenous people living in desert areas, mostly concentrated in the desert areas of central Australia. Mainly use sand, branches, charcoal, feathers and other paintings to form a certain pattern on the flat and clean ground, and then paint and animal blood. Most of the subjects are fairy tales. This kind of sandstone painting is mostly used for sacrificial ceremonies. After the ceremony, it is generally not preserved, so there are no works that are too old.

The history of bark painting is not as long as that of stone murals. It has been circulating in Australian aborigines for nearly a century, and now it has become the symbol of the highest artistic achievement of indigenous painting. Its content is also based on the myth of "dream-making period", and there are a lot of contents showing common animals such as kangaroos and hunting scenes. In terms of expression, it is both symbolic and abstract. Its outstanding feature is that on the basis of carrying forward the tradition, the indigenous people absorb and apply modern western painting techniques, and form fixed patterns with points, lines, circles and geometric figures to express something, form a picture and convey feelings. These paintings look like western modern decorative paintings, but in fact, they have become typical works of art of indigenous people.

In a museum in Sydney, we saw a well-preserved bark painting about 100 years ago. The picture shows the hunter chasing a giant kangaroo. On this complete bark, kangaroos occupy almost 5/6 of the picture, which may be the artist's conscious exaggeration. The most wonderful thing is that its limbs, trunk and even internal organs are clearly displayed in front of the audience, because the painter uses perspective. The original perspective can reproduce the biological bones on the plane like X-rays, but this perspective of Australian aborigines seems to go beyond X-rays and further outline the internal organs of organisms. It is said that the indigenous people of the older generation can "read" the contents of this painting. Bark painting materials can be found everywhere in Australia. Eucalyptus grows straight, and the smooth and delicate light brown skin provides natural and high-quality materials for this painting form. The indigenous people cut off the bark, dried it, flattened it, used branches, human hair or plant fiber bundles as brushes, and used ochre, clods, manganese stone, charcoal and egg juice, blood and orchid juice as pigments. In recent years, some people began to use chemical resin pigments to paint. The traditional colors of bark painting are black, white, ochre, red and yellow. Because bark paintings are easy to carry and preserve, indigenous paintings have undergone qualitative changes, which not only increase the number of paintings, but also show more colorful content and style.

In the process of painting, Australian aborigines naturally inherited their own painting tradition, making it like a tangible text, recording their love for nature and worship of their ancestors. These works are like historical scrolls, showing people the history of a nation's survival and development, as well as a strong primitive cultural atmosphere. This visual art form that reproduces the original appearance of nature in a natural way can be said to be a unique cultural tradition of Australian aborigines.

Australia is a country composed of all nationalities in the world, which fully shows the richness of its culture and art, which is reflected in the paintings, literature and music of indigenous people on the one hand, and in the traditional western arts, literature, modern dance, movies, operas and dramas on the other. The Asia-Pacific region is also an important factor affecting Australian culture. Therefore, Australian works often combine the characteristics of Australia and other countries in content and style, which fully reflects the influence of multiculturalism.

Australian films have a great influence in the world, and often win various international film awards, which have sent a large number of outstanding talents to Hollywood. In a sense, opera is a typical Australian art form. Although it originated in Italy, Australians gave it special enthusiasm and new connotation. From Mrs. Mei Erba to Mrs. joan sutherland, Australia has trained such outstanding female opera singers for the world.

As a multi-ethnic country, the value of indigenous culture is increasingly recognized by people. The history of Australian aboriginal culture can be traced back to 20 thousand years ago. The aborigines have rich oral legends and primitive dances related to sacrifices, but the most prominent one is painting, which is an important means for aborigines to record history and continue culture. The content of indigenous painting takes dreams as the permanent theme, mainly depicting various myths and legends and indigenous customs and life scenes. The main form of indigenous painting is stone murals.

Australian literary works enjoy a high reputation in the world, and indigenous people and immigrant writers from overseas have added new content to this aspect. At present, Australian literary works gradually reflect the cultural significance of the Asia-Pacific region and the understanding of the importance of the common interests of all countries in this region.

Australians like to enjoy concerts. There are eight large professional orchestras in Australia. As far as pop music is concerned, the number of music provided by Australia ranks fourth among English-speaking countries in the world. The export of Australian rock music is developing day by day. Australian culture and art is a huge industry, with 336,000 employees and an annual value of 654.38+03 billion Australian dollars.

Australian films have a great influence in the world, and often win various international film awards, which have sent a large number of outstanding talents to Hollywood. In a sense, opera is a typical Australian art form. Although it originated in Italy, Australians gave it special enthusiasm and new connotation. From Mrs. Mei Erba to Mrs. joan sutherland, Australia has trained such outstanding female opera singers for the world.

Australians also enjoy watching theatrical performances and visiting art exhibitions. On a per capita basis, Australians buy the highest number of magazines and books in the world. There are many art galleries, theaters and libraries in Australia. The most important cultural collection facilities are: Australian National Art Museum, Australian National Library, Australian National Museum, Australian National Film and Audio Archives, National Science and Technology Center, Australian War Memorial Hall and National Ocean Museum. More than 65,438+0,300 museums collect and preserve Australia's cultural heritage, and the Sydney Opera House may be regarded as Australia's most distinctive urban landmark building.