Ritual- brief intro and Aboriginal presentation

 Ritual, play and performance have a similar history, and often are mistaken for being the same thing. However, each of them has a different set of characteristics that makes them unique. Performance is probably the hardest one to define, since it is included both in play and performance. It can stylized/congruent to everyday behavior/ improvised... According to the Performance Studies Textbook, performance is "ritualized behavior conditioned and/or permeated by play". Play and ritual are similar in purposes, however its the duration that varies. In both cases, the objective is to change the audiences and/or the actors either permanently (in the case of rituals) or temporarily (in the case of play). Play also gives the audience a change to experience something out of the ordinary and that they wouldn't normally experience in their lives. Rituals can either be secular or sacred (non-religious and religious) and date back to 20 000-30 000 years ago. We were assigned to present a project about an indigenous culture and explain a ritual performed by them. I chose to talk about the Indigenous Australians and here are some key points of my presentation:

 The Indigenous Australians (commonly know as "Aboriginals") were the first inhabitants of the Australian continent, and migrated from India 50 000 years ago. The term "aboriginal" comes from latin, derived from ab (from) and origino (origin, beginning) meaning "the earliest known". There are more than 250 aboriginal dialects, but only 15 are officially recognized. The Aboriginals are the fathers of the didgeridoo, a wind instrument developed 1500 years. It has a very wide range of notes and it is used in the communication with the Gods and in festivities. One of the most important rituals of the aboriginal culture is the initiation of boys into manhood. The boys, usually aged around 12-16 years old, are taken from their mothers by the men and painted in red ochre. The mothers then perform a mourning dance since their children will be lost and returning as men. The men teach and perform dances and songs to the boys concerning the passage to adulthood from childhood and these may not be observed by women and children. The boys are taken into a sacred bush were they are kept in seclusion for a number of days and then return to the general camp were they can only be visited my men. There, they jump over small fires and are sometimes tossed in the air to make them strong. When the men decide the boys are ready for the ultimate passage, they are painted in white ochre and have to show their mothers they are now men by performing a series of kangaroo hoops. They are shown the "witi" dances (which can be seen by women and children) and are then circumcised to physically mark their manhood.