Significance Of 'Land' To Aboriginal Culture

Source 1 displays a Indigenous prayer ceremony to prepare for Christmas. The ceremony is influenced by Aboriginal culture such as their connection with the land and the spirits of the First Peoples. For Aborigines “all objects are living and share the same soul and spirit as them”. Spirituality is heavily incorporated into the everyday lives of Aboriginals. Spirituality can be defined as the sense of a connection to something bigger than yourself and involves a search for the meaning of life.

Unique traditions, language, beliefs and values all comprise Indigenous culture. It is critical that a meaningful appreciation of their culture

An innate understanding that all beings on the planet are important for the subsistence of each other is a large part of Indigenous ideology, as well as the respect for the vast ways with which beings on the planet interact; whether they are “animate” or “inanimate”, they are all apart of the “web of relationships” (Battiste & Henderson, 2000, p. 44). Drawing from this view, most Indigenous Peoples believe that every member of a community has their own thoughts, gifts, and knowledge that they are able to contribute to the group. This means that there is also a large appreciation of Reciprocity because all knowledge is good knowledge, and that means all knowledge holds some validity and truth. Dreams, for example, are seen as premonitions and fact. As it happens, Indigenous Peoples place much of their societal values into facets of life that are intangible, such as emotions, spirituality, and mentality. It is for this reason that maintaining healthy and Respect-based Relationships amongst all beings on the planet is such an important part of Indigenous identity. The holistic understanding of the world can only occur if individuals are listening to each other as well as sharing whatever knowledge that they have to share.

Key aspects of Indigenous knowledge include: monism, holism, relations, reciprocity, and inner/outer space (Frideres). The monist aspect of Indigenous ways of knowing suggests that there is no division between mind and matter. All animate and inanimate things have life spirit, and hence hold knowledge. Indigenous knowledge is holistic as it identifies cultural context as a central influence on knowledge. In this way, Indigenous ways of knowing are subjective. Relationships between all things on earth are a key component of Indigenous thought. This ties into the principle of reciprocity, which highlights the importance of actions and reactions between all things. Indigenous peoples believe they are not only in a reciprocal relationship with living and non-living things, but that they are responsible to them. When one comes about a certain piece of knowledge, one is transformed by it and therefore have a responsibility to act in light of that knowledge and share it in a conscientious manner. Finally, Indigenous knowledge is situated in the ‘inner space,’ as it is inherently colored by the reality that exists in each individual. Reality is bound by cultural and social contexts. In this way, Indigenous knowledge recognizes a multitude of realities that are interconnected

Continue on this direction could threatened the culture of collectivism in our indigenous communities, as indigenous people (including other races) are now forced to live under an individualistic culture, that are supported by so many government programs and policies. This lead to most indigenous people become so dependent on government assistance, and could be one contributing factor for difficulties in achieving tribal autonomy. Individual tribal members who are now residing in urban centers are the most vulnerable group to this invasive individualistic culture and lifestyle, with some tribal members now forget their mother tongue language, culture and

Indigenous are tribal people who identify themselves as indigenous people. They inhabited a region in a country, generations to generations, which is surrounded by national resources. Their social, cultural and economic conditions distinguish them from countrywide communities, and their customs or traditions, special laws or policy are governed by their own set of regulations, entirely or partly. They are determined to maintain and further develop their identity and distinct social, economic, cultural and political institutions as distinct peoples and community, (“UNITED NATIONS PERMANENT FORUM ON INDIGENOUS,” 2008, p. 7-9).

can gather some basic understanding of what is seen to be of value in a certain

Furthermore, from indigenous people’s development, we more pay attention to the culture that are on a verge of

Indigenous people partake in various traditional healing processes which include smudging, healing circles, sweat lodge, sun dance, pipe ceremony and potlach, they also have four sacred medicines which

Atkinsons (2005) states that within Indigenous communities,Land and Country are interchangeably used to illustrate as “a resource,which behaves as a living being,and a life support system for humans”. Indigenous model of health revolves around a number of components such as nourishments, stress reduction, interaction with the land with a higher emphasize being placed on traditional land, personal identification and culture playing a significant role contributing towards a balanced health outcome (‘Yotti’ Kingsley, Townsend, Phillips & Aldous, 2009). As highlighted in Lutschini, 2005, association of native individuals to their country, sense of group and family is essential to the experience of wellbeing. As identified in literature, land plays a crucial and central figure in Indigenous identity encompassing physical,spiritual,cultural and emotional bonds (Richmond, Elliott, Matthews & Elliott, 2005). Throughout centuries through to present

Aboriginal In Canada, many Aboriginal people highly value traditional knowledge that the environment can teach them. They have traditional ways of using natural resources. They also have a sort of theory that a person is connected by the food they eat, their environment, and the impact of lifestyle choices. These three things are essential to have a good quality of life. In Aboriginal communities, oral history is very important.

In the Cultural immersion program, Uncle David Tourinier, a local elder stated that there were three ways of life that taught an indigenous person all important aspects of life so he can become a story teller and pass on the knowledge to the future generations so that they can succeed. He stated the first thing was the talk and that the language goes hand in hand with the culture, as it talks about who they are, it talks about things important to them. Second thing was the hunting and gathering. It was all about celebrating, eating about sharing and about talking to families. The third was the songs and dances. Once one was fully equipped with the three, one was taken to be “qualified”. Uncle David also stated that kinships and family were also a very important part of there being.

The Dreaming are stories of great spiritual value used to define the creation of the world from their ancestor

Cultural integrity, wellbeing and expression are three important aspects in the aboriginal people’s life. Cultural wellbeing is having the freedom of expressing art, history, heritage and traditions of your own culture and to belong to a cultural group. Cultural expression is the way in which a community expresses its culture; It can be dances, art, songs, etc. To have cultural integrity is to respect other people’s cultural differences.

Put simply, the basis of the kinship system meant that aboriginals regarded their entire group as