My friend Ferg sent me some incredible photos of a ceremony he recently took part in, read more for some amazing photos and his story. More to come soon!
I was the main participant this weekend in a male initiation ceremony at one of the nearby outstations that involved horizontal chest cutting done with a sharp (although could have been sharper and less serrated thank you very much) stone. We all danced the night before, slept, got up at sunrise, were painted, danced all along the beach to the men’s business area where I was laid down and sliced open. I was told (translated from Yolgnu Matha) the things that a man has to do from now on and after a final dance with my immediate Aboriginal family members it was off home for a well deserved hot bath.
The History Channel were there filming for three days, and the five and a half hours of footage they got will have to be condensed into about fifteen minutes for a one hour show they’re doing about traditional ceremonies around the world.
The local people have completely blown me away with their enthusiasm and energy and of course for giving me the opportunity to actually go through a traditional and authentic ritual. The younger generation got the chance to learn a bit more about a ceremony that is not being practised as much as it used to be and I got to develop a whole new level of respect and gratitude for the people I work and live with.
This has been life changing, and I’m completely serious when I say that. I’m humbled beyond words to have been able to do this and my lifetime gratitude goes to the Aboriginal people of NE Arnhem Land for organising this cultural exchange for us both and allowing me to step into their world. Their generosity has been amazing.
Ferg.
Comments
136 responses to “Life Changing”
n0ir- Indigenous Australian culture is still practiced today amongst many members of their community, this isn’t part of some quaint, condescending revival of the past for the sake of it or the pleasure of other people but a legitimate expression of the oldest continuous culture in the world. It’s completely legitimate for there to be an attempt to build understanding of this culture by filming the process- as the post said, of a 48 hour presence the crew are only going to end up with 15 minutes of footage because the cut everything that custom dictated they couldn’t show. No offense, but think before you flex your pseudo-intellectual muscle and drop names (and wikipedia links) all over the place.
Personally I found this post extremely moving and beautiful.
n0ir- Indigenous Australian culture is still practiced today amongst many members of their community, this isn’t part of some quaint, condescending revival of the past for the sake of it or the pleasure of other people but a legitimate expression of the oldest continuous culture in the world. It’s completely legitimate for there to be an attempt to build understanding of this culture by filming the process- as the post said, of a 48 hour presence the crew are only going to end up with 15 minutes of footage because the cut everything that custom dictated they couldn’t show. No offense, but think before you flex your pseudo-intellectual muscle and drop names (and wikipedia links) all over the place.
Personally I found this post extremely moving and beautiful.
n0ir- Indigenous Australian culture is still practiced today amongst many members of their community, this isn’t part of some quaint, condescending revival of the past for the sake of it or the pleasure of other people but a legitimate expression of the oldest continuous culture in the world. It’s completely legitimate for there to be an attempt to build understanding of this culture by filming the process- as the post said, of a 48 hour presence the crew are only going to end up with 15 minutes of footage because the cut everything that custom dictated they couldn’t show. No offense, but think before you flex your pseudo-intellectual muscle and drop names (and wikipedia links) all over the place.
Personally I found this post extremely moving and beautiful.
n0ir- Indigenous Australian culture is still practiced today amongst many members of their community, this isn’t part of some quaint, condescending revival of the past for the sake of it or the pleasure of other people but a legitimate expression of the oldest continuous culture in the world. It’s completely legitimate for there to be an attempt to build understanding of this culture by filming the process- as the post said, of a 48 hour presence the crew are only going to end up with 15 minutes of footage because the cut everything that custom dictated they couldn’t show. No offense, but think before you flex your pseudo-intellectual muscle and drop names (and wikipedia links) all over the place.
Personally I found this post extremely moving and beautiful.
id love to do that one day
id love to do that one day
id love to do that one day
id love to do that one day
I’ll answer quickly and generally for the moment.
Firstly, this is not just something you can do whenever you want. It’s an authentic, male initiation ceremony though not a sacred one, therefore its results are shared around the community. See the photos from my interview about Aboriginal scarification here:
https://www.bmezine.com/news/guest/20070716.html
for some of the scars on people in the 30′s and 40′s and still presently. Quite a few old people here still have their horizontal chest scars even though this ritual is not done as much with the younger generation – a point which I will explore in more detail later. Many women and children proudly sport their scarification today which is done for a number of reasons and passages through life.
I’ve been living in this particular remote community for the last 2 and a half years out of four. I left then came back, something that a lot of other teachers don’t do. I taught many people here’s kids in primary school for 2 years and now teach secondary school. Prior to this ceremony, I have built up a strong and lasting relationship with many of the people, adults and children alike, in the whole community.
I was adopted into an Aboriginal family in 2004 in another community but have immediate family members who live here and whom I also teach. They are my friends as well as my family and they participated in the ceremony, directing me and dancing directly with me. I owe them a lot for their help and support.
I wouldn’t have been granted permission for this ceremony if I hadn’t already had those bonds with people, regardless of who wanted to film it. Consequently, on both sides, those bonds have now been strengthened greatly.
I’ll write more ‘answers’ into the experience. Some people have brought up some interesting points that I’d like to discuss and expand on.
19. nOir: maybe you can enlighten me a bit with Rousseau’s philosophy and how that applies to me/this?
And yes, the gang sign thing is funny yet sad yet predictable all at the same time. More on that later….
If anyone needs to rant at me personally (because you can’t access my BME page or you just want to swear a bit more) please feel free to email me:
[email protected]
As always, I welcome all comments, good, bad, critical, abusive, complimentary, whatever and I’ll answer them all if you want a reply.
ferg
I’ll answer quickly and generally for the moment.
Firstly, this is not just something you can do whenever you want. It’s an authentic, male initiation ceremony though not a sacred one, therefore its results are shared around the community. See the photos from my interview about Aboriginal scarification here:
https://www.bmezine.com/news/guest/20070716.html
for some of the scars on people in the 30′s and 40′s and still presently. Quite a few old people here still have their horizontal chest scars even though this ritual is not done as much with the younger generation – a point which I will explore in more detail later. Many women and children proudly sport their scarification today which is done for a number of reasons and passages through life.
I’ve been living in this particular remote community for the last 2 and a half years out of four. I left then came back, something that a lot of other teachers don’t do. I taught many people here’s kids in primary school for 2 years and now teach secondary school. Prior to this ceremony, I have built up a strong and lasting relationship with many of the people, adults and children alike, in the whole community.
I was adopted into an Aboriginal family in 2004 in another community but have immediate family members who live here and whom I also teach. They are my friends as well as my family and they participated in the ceremony, directing me and dancing directly with me. I owe them a lot for their help and support.
I wouldn’t have been granted permission for this ceremony if I hadn’t already had those bonds with people, regardless of who wanted to film it. Consequently, on both sides, those bonds have now been strengthened greatly.
I’ll write more ‘answers’ into the experience. Some people have brought up some interesting points that I’d like to discuss and expand on.
19. nOir: maybe you can enlighten me a bit with Rousseau’s philosophy and how that applies to me/this?
And yes, the gang sign thing is funny yet sad yet predictable all at the same time. More on that later….
If anyone needs to rant at me personally (because you can’t access my BME page or you just want to swear a bit more) please feel free to email me:
[email protected]
As always, I welcome all comments, good, bad, critical, abusive, complimentary, whatever and I’ll answer them all if you want a reply.
ferg
I’ll answer quickly and generally for the moment.
Firstly, this is not just something you can do whenever you want. It’s an authentic, male initiation ceremony though not a sacred one, therefore its results are shared around the community. See the photos from my interview about Aboriginal scarification here:
https://www.bmezine.com/news/guest/20070716.html
for some of the scars on people in the 30′s and 40′s and still presently. Quite a few old people here still have their horizontal chest scars even though this ritual is not done as much with the younger generation – a point which I will explore in more detail later. Many women and children proudly sport their scarification today which is done for a number of reasons and passages through life.
I’ve been living in this particular remote community for the last 2 and a half years out of four. I left then came back, something that a lot of other teachers don’t do. I taught many people here’s kids in primary school for 2 years and now teach secondary school. Prior to this ceremony, I have built up a strong and lasting relationship with many of the people, adults and children alike, in the whole community.
I was adopted into an Aboriginal family in 2004 in another community but have immediate family members who live here and whom I also teach. They are my friends as well as my family and they participated in the ceremony, directing me and dancing directly with me. I owe them a lot for their help and support.
I wouldn’t have been granted permission for this ceremony if I hadn’t already had those bonds with people, regardless of who wanted to film it. Consequently, on both sides, those bonds have now been strengthened greatly.
I’ll write more ‘answers’ into the experience. Some people have brought up some interesting points that I’d like to discuss and expand on.
19. nOir: maybe you can enlighten me a bit with Rousseau’s philosophy and how that applies to me/this?
And yes, the gang sign thing is funny yet sad yet predictable all at the same time. More on that later….
If anyone needs to rant at me personally (because you can’t access my BME page or you just want to swear a bit more) please feel free to email me:
[email protected]
As always, I welcome all comments, good, bad, critical, abusive, complimentary, whatever and I’ll answer them all if you want a reply.
ferg
I’ll answer quickly and generally for the moment.
Firstly, this is not just something you can do whenever you want. It’s an authentic, male initiation ceremony though not a sacred one, therefore its results are shared around the community. See the photos from my interview about Aboriginal scarification here:
https://www.bmezine.com/news/guest/20070716.html
for some of the scars on people in the 30′s and 40′s and still presently. Quite a few old people here still have their horizontal chest scars even though this ritual is not done as much with the younger generation – a point which I will explore in more detail later. Many women and children proudly sport their scarification today which is done for a number of reasons and passages through life.
I’ve been living in this particular remote community for the last 2 and a half years out of four. I left then came back, something that a lot of other teachers don’t do. I taught many people here’s kids in primary school for 2 years and now teach secondary school. Prior to this ceremony, I have built up a strong and lasting relationship with many of the people, adults and children alike, in the whole community.
I was adopted into an Aboriginal family in 2004 in another community but have immediate family members who live here and whom I also teach. They are my friends as well as my family and they participated in the ceremony, directing me and dancing directly with me. I owe them a lot for their help and support.
I wouldn’t have been granted permission for this ceremony if I hadn’t already had those bonds with people, regardless of who wanted to film it. Consequently, on both sides, those bonds have now been strengthened greatly.
I’ll write more ‘answers’ into the experience. Some people have brought up some interesting points that I’d like to discuss and expand on.
19. nOir: maybe you can enlighten me a bit with Rousseau’s philosophy and how that applies to me/this?
And yes, the gang sign thing is funny yet sad yet predictable all at the same time. More on that later….
If anyone needs to rant at me personally (because you can’t access my BME page or you just want to swear a bit more) please feel free to email me:
[email protected]
As always, I welcome all comments, good, bad, critical, abusive, complimentary, whatever and I’ll answer them all if you want a reply.
ferg
Thats amazing! You must feel really priviledged to get that close to the culture and ways of the place you’ve been living for the last little while. I can see how you might consider that to be life changing, lol 🙂
Thanks for sharing 🙂
Thats amazing! You must feel really priviledged to get that close to the culture and ways of the place you’ve been living for the last little while. I can see how you might consider that to be life changing, lol 🙂
Thanks for sharing 🙂
Thats amazing! You must feel really priviledged to get that close to the culture and ways of the place you’ve been living for the last little while. I can see how you might consider that to be life changing, lol 🙂
Thanks for sharing 🙂
Thats amazing! You must feel really priviledged to get that close to the culture and ways of the place you’ve been living for the last little while. I can see how you might consider that to be life changing, lol 🙂
Thanks for sharing 🙂
wow..
how beautiful and inspiring
would love a full interview about the experience!
wow..
how beautiful and inspiring
would love a full interview about the experience!
wow..
how beautiful and inspiring
would love a full interview about the experience!
wow..
how beautiful and inspiring
would love a full interview about the experience!
Sounds like an amazing experience 🙂
Sounds like an amazing experience 🙂
Sounds like an amazing experience 🙂
Sounds like an amazing experience 🙂
Good going Ferg!!
Watching out for the whole experience.
Good going Ferg!!
Watching out for the whole experience.
Good going Ferg!!
Watching out for the whole experience.
Good going Ferg!!
Watching out for the whole experience.
W
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W
O
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W
O
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W
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W
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Love ya ferg…. you are the most interesting man i’ve never met. hope to see you someday soon…my hemisphere or yours
Love ya ferg…. you are the most interesting man i’ve never met. hope to see you someday soon…my hemisphere or yours
Love ya ferg…. you are the most interesting man i’ve never met. hope to see you someday soon…my hemisphere or yours
Love ya ferg…. you are the most interesting man i’ve never met. hope to see you someday soon…my hemisphere or yours