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Background
Information
To Aboriginal people, time is circular.
It has no clear boundaries and is linked closely to observed
associations of time and the space in which they live.
The seasons were seen to be a natural calendar as they govern human
life, determine people's needs and control the supply of natural foods.
Because the seasons were
seen as a natural calendar, the calendars varied according to location.
European people's calendars stay the same no matter where they are
and this created many difficulties for the first Europeans in Australia eg
plum pudding in December. Nature itself provided the Aboriginal calendar - blossoms
appearing, stars and their patterns of movement, temperature and seasonal
conditions and the appearance and disappearance of insects and animals.
The calendar was essential for survival and the organisation of
Aboriginal people's lives. The
calendar, number of “seasons" in it and the distinguishing features
of each, vary greatly from region to region. When the different climates of Australia is considered - the
northern tropics to the vast deserts of the inland to the snow-capped
mountain ranges of the southeast - it is not surprising that the many
different communities not only had different languages and cultures, but
different calendars.
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Bush
Calendars
Aboriginal
people living on the Crocodile Islands of Arnhem Land generally recognise
six major seasons in the yearly cycle of natural events. Their calendar is
most easily represented as a circle and represents a view of their
environment during the conduct of their hunting activities, ritual life
and the annual cycle of movement across the land and seascape.
The
main seasons on this calendar are: |
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Dhuludur
- the prewet season. "The
fires are small and isolated
now. The
winds are mized up, each blowing
at different times, often
within the same day. The
male thunder
shrinks the waterholes and the
female thunder brings the rain
called Dhuludur.
Barra'mirri
- the growth season. "Heavy
rain comes every day and the
plants grow quickly. Soon there is heavy
growth throughout the whole bush."
Mayaltha
- the flowering season. "There
is very little bush food. There
are a lot of plants that flower,
bright sunny days and sometimes
rain."
Midawarr
- the fruiting season. "The
grasses are forming seeds.
It's the season of fruitingplants and the east
wind signals the beginning of
the time of abundant food."
Dharratharramirri
early dry season. " The
nights are cool and there is
mist early in the mornings. Large. flocks of
mudlarks arrive and the
southeast wind, Buluna, swings
further south to become the wind
Dharratharra. "
Rarrandharr
– the main dry season.
"The warm south east wind
blows as the pandanus fruit
begins to fall to the ground. As
soon as the stringybark tree flowers, snakes
lay their eggs and all types of
honey can be found. |
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Astronomy and Calendars
Aboriginal people also had vast and precise knowledge of the southern
skies which, to the first Europeans, was a crowded and complex sky. Patterns and colour were more important than brightness of
stars and clusters of stars were usually identified as significant rather
than single bright ones. |
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Aboriginal
people differentiated between the nightly movement of the stars from east
to west and the more gradual shift of the constellations. They devised a
complex seasonal calendar based on the position of particular
constellations in the sky, especially at sunrise and sunset. For instance,
the Arunda and Luritja people of Central Australia predicted the position
of the constellation locally known as Irtjinga, the Eagle-hawk, with great
accuracy throughout the year. However, Aboriginal people’s observation
of the stars was seen for largely pragmatic reasons – they were
essential to survival. They provided a calendar to natural events such as
availability of foods or the onset of particular weather
conditions.
For
different communities, the significance of different star patterns and
movements depended on their different diets and lifestyles.
Aboriginal people of Arnhem Land knew that the appearance of
Arcturus in the eastern sky at sunrise indicated the spike-rush or rakia,
a reed used in making fishing traps and baskets for carrying food, was
ready to harvest. For the Boorong community of Victoria, the
appearance of Arcturus, personified as Marpeankurrk, showed them when to
find pupa of the wood ant, part of their August to September diet (see the
Dreaming Story).
For the Pitjantjatjara
people in the Western Desert, the appearance of the Pleiades in the dawn
sky was particularly important since it indicated the start of the
dingo-breeding season, an important source of protein for their survival.
The position of Orion, Pleiades and the Southern Cross at different times
of the year also told Aboriginal people when tubers and bulbs would be
ripe and when migratory birds and animals would be available to supplement
their diets.
Aboriginal people of
South-eastern Australia believed that the Pleiades were seven young women
who were so brave and courageous that they were placed in the sky to be
role models. While on the
Earth they had insisted on going through initiation rites that all young
men undertook. |
Activities
- Research
the seasons of Arnhem Land and match months with the seasons of the
Aboriginal calendar shown. What natural elements seem to regulate the
different parts of the calendar?
- Draw
up a calendar in the same style as the circular Aboriginal calendar
using as many natural elements as you can. Use pictures or words in
your calendar. You could include activities or events that you or your
local community do regularly each year … sports, school year, your
family’s garden.
- Investigate
the constellations and the stars mentioned in the information. What do
they look like? When are they obvious where you live? Invite members
of the Astronomical Society to show slides and organize a night
activity away from the urban lights to look at the night sky.
- Research
the history of calendars and compare European’s use of calendars
with that of Aboriginal people.
- Invite
an Aboriginal person in your area to talk about the traditional
Aboriginal calendar for your local area. Investigate all aspects of
their calendar – relate to your own research of the weather, plants,
animals.
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A Dreaming Story
Marpeankurruic, a clever woman who lived in the Mallee Forests of
Southern Australia many thousands of years ago, was in the bush looking
for food. Her people were starving. It had not rained for a long, long
time. Rivers and billabongs had disappeared, the bulrushes had shrivelled
up and died. She lifted up logs but could not find no lizards or snakes.
She looked around and saw that there was also no grass seeds or fruit to
eat.
After walking for many hours, she saw a wood ants’
nest. She was so desperate that she went to it and opened up the nest with
her digging stick. In the nest she saw thousands of larvae. She put one in
her mouth and ate it. The larvae were delicious. She collected all that
she could and hurried back to her people.
The larvae of the wood ant had saved her people. It
soon became their favourite food. When Marpeankurruic died she went up
into the sky and became a star. Every time the Aboriginal people of the
Mallee Country see her, they know that it is time for their favourite
food, the larvae of the wood ant. We know her star as Arcturus. |
