Aboriginal Death Beliefs When it comes to the dead, most tribes traditionally believed that the spirit needed to go to the Land of the Dead. Notions of heaven and hell though, were not a part of their beliefs. So the idea of an Aboriginal afterlife with rewards or punishment does not exist.
Many traditional aboriginal cultures consider death to be very natural. For many aboriginal people, a “good death” is one where they meet death with dignity and composure. Dying this way implies a further experience of an afterlife.
Many Aboriginal people believe in a place called the "Land of the Dead". This place was also commonly known as the "sky-world", which is really just the sky.
An Aboriginal person's soul or spirit is believed to "continue on after our physical form has passed through death", explains Eddie Kneebone. After the death of an Aboriginal person their spirit returns to the Dreamtime from where it will return through birth as a human, an animal, a plant or a rock.
Many Aboriginal tribal groups share the belief that this life is only part of a longer journey. When a person passes away, the spirit leaves the body. The spirit must be sent along its journey; otherwise it will stay and disturb the family.
Aboriginal people honoured and disposed of their dead in many different ways. The dead were usually buried in the ground, sometimes accompanied by possessions such as stone tools or personal ornaments. In some areas, special clothes were made for the deceased.
Belief in life after death
It is believed that when one dies, he/she lives on and can still hear and make decisions on life thus taking an ancestral form living in the world of the spirits. There is communication between the dead and the living, whom the living believe to be their guardians in life.
Ceremonies and mourning periods last days, weeks and even months depending upon the beliefs of the language group and the social status of the deceased person. But time is also essential in the healing process.
Dreamtime is the foundation of Aboriginal religion and culture. It dates back some 65,000 years. It is the story of events that have happened, how the universe came to be, how human beings were created and how their Creator intended for humans to function within the world as they knew it.
These stages are: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. The model was based on Kübler-Ross's work with terminally ill patients. People who work with the bereaved have learned that grief is an active process. Many people find it empowering to know that they are resilient.
In Australian Aboriginal mythology, Baiame (or Biame, Baayami, Baayama or Byamee) was the creator god and sky father in the Dreaming of several Aboriginal Australian peoples of south-eastern Australia, such as the Wonnarua, Kamilaroi, Guringay, Eora, Darkinjung, and Wiradjuri peoples.
Aboriginal people are very religious and spiritual, but rather than praying to a single god they cannot see, each group generally believes in a number of different deities, whose image is often depicted in some tangible, recognisable form.
Sacred sites are places within the landscape that have a special meaning or significance under Aboriginal tradition. Hills, rocks, waterholes, trees, plains, lakes, billabongs and other natural features can be sacred sites.
It is believed that our Creator Spirits and Ancestors reside there and that we too will eventually go there when we pass away. The Dreaming is the basis for all the beliefs and Lore that we as Aboriginal people chose to live our lives by.
When you've passed, your family receives an amount of money to cover the cost of your funeral. Some Indigenous organisations offer funeral cover, as do private companies. You may end up paying a lot more than the actual cover you will get.
Canadian Aboriginal people lived an average of 72.8 years, Maoris 71.1 years.
According to Thomas, Carl Strehlow maintains that the native belief is that the soul of every man goes at death to the Isle of the Dead, there to be annihilated by a flash of lightning; in certain cases it is believed that a totemic ancestor himself is reborn but after his reincarnation he does not return.
Genetic studies have revealed that Aboriginal Australians largely descended from an Eastern Eurasian population wave, and are most closely related to other Oceanians, such as Melanesians.
The islands were settled by different seafaring Melanesian cultures such as the Torres Strait Islanders over 2500 years ago, and cultural interactions continued via this route with the Aboriginal people of northeast Australia.
What is Sorry Business? Many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples mourn the loss of a family member by following traditional ceremonies and practices, often known as Sorry Business.
Every May 26 in Australia, National Sorry Day reminds the colonist-descended people of the nation to remember the mistreatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Why?
Atheists believe that there is no God and no life after death and that death is the cessation of the existence of the individual. Agnostics & atheists have reported having near-death experiences.
Christian beliefs in the afterlife
They believe in the resurrection of the body on the Day of Judgement , when God will judge everyone individually and they will be sent to Heaven or Hell, as revealed in the Book of Revelation. Therefore, death is not to be feared for those who have lived morally and done God's will.