Australia. Guide to Australia

The most significant event in the lives of young, no doubt, was initiated. Time for him specifically installed, but, Usually, in conjunction with the onset of puberty. This ceremony was given to critical, She refurnished complex rituals, and often lasted for many months.

Dedication to symbolize the end of childhood and the mean, that the young person is ready to master the mysterious beliefs and traditions of his tribe. Painful operation and testing of fire introduced a young man to the rank of an adult male.

It may seem, that the meaning of the ritual was limited only to inflict physical marks on the body of young men. For the same physical aspect of Aboriginal initiation was only an external manifestation of a much more important recognition of the maturity of man-. Eventually he had to go through other stages of the rite, since the original dedication to lift the veil far above all the sacraments.

Some tribes avoid physical operations, but there, where they were, boys were cutting operations (removal of the foreskin) and cropping (a longitudinal incision on the penis), his front tooth knocked out and made the skin incisions on the body (scarring). Other tests were to repeatedly toss in the air and being covered with blood, body.

The hardest part was trial by fire - the ritual, known on other continents. During the period of initiation for the first time the young man found out about the churinga, mysterious symbols, the supernatural world, about sacred places in the vicinity, remembered myths.

Thus it is more and more attached to religious rituals and ceremonies, which began to take part, perceiving the world full of mysteries, meaningful to so many of his fellow. Naturally, that the old-keepers of wisdom and knowledge, from generation to generation, enjoyed an unusual reverence.