Caroborree, Thunderbird Park, Brisbane

 On our last and final day in Brisbane, the class practiced and prepared for a traditional Aboriginal celebration called a Corroboree. Corroborees are a performance of song and dance that represent Aboriginal spirituality. To start the day, the men and women were separated and told that we could not see each other in our clothing or jewelry until the Corroboree celebration in the evening. For the women, we started with traditional gift making, also known as the second law in Aboriginal culture. The goal of this first activity was to take pieces of shaved, wet palm, and weave them into their pieces of jewelry such as bracelets, anklets, and necklaces, to wear during the evening celebration. Lydia, Douglas’s niece who helped teach us song and dance, said that palm is the material used as it’s very abundant and durable. grass can be used but it’s hard to find strong grass. The palm will last for decades after drying and can also be used to weave into other things like baby carriers. In addition, the palm has to be removed slowly and precisely. Lydia added that the wetter the palm is, the easier it is to pull off and apart from itself.  When Lydia was a young girl, she first learned food, which is the first law in Aboriginal culture. Furthermore, she was around eight when she first learned the art of gift making, but didn’t develop the patience until around age twelve. During the ceremonial gift making, the girls left in pairs or groups of four to go and smash oaka, which is sifted into a powder and combined with water to form a thick paste that we used to decorate our juggies and paint ourselves. After tea, the girls and boys separated to learn dances for the ceremony. In total, we learned three dances and songs to go with them. Following our initial practice, we decorated our juggies with the oaka paste by dipping our hands in it and flicking it onto the fabric to create little spots everywhere representing dreams, as well as our hand prints to show security, connectivity, and understanding with our bodies, and lastly, tight circles of dots for our tribe to represent unity. Once we finished decorating our juggies, the boys and girls came together again to hear the land acknowledgment from Doug before attempting to start a fire on our own. We got into groups of two or three, each given fire sticks from a Xanthorrhoea genus of succulent flowering plants known as a grass tree. We were also given coconut husk to aid in the lighting of the fire where the sticks were forcefully and quickly rubbed together. While most groups smelled smoke and got the wood to become very hot, no groups were able to start a fire, but the teamwork and effort was evident from everyone. After dinner, the boys and girls separated again to practice and get ready for the Corroboree. For the women, we put on our hand painted juggies, ceremonial jewelry, and painted ourselves with more oaka. We put the oaka in our hair and drew lines on our legs, arms, and faces. In preparation for entering the Corroboree, each woman stood in a straight line behind our head woman, Anita, with every fifth woman holding a torch. After making our way to the ceremony, we sat in a semi-circle around our head woman with fire in the middle and around us, whilst waiting for the men to arrive. Once they arrived and Douglas spoke a few words, the boys got us started with their first dance. After waiting for a moment in silence, the men and women rose in unison and conducted our first and only dance together. Once concluded and another moment of silence, the women did our second dance, followed by the men, then the women once more, and ending with the men. The entire Corroboree was held again in the same order once more, ending with final words from Douglas, head-man, AJ, and head-woman Anita, including descriptions of what each other’s clothing represented. The entire day was emotional and filled with laughter and excitement. While doing something like a Corroboree with song and dance is typically out of my comfort zone, I had so much fun putting myself out there in a way that I hadn’t before. Hearing similar perspectives from my peers made me feel more comfortable and relaxed as everyone was supportive of each other. My favorite part of the whole day was seeing everyone come together. Not only that, Douglas, Chris, Lydia, Jason, and their whole team made us feel so welcomed, included, and like we were part of their family. I truly appreciated and will cherish this experience forever, and I am so grateful for getting to experience Aboriginal culture and tradition.