Videos from the REAL Australia
Aboriginal Ceremonies and Dances from the Top End
The yearly Sports and Cultural Festival in Barunga Aboriginal community near Katherine, showcases a lot of culture from the northern part of the Northern Territory. In 1995 a ceremony took place at the start of the festival, honouring important Jawoyn elders where commemorative plaques were presented to the relatives. At the festival traditional dancing from the region around Barunga can be seen, but also from further afield, like a performance of a traditional dance group from Galiwin'ku, on Elcho Island, off the north coast of Arnhem land. This was also seen at the Laura Festival in Cape York, Queensland.
The "Mardayin" ceremony is performed all over Arnhem Land, where it is also known as "Maraian" and, when performed, attracts men from far afield; they re-enact the myths in a festival that takes place over a number of weeks. In Numbulwar, an Aboriginal community on the eastern shore of the Gulf of Carpentaria, the ceremony is also known as "Ngarrag". Here too the community is made up of two moieties, called Dua (or Dhuwa) and Yirritja; during the ceremonial cycle rituals are conducted during late afternoon. Actors of the Dua moiety perform first, followed by the Yirritja men. Men are painted with designs representing their "Dreaming" or clan association. There are many different rituals, some taking place on a secret ceremonial ground, only to be seen by men; others may be seen by all. The ceremony culminates in ritual bathing, in which everybody, men, women and children, go to the beach and immerse themselves, dancing in the sea and washing off the ochre and clay with which they were ritually painted; this way the actors, men and women, re-enacting the deeds of the Dreamtime beings in the mythical past, leave the designs sung and painted on their bodies behind and re-emerge from the water as people again. The ceremony can be considered a festival for the souls of men and for the Dreaming places of the shades of the species of nature.
The traditional Míddjarn ceremonial dance of the Ndjébbana people is carried out by men and boys in the school grounds at Maningrida Aboriginal community on the north coast of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. It is a serious ceremony, but also fun for the children to participate in. Everyone is welcome to attend this ceremony.
 Commemoration ceremony
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 Elcho Island dancers
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 Ngarrag or Mardayin (1)
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 Ngarrag or Mardayin (2)
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 Ngarrag or Mardayin (3)
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 Ngarrag or Mardayin (4)
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 Ngarrag or Mardayin (5)
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 Ngarrag or Mardayin (6)
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 Míddjarn in Maningrida
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 Galiwin'ku dancers
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