Difference between revisions of "AY Honors/Aboriginal Lore/Answer Key"

From Pathfinder Wiki
< AY Honors‎ | Aboriginal LoreAY Honors/Aboriginal Lore/Answer Key
Line 1: Line 1:
'''Australian Aboriginal [[kinship]]''' refers to the system of [[law]] governing social interaction, particularly [[marriage]], in traditional Aboriginal culture. It is an integral part of the culture of every [[List of Indigenous Australian group names|Aboriginal group]] across Australia.
+
'''Marn Grook''' (also spelt ''marngrook'') is an [[Australian Aborigine|Australian Aboriginal]] ball game, which is claimed to have had an influence on the modern game of [[Australian rules football]], most notably in the spectacular jumping and [[Mark (Australian football)|high marking]] exhibited by the players of both games.
  
The main element is the division of [[clan]]s within the same language group into ''skin groups'', or  [[moiety|moieties]]. The simplest system involves division into two skin groups. There can be four divisions, while more complex systems are divided into eight groups.
+
Marn Grook, literally meaning "Game ball",  was a traditional game played at gatherings and celebrations of up to 50 players by the [[Djabwurrung]] and [[Jardwadjali]] people of western [[Victoria, Australia|Victoria]].
  
The system dicates who may [[marry]] whom – it is always [[taboo]] to marry into your own skin group – creating strong [[incest]] avoidance laws and strong bonds across [[clan]]s through [[exogamous]] relations. It is often determined at birth who will marry whom. This can prove invaluable during [[drought]] or lack of resources, having [[cousin]]s and skin sisters and brothers in other clans. It also creates obligations to care for those people in their time of need.
+
== Eye-witness accounts ==
 +
In [[1878]] in his book ''The Aborigines of Victoria'' [[Robert Brough-Smyth]] refers to a man called Richard Thomas (the [[Protector of Aborigines]]) who stated that in about [[1841]] he had witnessed Aborigines playing the game:
 +
:''The men and boys joyfully assemble when this game is to be played. One makes a ball of possum skin, somewhat elastic, but firm and strong. The players of this game do not throw the ball as a white man might do, but drop it and at the same time kicks it with his foot. The tallest men have the best chances in this game. Some of them will leap as high as five feet from the ground to catch the ball. The person who secures the ball kicks it. This continues for hours and the natives never seem to tire of the exercise.''
  
Each skin group has certain [[totem]]s associated with it. Some Aboriginal groups, such as the [[Yolngu]], include plants, animals and all aspects of the environment, as part of their respective skin groups.
+
[[Tom Wills]], who drew up the rules of Australian rules football, was raised in Victoria's western districts and is said to have regularly played with local Aboriginal children{{fact}}. He recalled watching a game in which they kicked a [[possum]] skin about the size of an orange stuffed with charcoal{{citation needed}}. The game was played between large groups on a [[totemic]] basis &mdash; the white [[cockatoo]]s versus the black cockatoos, for example &mdash; with the greatest honour going to those who could leap or kick the highest.
  
A person of the same skin group is called "brother" or "sister". People may be called "father" or "mother" if they are of a parent's respective skin group.
+
== Marn grook and the word ''mark'' ==
 +
Some claim that the origin of the word "[[Mark (Australian football)|mark]]" is derived from the Aboriginal word "''mumarki''" used in Marn Grook meaning "to catch".{{fact}} However this is a [[false etymology]] as the term ''mark'' actually comes from the practice of a player who has just taken a mark physically ''marking'' the ground with his foot to show where he took the fair catch. The term ''to mark'' is used in English football codes, notably early [[Association Football]] and is still used in the sport of [[rugby union]], as a fair catch to a player who calls "mark" when catching a ball inside his 22.
  
The skin group classification is [[cyclical]] in nature, changing with each [[generation]]. Non-Aboriginal people are often confounded to hear Aborigines refer to their great-[[grandmother]] as their [[daughter]], or their great-[[grandaughter]] their mother. They are actually referring to the fact that both those relatives are in the same skin groups.
+
== The Marngrook Trophy ==
  
Below are a few examples of different kinship systems from across Australia:
+
In [[2002]], in a game at [[Stadium Australia]], the [[Sydney Swans]] and [[Essendon Football Club]] began to compete for the '''''Marngrook Trophy''''', awarded after home-and-away matches each year between the two teams in the [[Australian Football League]].  However, the games are played under normal rules of the AFL, rather than anything approaching Marn Grook.
  
==Systems with two skin groups==
 
  
===Pitjantjatjara===
+
== See also ==
The [[Pitjantjatjara]] of northern [[South Australia]] have two [[moiety]] groups:
 
  
:'''''ngana nt arka''''' (lit. we-bone) 'our side'
+
* [[Ball]]
:'''''tjanamilytjan''''' (lit. they flesh) 'their side'
 
  
However, they do not use skin names.
+
==References==
 
+
<div class="references-small"><references /></div>
===Yolŋu===
 
For the [[Yolŋu]] of north-east [[Arnhem Land]], life is divided into two skin groups: ''Dhuwa'' and ''Yirritja''. Each of these is represented by people of a number of different groups, each with their own lands, languages and philosophies:
 
 
 
:::{| class="wikitable"
 
|- bgcolor=#efefef
 
! Skin name
 
! Clan groups
 
|-
 
|'''''Yirritja'''''
 
| Gumatj, Gupapuyngu, Wangurri, Ritharrngu, Mangalili,<br/>Munyuku, Madarrpa, Warramiri, Dhalwangu, Liyalanmirri.
 
|-
 
|'''''Dhuwa'''''
 
|Rirratjingu, Galpu, Djambarrpuyngu, Golumala, Marrakulu,<br/>Marrangu, Djapu, Datiwuy, Ngaymil, Djarrwark.
 
|}
 
 
 
A ''Yirritja'' person must always marry a ''Dhuwa'' person and vice versa. If a man or woman is ''Dhuwa'', their mother will be ''Yirritja''.
 
 
 
Kinship relations are also mapped onto the lands owned by the Yolngu through their [[hereditary]] [[estates]] – so everything is either ''Yirritja'' or ''Dhuwa'' – every fish, stone, river, etc, belongs to one or the other [[moiety]].
 
 
 
==Systems with eight skin groups==
 
 
 
===Pintupi===
 
The [[Pintupi]] of the [[Western Desert language|Western Desert]] have a complex kinship system, made more so by distinct prefixes for male and female skin names; "Tj" for males, "N" for females:
 
 
 
:::{| class="wikitable"
 
|- bgcolor=#efefef
 
!Gender
 
!Skin name
 
!Can only mary
 
!Children will be
 
|-
 
|'''Male'''
 
|Tjapaltjarri
 
|
 
|
 
|-
 
|'''Female'''
 
|Napaltjarri
 
|
 
|
 
|-
 
|'''Male'''
 
|Tjapangati
 
|Nampitjinpa
 
|
 
|-
 
|'''Female'''
 
|Napangati
 
|Tjampitjinpa
 
|Tjangala, Nangala
 
|-
 
|'''Male'''
 
|Tjakamarra
 
|
 
|
 
|-
 
|'''Female'''
 
|Nakamarra
 
|
 
|
 
|-
 
|'''Male'''
 
|Tjampitjinpa
 
|Napangati
 
|Tjangala, Nangala
 
|-
 
|'''Female'''
 
|Nampitjinpa
 
|Tjapangati
 
|
 
|-
 
|'''Male'''
 
|Tjapanangka
 
|
 
|
 
|-
 
|'''Female'''
 
|Napanangka
 
|
 
|
 
|-
 
|'''Male'''
 
|Tjungurrayi
 
|
 
|
 
|-
 
|'''Female'''
 
|Nungurrayi
 
|
 
|
 
|-
 
|'''Male'''
 
|Tjupurrula
 
|
 
|
 
|-
 
|'''Female'''
 
|Napurrula
 
|
 
|
 
|-
 
|'''Male'''
 
|Tjangala
 
|
 
|
 
|-
 
|'''Female'''
 
|Nangala
 
|
 
|
 
|}
 
 
 
===Lardiil===
 
The [[Lardiil]] of [[Mornington Island]] in the [[Gulf of Carpentaria]] also have eight skin groups, shown here with some of their totems:
 
 
 
::{| class="wikitable"
 
|- bgcolor=#efefef
 
!Male skin group
 
!Totems
 
!Can only mary<br/>female skin group
 
!Children will be
 
|-
 
|Ngarrijbalangi
 
|''Rainbird, shooting star,<br/>egret''
 
|Burrarangi
 
|Bangariny
 
|-
 
|Bangariny
 
|''Brown hark, turtle''
 
|Yakimarr
 
|Ngarrijbalangi
 
|-
 
|Buranyi
 
|''Crane, salt water, <br/>sleeping turtle''
 
|Kangal
 
|
 
|-
 
|Balyarriny
 
|''Black tiger shark,<br/>sea turtle''
 
|Kamarrangi
 
|
 
|-
 
|Burrarangi
 
|''Lightning, rough sea,<br/>black dingo''
 
|Ngarrijbalangi
 
|
 
|-
 
|Yakimarr
 
|Seagull, barramundi,<br/>grey shark
 
|Bangariny
 
|
 
|-
 
|Kangal
 
|''[[Barramundi]],<br/>grey shark''
 
|Buranyi
 
|
 
|-
 
|Kamarrangi
 
|''Rock, pelican, [[brolga]],<br/>red dingo''
 
|Balyarriny
 
|
 
|}
 
  
Each Lardiil person belongs to one of these groups. Their paternal [[grandfather]]'s skin group determines their own; so a Balyarriny man or woman will have a Balyarriny grandfather. A Ngarrijbalangi person can only marry a Burrarangi, a Bangariny a Yakimarr, a Buranyi a Kangal and a Balyarriny a Kamarrangi, and vice versa for each.
+
== External links ==
 +
* [http://www.aboriginalfootball.com.au/marngrook.html Aboriginal Football - Marn Grook]
  
Once a person's skin group is known, their relationship to any other Lardiil can be determined. A Ngarrijbalangi is a 'father' to a Bangariny, a 'father-in-law' to a Yakimarr and a 'son' to another Bangariny, either in a social sense or purely through linearship
+
[[Category:Australian Aboriginal culture]]
 +
[[Category:Australian rules football]]
 +
[[Category:Sport in Australia]]
 +
[[Category:Traditional football]]
  
==See also==
 
*[[List of Indigenous Australian group names]]
 
*[[Noongar classification]]
 
*[[Indigenous Australians]]
 
 
==References==
 
*Binnion, Joan (1979) ''The Lardil People of Mornington Island (Student Handbook)'', Aboriginal Community College, Port Adelaide.
 
*Hansen, Kenneth C. and Lesley E. Hansen, 1979, ''Pintupi/Luritja kinship'', Alice Springs, NT, Institute for Aboriginal Development.
 
*[http://ausanthrop.net/research/kinship/ Ausanthrop kinship tutorial]
 
*[http://www.ausanthrop.net/research/kinship/kinship2.php Ausanthrop]
 
*[http://www.clc.org.au/ourculture/kinship.asp Central Land Council]
 
  
[[Category:Australian Aboriginal culture|Kinship]]
+
{{afl-stub}}
[[Category:Anthropology|Australian Aboriginal kinship]]
 
[[Category:Sociology|Australian Aboriginal Kinship]]
 
[[Category:Indigenous Australians|Kinship]]
 
[[Category:Marriage|Australian Aboriginal Kinship]]
 

Revision as of 00:30, 20 September 2006

Marn Grook (also spelt marngrook) is an Australian Aboriginal ball game, which is claimed to have had an influence on the modern game of Australian rules football, most notably in the spectacular jumping and high marking exhibited by the players of both games.

Marn Grook, literally meaning "Game ball", was a traditional game played at gatherings and celebrations of up to 50 players by the Djabwurrung and Jardwadjali people of western Victoria.

Eye-witness accounts

In 1878 in his book The Aborigines of Victoria Robert Brough-Smyth refers to a man called Richard Thomas (the Protector of Aborigines) who stated that in about 1841 he had witnessed Aborigines playing the game:

The men and boys joyfully assemble when this game is to be played. One makes a ball of possum skin, somewhat elastic, but firm and strong. The players of this game do not throw the ball as a white man might do, but drop it and at the same time kicks it with his foot. The tallest men have the best chances in this game. Some of them will leap as high as five feet from the ground to catch the ball. The person who secures the ball kicks it. This continues for hours and the natives never seem to tire of the exercise.

Tom Wills, who drew up the rules of Australian rules football, was raised in Victoria's western districts and is said to have regularly played with local Aboriginal childrenTemplate:Fact. He recalled watching a game in which they kicked a possum skin about the size of an orange stuffed with charcoal[citation needed]. The game was played between large groups on a totemic basis — the white cockatoos versus the black cockatoos, for example — with the greatest honour going to those who could leap or kick the highest.

Marn grook and the word mark

Some claim that the origin of the word "mark" is derived from the Aboriginal word "mumarki" used in Marn Grook meaning "to catch".Template:Fact However this is a false etymology as the term mark actually comes from the practice of a player who has just taken a mark physically marking the ground with his foot to show where he took the fair catch. The term to mark is used in English football codes, notably early Association Football and is still used in the sport of rugby union, as a fair catch to a player who calls "mark" when catching a ball inside his 22.

The Marngrook Trophy

In 2002, in a game at Stadium Australia, the Sydney Swans and Essendon Football Club began to compete for the Marngrook Trophy, awarded after home-and-away matches each year between the two teams in the Australian Football League. However, the games are played under normal rules of the AFL, rather than anything approaching Marn Grook.


See also

References

External links


Template:Afl-stub