Australians believed that humans have two souls. The first is the soul of the time of first creation or the time of dreams; it pre-existed in a special abode, and its emergence is usually associated with the activity of a cultural hero - the creator. According to some beliefs, “pre-existing” souls can be created again or revived with the help of a hero-creator. Returned to its abode after the funeral rite, this soul will exist for some time or forever, and according to the beliefs of some tribes it can be reincarnated in a newborn (especially if it is the soul of a baby). After the death of the owner, the second soul can appear in dreams, inhabit another person, or live close to the camp, frightening or even harming its relatives. Australians often leave the site of a camp where a death has occurred.
The funeral rite is aimed at separating the soul from the body and forcing the soul of the deceased (while trying not to offend it, since it may return) to go to its abode as quickly as possible. This explains the customs of destroying the belongings of the deceased, tying up, pressing down the corpse, passing through a smoke screen during a funeral so that the soul of the deceased could not chase the procession, and performing purification rites by funeral participants.
In much of Eastern Australia and some areas in the west and north-west, the soul is believed to go to heaven, where the souls of culture heroes reside. In most tribes of the Northern Territory, North-West Australia and the Yorke Peninsula, it is believed that the soul returns to the abode where it was in the period of pre-existence, or is incarnated in its totem, or lives near the place that is dedicated to the hero, the totem. According to some beliefs, the abode of souls is located overseas or on an island. In Central Australia they believe in the final destruction of the soul through a natural disaster.
According to Australians, life is cyclical. The soul “found” by the father in a dream or in a vision is incarnated and enters earthly life with the help of the mother. Having undergone the rite of passage, the Australian again gains partial access to the sacred time of dreams or to the temporarily abandoned heavenly world. When a person dies, he undergoes a funeral rite and finally returns to heaven, to the abode of souls or totemic sanctuary, perhaps in order to later repeat the cycle of life, either to remain in this abode, or to pass into oblivion.
In North Western Australia, where the soul was believed to “emerge” from a body of water, the bones were placed in a cave near the source. In some places, a belt woven from the hair of the deceased (the hair contains part of his soul) is worn on oneself, placed in a cave or lowered into a pond where the mythical snake lives and where the soul came out for incarnation. In the north-west of the Arnhem Land Peninsula, bones are placed in a coffin depicting a totem, or a totem is painted directly on the dead body, thus identifying the deceased with the totem. This is also done so that the first ancestors can easily decide to which totemic abode they should send his soul. If a person has drowned or disappeared and his body is not available for burial, a wooden skull is made and totemic signs are applied to it. In some places in Eastern Australia, drawings are carved into trees around the grave, symbolizing the heavenly world, which was the source of life and where the deceased returns, who is sometimes buried on a sacred tree. The personal belongings of the deceased are placed in his grave or destroyed. The widow cuts her hair and must remain completely silent during the entire period of mourning. In North Queensland, during the funeral rites, the deceased is cut open in the stomach, shoulders and lungs and stones are placed there - so that he cannot “go” too far, but nevertheless reaches the Milky Way.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru