aboriginal

the Sudanese community living in Perth gathered at the herb graham rec centre yesterday to celebrate their culture and perform their tribal dances. there was about 400 hundred of them and about 20 of 'us' (whities).

the official procedings started with a 6'5 black african man thanking the Nyoongar people for caring for the land which they have now made their home. he then went on to thank the australian government and all community workers who have helped them.

struck me as significant that he thanked the aboriginal Nyoongar people first. i imagine he understands their connection to this land i am sitting on more than i do.

as the afternoon went on each tribal group performed their individual version of a similar dance. there was usually a couple of men in the middle of a circle of women playing the drums. the women would dance around them often with some sort of rattling instrument on their legs. the other men would dance around them, often springing up in impressively high vertical jumps. they seemed to be a story enfolding, but the details were lost to case and i.

unfortunately we had to leave early cos of the Fuel ball (which, by the way was fantastic. they showed us a bit of the micah challenge promo)... where we did our own version of tribal dancing.
- charlie


ps. casey thinks that last line sounds corny.
pps. 1 more thought - the majority of Sudanese are Christian. if i hadn't known that i wonder if i would have been a bit freaked out by the tribal markings (some of which were thick scares across the forehead), the 'wailing' style singing and the unusual dancing? i wonder what i would have assumed about it's origins?