Celebrating Nature; Rites and Ceremonies around the world

IX SILENCE, SINGLE FILE, A SMALL GROUP of dark-skinned men slowly climb steep rocks to reach a cave in the wall of a ravine. On the face of the rock in the cave are sacred drawings, made by the ancestors of these men ages ago. There is a semicircle of small stones on the floor of the cave, placed there just as long ago. Standing by these stones, the men sing songs that are a part of an ancient rite of their tribe. Bending rhythmically, as in a dance, they strike the stones with special twigs they have brought. This, too, is a part of the rite. These men are members of the Witchetty Grub Clan, part of the Arunta tribe in Central Australia. They live on a vast desert where only scrub and a few trees can survive throughout the year. Rain comes seldom, but when it does come it pours down in torrents, and suddenly the desert blossoms as the rose. Plants, flowers, birds, insects, and other wildlife appear as if by magic. It seems to these people of the desert that this sudden upsurge of life has been sent by the spirits who created life everywhere on earth. It is spirits, too, who send the witchetty grub, a food so special that this clan was named for it. The Witchetty Grub people and their neighbors of other clans live by hunting animals and insects and gathering wild fruits and seeds. They believe that if they do not perform the ancient rites the spirits will not send an abundance of food. The people may starve. These rites are religious ceremonies performed in a set pattern, at special times of the year, for the gods or spirits who control man's world