Consecrated Journeys: A Torres Strait Islander Space, Time Odyssey

Abstract

Religious rituals are a fundamental aspect of being human. They are performed by peoples from around the world and preserved within material and written histories. Archaeologists seek physical traces of these rituals, recognising that this information can provide a window into the life-ways of our modern human ancestors and the way in which rituals transition between sacred places (e.g. Turner 1969). Most research has focused on the ritual performances of world religions (i.e. those that have a global reach, monumental architecture and written scriptures), with ritual passage within Indigenous contexts less well understood. This is despite ethnographic information demonstrating complex and formalised ritual circuits, ancestor trackways and song-lines within these locales. This chapter examines the ethnography and archaeology of "Waiet markai," a consecrated journey that involved initiation ceremonies spanning three Eastern Torres Strait (henceforth ETS) islands. Specifically we focus on "Ne" on Waier, one stage of the "Waiet markai" and address two questions that emerged within this research: (i) can temporal change be isolated at important ETS Islander ritual places? (ii) Do echoes of the staged Waiet markai process survive in the structure of ceremonies and site architecture? We argue that an integrated approach, drawing on ethnography and archaeology, allows us to better understand ritual processes within Indigenous contexts. Performative models of ritual passage allow us to better understand archaeological and ethnographic anomalies at Ne and move beyond universal conceptions of sacred sites as ritual isolates. Show more