Amirr (centre) parades though his village ahead of the imbalu circumcision ritual. Imbalu begins with dance and music, as initiates visit relatives and friends to receive gifts.
Luke Drey/Getty Images
The ritual site becomes a communal classroom where songs and dances teach history, impart values and preserve cultural identity.
A Gunaikurnai Jeraeil re-enactment c.1883 with men, women, and children. Left to right: (standing) Big Joe, Billy the Bull, Wild Harry, Billy McDougall, Snowy River Charlie, unidentified man, Bobby Brown, Billy McLeod (Toolabar), Larry Johnson. Woman, second from right: Emma McDougall.
State Library of Victoria
It was the site of historic gatherings, such as a four-day initiation ceremony for young men. Then colonial authorities quashed such practices. The place was lost for more than a century, until now.
Australia lacks standalone hazing legislation that clearly makes it the responsibility of universities, but courts here and overseas are increasingly likely to find them liable for the harm done.
Examining chicken intestines, reading the tea leaves, watching the markets – people turn to experts for insight into the mysteries that surround them.
Manvir Singh
Hidden forces are always at work in the world, and people always want to control them, a cognitive anthropologist explains. Enter the human universal of shamanism.