Today, Barunga festival has full started. a lot more caravan and tent appear on the different campsites. There is 7 camp around the village and all of them are nearly full. There is music, some sport competition I did not follow at all and some different workshops I’d like to participate too but it’s another $35. There is a supermarket as well which is good for me because I’ll need some more bread and other things. But the price are cracking expensive. Better than the roadhouses but still high. And finally, we could see some Aboriginal traditional dance.
I start the day walking around the workshops. Here we can make our own didgeridoo for $100! Ok without me… And I don’t have any place to carry it anyway. I met Nadine again this morning. She is on the right side making one. Two days ago she told me. I’m not gonna spend anything a part the entrance price. And this morning she already spent $100 haha :-)
The main goal to make a didgeridoo is too know how to find that tree and cut the right branch. The rest is only decoration because it’s working already. The hole is naturally here. Just have to soften the edges and the body and that’s it. No, I won’t pay for that.
The next attraction is… what is that?
Wow, a grilled kangaroo! I’ve missed some steps I guess.
This guy after having removed the earth and some other organs, he is now introducing rocks (which were in the fire) to cook that kangaroo from the inside. Then he put some branches coming from a certain tree to create the seasoning :-) The “carpet” on the ground is actually a piece of bark coming from those “toilet paper” trees :-)
finally ready, the kangaroo comes back is the ash.
They cover it with the bark…
… and cover it with dirt to make sure it’s well closed.
Once done, any tiny hole where smoke is coming out is covered with dirt. In 3 or 4 hours, the kangaroo will be ready to eat. (Unfortunately, I’ve missed that time and when I came back the kangaroo was gone! Everybody has eaten it!).
The guy took picked the earth and gave it to a woman who put it in the ash to cook it. Now she is cutting it in small pieces so we can taste it.
The next workshop is “weaving”. This is the one I wanted to participate but it’s $35…
There is about 3 “students” for one teacher. Naturally, this aboriginal woman is a way faster than anybody else. She looks even bored, looking around but still working very quickly.
This is the plant they use. They cut some thin bands and let them dry under the sun. I don’t know the name of the plant but I’m pretty sure the Maoris in New Zealand use the same one. At least, the same kind of plant.
That’s now the food district.
I could not resist and bought a smoothy. It’s called “Nutty B” and there is nuts, banana, chia seeds. Something like this one :-) (Yoko, you will like it!)
This different kiosks are mainly treating about health and safety. I think they try to sensibilize the aboriginal who smoke, drink and also drive after all. They offer fruits for the kids as well. I’m not sure it’s really working especially when the supermarket of this tiny village sell cigarettes… “Yes, you should stop smoking now, it’s not good for you. But if you do, we have plenty of them and it’s good for our wallet”. Bla bla bla, always the same story. They want healthy people but not really in fact. And in that supermarket, which is full all the time. There is only crap to buy. This is lollies, soft drink, cookies, ice cream, fake bread. How come Aboriginal can learn the difference between a good healthy product and crap when that supermarket, right in the heart of their village sells only crap? The government play with them like they do with us, with anyone. There was only one fridge which contains fruits and veges and they more expensive than buying a bottle of coke. There is not any real orange juice, all of them are concentrated and taste like crap. I hate that system!
During the queue, I can see that every aboriginal buy only crap stuff, they love it! chips, chocolate bars, soft drink, meat pies… What a pity… And they spend like $70, $90 on these. I’d love to see the statistics of aboriginals getting fatter and fatter over the years when normally they used to be all very skinny.
Source: Australian bureau of statistics.
After adjusting for differences in age structure between the two populations, the combined overweight/obesity rates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 15 years and over were similar to those for non-Indigenous people (rate ratio of 1.1). However, obesity rates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander females and males were higher than the comparable rates for non-Indigenous people in every age group. Overall, after adjusting for differences in age structure between the two populations, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were 1.5 times as likely as non-Indigenous people to be obese (rate ratio of 1.4 for males and 1.7 for females). (more info here).
And finally, when you reach the checkout, the woman with a big smile ask : “is that all?” (of course her shop is making 1000 of dollars per day sell crap to people. And she dare asking “is that all” meaning, “any cigarettes?”.
On another part of the event, there is attractions for kids.
A different set of trampolines that kids love.
The whole park.
Then, the guy at the microphone announced the “kid sprint”. Again, I’m a bit disappointed as it last 15, 20 seconds? Kids are full of energy and when you see them coming around those two mascots I feel like they really enjoy it. But 20 second later, the event was finished. They have just said “Now you can go and pick up some fruits”. They should make that event a big bigger I think.
The video of the sprint.
Later on, I’m coming back to the campsite and see that I can’t even see my bike from here anymore. Many other people have arrived this morning.
And the show starts.
Firstly, the aboriginal traditional dance.
At the beginning, everyone was sitting on the ground but they invite people to join them and after few minutes no one could not see anything (a part the one who were participating).
Barunga festival.
Two short video of what an Aboriginal traditional dance is about.
And it’s really short!.
The group picture (almost).
The whole event! Quite a few people here :-)
Ce qui est dommage aussi, c’est que les “indigènes” perdent leur culture au fur et à mesure qu’ils sont sollicités par les européens (les anglais devenus des australiens). Déjà ils se débarrassé d’une bonne partie d’entre eux, pour leur piquer leurs terres, et maintenant ils les soudoient pour les affaiblir. Une année ils ont même voulu refuser la participation de plusieurs d’entre eux à une compétition sportive australienne ! Non mais je te jure, c’est dégeu !
Tu vois ce qui m’a “choqué” sur tes deux petites vidéos, outre la durée de quelques secondes seulement pour montrer leur culture, c’est que certains n’avaient même pas pris la peine de revêtir le costume traditionnel. A croire qu’ils le renient !
Je pense que la plante utilisée pour le tissage est le raphia. A la base c’est une sorte de palmier.
Yes, I will like the smoothie.
It looks like a quite big festival. Are they mostly traveler?
The kangaroo cooking is shocking…. but probably simple and tasty way.