Ninna Marni "Hello, how are you?" Kaurma language

Fire Lighting Paitya (Brown Snake)

Generous Kate, my team teaching partner, put together the school assembly combining our classes because she knows that it is best to produce at the onset of the year. It was a silly script based on organization, or the lack of it. My lively student, Syreet, played the part of the child who always bounced on the schoolbus seat, forgot her playground hat (oh, a serious matter here in AU) and ran in the wrong direction when supposed to be the tail of the New Year Dragon! She and the other kids were great fun, and it was excellent pantomiming. Syreet accepted the part with gusto, but she make sure everyone understood that she was just acting!

At the beginning of the school assemblies the children and staff acknowledge the Kaurma people: 

Ninna Marni 

(A Kaurna word for “Hello, how are you?”) 

. 

“We would like to acknowledge this land that we meet on today is the 

traditional lands for the Kaurna people and that we respect their spiritual 

relationship with their country.  We also acknowledge the Kaurna people 

as the custodians of the Adelaide region and that their cultural and 

heritage beliefs are still as important to the living Kaurna people today.” 

I have since learned that It is recommended that the Statement of Acknowledgement be read out at the 

commencement of gatherings held within the Adelaide area. I have begun learning it this week when it was recited four times not counting the times it was practiced by the children. It was said at the onset of the fifth year anniversary of the Apology to the Stolen Generations with Kevin Rudd in attendance, at the Spirit Festival, at the onset of the Fringe Parade, and at school. During the anniversary Kaurna people told their family stories, and there were not many dry eyes in the crowd of 600.  It was a bit like when Patricia Polacco speaks at CCIRA. 

one of the many fringe lightshows

The Fringe Festival has begun- It is a month long parklands gala including Cabaret, Circus, Comedy, Dance, Film, Music, Theatre, and Physical Theatre- also know as the reckless pursuit of entertainment. I think it lands somewhere between the Mardi Gras, Burning Man, and Copenhagen's Tivoli Gardens. The grounds where the venues take place is called The Garden of Unearthly Delights.

Before the Garden of Un. . .  many exchange teachers met at the Spirit Festival where the Indigenous
 Peoples of the area gathered to Share "Welcome to Country" providing insight into the living local culture of the first nations peoples of the Adelaide plains. Joining the Kaurna people were Narungga, Ngarrindjeri, Ngadjuri, and Wirangu. They all have family ties to the Kaurna. The dances were not too different from the Pueblo Animal and Earthly elemental powwows of the four corners. They brought fire, symbolized the animals of the desert and seemed to have initiated young children. It was a fortunate event to witness. The crowd was friendly and the children happy, even though it was late.

After the dancers finished crowds of kids took to the sand pile when the dances concluded;

People waited and shouted for Jessica Mauboy from the KuKu Yalanji people. She became a huge success as a musician and actress when her journey began with Australian Idol. She is a key role model and is the star in the Movie The Sapphires. I hope that everyone gets a chance to see the newish movie.  www.youtube.com/user/JessicaMauboy