But I would never eat emu. In our family, to me alone it was forbidden because it was my personal totem. According to Aboriginal tradition, or “Dreamtime,” each member of the tribe has his or her own totem, and the ban on that item was enforced by family and tribe.

Although totemism is rooted in superstition, the enforcing of this taboo was a reminder of the sacredness of life.

We had many superstitions. For example, if a willie wagtail (a tiny bird) played by our camp, it meant bad news; or if an owl sat on a nearby stump in the daytime, we believed it meant that someone was going to die. Certain dreams were also seen as omens. For example, muddy water in a dream meant someone in the family was sick. But if the water was oozing with mud, then supposedly someone had died. True, we were Catholic, but this did not dispel all our tribal superstitions.