aboriginal dreamtime

What is Aboriginal Dreamtime?

Aboriginal Dreamtime is the explanation of Aboriginal creation beliefs. However, when Aboriginal beliefs are considered to be ongoing, they are then known as “The Dreaming” or “The Dreamings”. Thus, in Aboriginal dreaming there is no word for time but rather a concept that the past, future and present are rather a state of existence in which place or being are all connected.

 

In the Aboriginal worldview, existence is never ending. At the moment of Dreamtime or creation, it is believed that the ancestral spirits rose from what was a formless land bringing with them knowledge and culture. Assuming human forms, they moved across the earth creating geographic formations and life. As these spirits created human life and animals they also brought with them a law which is the fundamental basis of a rich Aboriginal culture. According to the dreaming, this law teaches the purpose of life and the inter-relationship between the inhabitants of the land and the land itself. Through the medium of dreaming stories, dance, body painting and song, the Aboriginal people are taught their traditions, their role within their clan and their relationship to the land and animals.

 

They also learn the purpose of natural elements such as storms, wind or drought and why certain things are the way they are. For example, why is the sea blue, or why do animals behave in a certain way or why certain foods are grown in a certain place. When the ancestral spirits completed their tasks, they transformed into rivers, trees, mountains, watering holes, stars and other formations. These then became sacred sites for the Aboriginal people. Koh X