Dreamtime
Encyclopedia : D : DR : DRE : Dreamtime
- For other uses, see Dreamtime (disambiguation)}}}.
Aboriginal people call Dreaming the all-at-once time because they experience it as the past, present, and future co-existing. The anthropologist and historian, Professor W.H. Stanner called it the everywhen. This does not mean that they did not have a concept of linear time, but they considered the everywhen of the Dreaming to be objective, whilst linear time they considered a subjecive creation of wakeful conscousness of one's own lifetime. This is in the reverse of the European concept which views dreams as subjecive and linear time is considered objecive. The condition that is Dreamtime is met when the tribal members live according to tribal rules and traditions and are initiated through rituals and the hearing of tribal myths.
The creation was believed to be the work of culture heroes (or heroines) that in the creative epoch travelled across a formless land, creating sacred sites and significant places of interest in their travels. In this way songlines were established, some of which could travel right across Australia, through as many as 6 - 10 different language groupings. The songs and dances of a particular songline were kept alive and frequently performed at large gatherings, organised in good seasons.
They believe that every person has a part to them that exists eternally. This eternal part existed before the life of the individual begins, and continues to exist when the life of the individual ends. Both before and after life, it is believed that this spirit-child exists in the Dreaming and is only initiated into life by being born through a mother. The spirit of the child was believed to enter the developing foetus at the 5th month of pregnancy. Whenb the mother felt the child move in the womb for the first time, it was thought that this was the work of the spirit of the country in which the mother currently stood. Upon birth the child was considered to be a special custodian of that part of their country, and taught of the stories and songlines of that place.
Thought to be the oldest continuously maintained cultural history on Earth (50,000 years or more), the Dreamtime explains the origins and culture of the land and of its people. It presents in a number of inter-related narratives (or myths) explaining Aboriginal Australian origins and culture, it thus has a complex relationship to the prehistory of Australia.
Most Aboriginal people believe that all life as we know it today (human, animal, or plant) is part of a vast and complex single network of relationships which can be traced directly back to the great spirit ancestors of the Dreamtime. This structure of relations, including food taboos, was important to the maintenance of the biological diversity of the indigenous environment and prevented overhunting of particular species.
In the Aboriginal world view, every event leaves a record in the land. Everything in the natural world is a result of the actions of the archetypal beings beings whose actions created the world. Whilst Europeans consider these cultural ancestors to be metaphysical many Aboriginal people still believe in their literal existence. The meaning and significance of particular places and creatures is wedded to their origin in the Dreaming, and certain places have a particular potency, which the Aborigines call its dreaming. In this dreaming lies the sacredness of the earth. For example in Perth, the Noongar believe that the Darling Scarp is said to represent the body of a Wagyl - a snakelike being that meandered over the land creating rivers, waterways and lakes. It is taught that the Wagyl created the Swan River.
In one version (there are many Aboriginal cultures) Altjira was the god of the Dreamtime; he created the Earth and then retired as the Dreamtime vanished. Alternative names for Aktjira in other Aboriginal dialects and Western Desert languages include Alchera (Arrernte), Alcheringa, Mura-mura (Dieri), and Tjukurrpa (Pitjantjatjara).
References
- Australian Dreaming: 40,000 Years of Aboriginal History. Compiled and edited by Jennifer Isaacs. (1980) Lansdowne Press. Sydney. ISBN 0-7018-1330X
- C. Elbadawi, I. Douglas, The Dreamtime: A link to the past
- Max Charlesworth, Howard Murphy, Diane Bell and Kenneth Maddock, 'Introduction' in Religion In Aboriginal Australia: An Anthology, University of Queensland Press, Queensland, Australia, 1984.
- Anna Voigt and Neville Drury, ''Wisdom of the earth: the living legacy of the Aboriginal dreamtime, Simon & Schuster, East Roseville, NSW, Australia, 1997.
- W.H. Stanner, After the Dreaming, Boyer Lecture Series, ABC 1968.
See also
External links
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