Dreamtime (mythology)
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Image:P4022296.JPG In Australian Aborigine religion the Dreamtime, also called The Dreaming, consists of four aspects: The beginning of all things; the life and influence of the ancestors; the way of life and death; and sources of power in life. Dreamtime consists of all four of these aspects at the same time because it is a condition beyond time and space where all things exist at the same time.
The aborigines call Dreamtime the all-at-once time because they experience it as the past, present, and future co-existing. The condition that is Dreamtime is met when the tribal members live according to tribal rules and traditions and is initiated through rituals and the hearing of tribal myths.
The aborigine people believe that each and 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 timeless place known as dreamtime and is only initiated into life by being born through a mother.
The Dreamtime is the central, unifying theme in Australian Aboriginal mythology. Australian Aborigines are thought to have 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.
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 metaphysical beings whose actions created the world. The meaning and significance of particular places and creatures is wedded to their origin in the Dreamtime, 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