DREAMTIME - THE DREAMING

The Aboriginal beliefs of the creation of the world centred on the "Dreaming" or "Dreamtime," a pretty comprehensive concept representing the past, present, and future, as well as virtually every aspect of life. It includes the creative era at the dawn of time, when mythic beings shaped the land and populated it with flora, fauna and human beings and left behind the rules for social life. After their physical death and transformation into heavenly or earthly bodies, the indestructible creative beings left the earth to enter the spiritual realm.

© Readers Digest Publishing - Bill Bachman

Sand Paintings like this one, made using different coloured gravels,
tell stories in their patterns about events that happened in the Dreamtime

The Aborigines believed that the Dreaming beings kept all control of power and fertility, which they would release automatically into the human realm as long as humans followed in their footsteps, this included the regular performance of rituals to ensure a continued flow of life-giving power.
Spirit beings were used as messengers to communicate with the living and to introduce new knowledge into human society. Through dreams and other states of altered consciousness, the living could come into contact with the spiritual realm and gain strength from it.

The Aborigines believed that the Dreaming legacy gave them responsibility for, and control over, the fertility and reproduction of plants and animals and that it was therefore only through the use of rituals that resources were replenished and social life could continue. This heavy responsibility was claimed by senior males, though all adults shared in the maintenance of the land and its resources through ritual participation and obedience to the Law.

The Dreaming is central to the existence of Aboriginal people. It gives meaning to everyday life. It explains why many things are the way they are and prescribes the social structure. The Dreaming teaches the relationship between people, the environment, to the particular area they belong to and where they come from. The Dreaming determines their values, beliefs and their relationship with every living and nonliving thing. It gives a clear picture of land without maps, so people can travel safely and confidently within their boundaries. The Dreaming is as important to the Aboriginal people as the Bible is to Christians.

© Readers Digest Publishing - Panos Pictures/Penny Tweedie

Using diagrams in the sand,
a mother teaches her children about their Dreaming

When they refer to the 'Dreaming' it has a deep and sacred meaning. It means much, much more than just telling Dreaming stories for enjoyment. Dreaming stories are often referred to as Aboriginal fables, folklore, legends and myths, which is a very inaccurate description because the Dreaming is not fictitious to Aboriginal people but is a real and meaningful belief system that has been passed on to them from one generation to the next for centuries. Aboriginal people believe that the Spirit Ancestors watch over them today to ensure the laws are kept and that punishment is inflicted if they are broken. It is not just history, it is very much observed today.

BACK