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The Dreamtime is the central, unifying theme in Australian Aboriginal mythology. 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 once. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (3264x2448, 3883 KB)Photo of a sign in Kings Park, Perth . ...
Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (3264x2448, 3883 KB)Photo of a sign in Kings Park, Perth . ...
The Rainbow Serpent/Snake is a major mythological being for Aboriginal people across Australia, although the creation stories associated with it are best known from northern Australia. ...
The indigenous peoples of Australia can be classified into hundreds of language groups and clans. ...
An ancestor is a parent or (recursively) the parent of an ancestor. ...
Aboriginal people 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 are initiated through rituals and the hearing of tribal myths. Indigenous Australians are the first inhabitants of the Australian continent and its nearby islands, continuing their presence during European settlement. ...
A ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value, which is prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. ...
// The word mythology (Greek: μυθολογία, from μυθος mythos, a story or legend, and λογος logos, an account or speech) literally means the (oral) retelling of myths – stories that a particular culture believes to be true and that use supernatural events or characters to explain the nature of the universe and humanity. ...
They 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.
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. // The word mythology (Greek: μυθολογία, from μυθος mythos, a story or legend, and λογος logos, an account or speech) literally means the (oral) retelling of myths – stories that a particular culture believes to be true and that use supernatural events or characters to explain the nature of the universe and humanity. ...
The prehistory of Australia is a term which may be used to describe the period of approximately 40-45,000 years (or more, as is contended by some studies) between the first human habitation of the Australian continent and the first definitive sighting of Australia by Europeans in 1606, which...
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 Nyoongar 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. Metaphysical may refer to: Metaphysics, a branch of philosophy dealing with the ultimate nature of reality; or The Metaphysical poets, a poetic school from seventeenth century England who correspond with baroque period in European literature. ...
Perth is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Western Australia, and is the fourth largest city in Australia, with a population of approximately 1. ...
The Nyoongar are an aboriginal tribe that originally inhabitated the area now occupied by the city of Perth, Western Australia. ...
Darling Range (~2000 ft elevation), Perth, Swan River estuary. ...
The Wagyl or Rainbow Serpent The Wagyl (alternative spelling Waugal or Waagal) is, according to Noongar culture, a snakelike Dreamtime creature responsible for the creation of the Swan and Canning Rivers and other waterways and landforms around present day Perth and the south-west of Western Australia A superior being...
Black swan and family The Swan River estuary flows through the city of Perth, in the south west of Western Australia. ...
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). In Aboriginal mythology, Altjira is the sky god of the Aranda. ...
Arrente is both a language, a group of people, and an area of land in Central Australia. ...
The word Dreamtime has several meanings: Dreamtime is the mythology of Australian Aborigines. ...
Pitjantjatjara is the name of both an Aboriginal people (or Anangu) of the Central Australian desert and their language. ...
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
See also The Aborigines of Australia have a polytheistic, animistic religion. ...
The prehistory of Australia is a term which may be used to describe the period of approximately 40-45,000 years (or more, as is contended by some studies) between the first human habitation of the Australian continent and the first definitive sighting of Australia by Europeans in 1606, which...
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