Aborigine: Cultural Dinosaurs in a Modern World, Part Two
by The concept of the Dreamtime, an idea that connects the past to the future, underlies all spiritual and societal aspects for the Aborigine. Fundamental to their rituals and ceremonies, the interconnectiveness of Dreamtime creates a cohesion between their day to day lives and their worldview.
Although many aspects of Aborigine religion remain a mystery to the outside world, a cursory examination suggests a kindred link with many other nature-based cultures around the world—African Witchdoctors, North American Shaman, Caribbean Voodoo Priestesses—to mention just a few. But what is quite apparent is that the concept of Dreamtime, a belief that connects past and future into one temporal reality, is the most essential aspect of their ancient belief system, as well as their day to day lives.
The Aborigine believe that in the beginning, the earth was featureless, flat and grey. There were no mountains, no rivers, no plants, or animals–not one living thing. Then the Dreamtime came. The Dreamtime was a time when giant, mythical “Beings” that looked like plants or animals (and often, insects) but behaved like humans, rose up from the earth where they’d been asleep for countless eons. As they wondered across the vast grey expanses of the wilderness, they dug for water and searched for food, leaving ravines and places where rivers formed in their wake. Thus the world began to take on the physical form it has today. Using the Christian Bible as a comparative narrative, we can get an idea of the Aborigine concept of creation:
Genesis: And the Earth was without form and void.
Aborigine: Long, long ago before there was Dreamtime, before time was, the world was soft and wobbly and had no shape.
Genesis: And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
Aborigine: Then, at the beginning of Dreamtime, Warramurrungundii came out of the sea.
Genesis: And God called the dry land Earth.
Aborigine: Warramurrungundii, a female in human form, created the land.
The Aborigine believe that in the Dreamtime, the traditional Aboriginal way of life was established by the mythical Beings. Much as the Ten Commandments were given to the Hebrews to guide their moral and social conduct, the traditions to be observed by the Aborigine were imparted to the ancestors. They were taught of the social and cultural heritage that was to be maintained, and the rites and ceremonies designed to preserve their tribal lands and all the forms of life contained within them. When Dreamtime ended, which no one knows why or how, time and life as it is now known, began.
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