Some interesting information before you read on………….
The term “Dreamtime” is increasingly recognised as a problematic and inaccurate way to describe Aboriginal spiritual beliefs. It was coined not by Aboriginal people, but by a non-Indigenous anthropologist in the late 1800s, and it carries a fundamental flaw baked right into the word itself. None of the hundreds of Aboriginal languages contain a word for “time”, yet “Dreamtime” imposes a Western concept of linear time onto a belief system that has none.
The word “Dreamtime” tends to indicate a time period that has finished, when in reality the Dreamings are ongoing. Worse still, a rich and complex multiplicity of spiritual concepts, each unique to specific language groups and cultures, has been uniformly flattened into a single English word, erasing the distinct beliefs of over 200 language groups.
Terms like Jukurrpa, Altyerr, Ungud, Ngarrankarni and others are understood by their Aboriginal adherents to be reality, religion and the Law, not mythology, and certainly not a dream. The preferred terms today are “The Dreaming” or “The Dreamings” (plural, to acknowledge that diversity), or where known, the specific language group term. “Creation Stories” or “Dreaming Stories” convey more respect for Aboriginal Australian people’s beliefs.
We have preserved the article below as it was written at the time but wanted to update you with this pivot in thinking.
The Dreamtime is a commonly used term for describing important features of Aboriginal spiritual beliefs and existence. It is not generally well understood by non-indigenous people.
First Nations Peoples believe that the Dreamtime started way back, at the very beginning. The land and the people were created by the Spirits. They made the rivers, streams, water holes, the land, hills, rocks, plants and animals. It is believed that the Spirits gave them their hunting tools and each tribe its land, their totems and their Dreaming.
They believe that the entire world was made by their Ancestors way back in the very beginning of time, the Dreamtime. The Ancestors made everything.
The Ancestors made particular sites to show the Indigenous people which places were to be sacred. They then perform ritual ceremonies and customary songs near the sacred sites to please the Ancestral spirits and to keep themselves alive.
Distinct tribes have different philosophies and beliefs about the Ancestors who made the world. Some believe that the Ancestors were animal-spirits.
Others in parts of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory believe the Ancestors were huge snakes. In other places the spirit who created the world is believed to be the Wanadjina.
Dreamtime is the foundation of Aboriginal religion and culture. It dates back some 60,000 years. It is the story of events that have happened, how the universe came to be, how human beings were created and how their Creator intended for humans to function within the world as they knew it.
Indigenous people understand the Dreamtime as a beginning that never ended. They hold the belief that the Dreamtime is a period on a continuum of past, present and future.
They learn about their beginnings through their Dreamtime creation folklore, that told of the momentous actions of the creators. The myths are the foundation of Aboriginal society and provide certainty about existence.
First Nations People believe that the land they occupy was once not in existence like it is today. It was free from form or life, vacuous – empty.
They unquestionably believe that this was the way things once were because the ancestors had said so and they never doubt their word. It was during what has become known as the Dreamtime, the land, mountains, hills, rivers, plants, lifeforms – both animal and human – and sky above were formed by the actions of mysterious and supernatural spirits.
During the Dreamtime the creators made men, women and animals, declared the laws of the land and how people were to behave to one another, the customs of food supply and distribution, the rituals of initiation, the ceremonies of death which are required to be performed so that the spirit of the dead travels peacefully to his or her spirit-place, and the laws of marriage.
Some Dreamings tell of the mythical creators disappearing. They believe that the creators disappeared from the sight of mere mortals, but continue to live in secret places.
Some live in the tribe’s territory in rock crevices, trees and water holes. Others travel up into the sky above as heavenly bodies. Others change into (or perhaps became) natural forces such as wind, rain, thunder and lightning.
It is believed that many of the creators continue to live on the land or in the sky above watching over them. These supernatural enigmatic creators are often referred to as men and women who have the ability to change shape into animals and other creatures such as the Rainbow Serpent.
There are also stories of heroes and heroines and Father and Mother figures.
The Dreamtime may be difficult for many of us to understand fully but it is part of who the Aboriginal people are, the very essence and reason for being here. It is all encompassing and will forever be at the centre of their existence as a people.
