The Australian Aboriginal Dreamtime

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Tjukurpa - The Dreaming

The Australian Aboriginal Dreamtime is essentially a creation myth. However it is also a lot more than that. Dreamtime is not just myth, legend or religion. It permeates all aspects of Aboriginal thought and has a profound effect on their world-view.

"As it was done in the Dreamtime, so it must be done today"

Ancestors

On the First Day, the Sun was born from the land. He rose into the sky and his light warmed the land. Slowly the other Ancestors awoke and emerged onto the land. This marked the beginning of the Dreamtime.

As the Ancestors crossed the land they spoke names, calling into being all of creation - natural features as well as plants and animals and even abstract concepts such as death. Every prominent feature of the landscape is thus associated directly with the Dreamtime Ancestors.

As the Ancestors moved across the land they sang songs which incorporated the names they had created. They thus left a web of songlines on the land which indicate their progress. These songs are sung today at sacred ceremonies.

Guruwari

Eventually the Ancestors tired and returned beneath the land, the places of their return being sacred. That marked the end of the Dreamtime.

It should be clear that the Aboriginal Dreamtime is intimately connected with the land. Land is not interchangeable. Every part of the land has its own unique connections with the Ancestors who walked there, named it and created its features.

Although the Dreamtime is over, through the land and the guruwari the Aboriginal peoples of modern Australia still have a strong connection with the Ancestors.