Part Of Aboriginal Culture example essay topic

Aboriginal Dreamtime The Aboriginal Dreamtime is that part of aboriginal culture which explains the origins and culture of the land and its people. Aborigines have the longest continuous cultural history of any group of people on Earth, dating back 65,000 years. Dreamtime is Aboriginal Religion and Culture. The Dreamtime contains many parts. It is the story of things that have happened, how the universe came to be, how human beings were created and how the Creator intended for humans to function within the cosmos.

As with all other cultures it speaks of Earth's Creation by Gods and Goddesses, some of whom were kind hearted while others were cruel. The Australian Aborigines speak of jiva or, a seed power deposited in the earth. In the Aboriginal world view, every meaningful activity, event, or life process that occurs at a particular place leaves behind a vibrational residue in the earth, as plants leave an image of themselves as seeds. The shape of the land, its mountains, rocks, riverbeds, and waterholes, and its unseen vibrations echo the events that brought that place into creation. Everything in the natural world is a symbolic footprint of the metaphysical beings whose actions created our world. As with a seed, the potency of an earthly location is wedded to the memory of its origin.

The Aborigines called this potency the 'Dreaming' of a place, and this Dreaming constitutes the sacredness of the Earth. Only in extraordinary states of consciousness can one be aware of, or attuned to, the inner dreaming of the Earth. The Australian aboriginal shamans, 'clever men' or 'men of high degree', described 'celestial ascents' to meet with the 'sky gods's uch as Baiame, Bir al, Goin and Bund jil. Many of the accounts of ritualistic initiation bare striking parallels to modern day UFO contact ee and abduction lore. The aboriginal shamanic 'experience of death and rising again' in the initiation of tribal 'men of high degree' finds some fascinating parallels with modern day UFO abduction lore.

The 'chosen one' (either voluntarily or spontaneously) is set upon by 'spirits', ritualistically 'killed', and then experiences a wondrous journey (generally an aerial ascent to a strange realm) to met the 'sky god. ' He is restored to life, a new life as the tribal shaman. Ritual death and resurrection, abduction by powerful beings, ritual removal or rearrangement of body parts, symbolic disembowelment, implanting of artifacts, aerial ascents and journeys into strange realms, alien tutelage and enlightenment, personal empowerment, and transformation, these and many other phenomena are recurring elements of the extraordinary shamanic tradition. Aboriginal oral traditions which describe the origin of Australia from ancient times are frequently dramatic, involving great beings and amazing events. The legends when distilled create a story of the origins of man in Australia and of the Australian landscape as it is today of which much can be substantiated by scientific investigation. The ancient racial memory of a people whose traditions and culture remained largely unaltered for thousands of years can recount great geological changes, the rising of the seas, the change from lush vegetation to desert, and the eruption of volcanoes as well as the very first arrival of man on this continent.

The expression 'Dreamtime' is most often used to refer to the 'time before time', or 'the time of the creation of all things', while 'Dreaming' is often used to refer to an individual's or group's set of beliefs or spirituality. For instance, an Indigenous Australian might say that they have Kangaroo Dreaming, or Shark Dreaming, or Honey Ant Dreaming, or any combination ofDreamings pertinent to their 'country'. However, many Indigenous Australians also refer to the creation time as 'The Dreaming'. What is certain is that 'Ancestor Spirits' came to Earth in human and other forms and the land, the plants and animals were given their form as we know them today. These Spirits also established relationships between groups and individuals, (whether people or animals) and where they traveled across the land, or came to a halt, they created rivers, hills, etc., and there are often stories attached to these places.

Once their work was done, the Ancestor Spirits changed again, into animals or stars or hills or other objects. For Indigenous Australians, the past is still alive and vital today and will remain so into the future. The Ancestor Spirits and their powers have not gone, they are present in the forms into which they changed at the end of the 'Dreamtime' or 'Dreaming', as the stories tell. The stories have been handed down through the ages and are an integral part of an Indigenous person's 'Dreaming'. Each tribe has its individual dream time although some of the legends overlap. Most 'Dreamtime' originates with the Giant Dog or the Giant Snake, and each is unique and colourful in its explanation.

Legends of the 'Dreamtime' are handed down by word of mouth and by totem from generation to generation. It involves some secret rituals and rites, and some classified as 'Men's Business' and some as 'Women's Business'. Colourful, symbolic and enthusiastic dancing and corroboree's are used to pass on the stories of the creation. Dreaming is an act of pure imagination, attesting in all men a creative power, which if it were available in waking, would make every man a Dante or Shakespeare. ~H.F. Hedge.