Traditional aboriginal culture. Aboriginal dreaming

Where early missionaries were successful in ‘converting’ Aboriginals to Christianity this may have been due in part to the ideas Aboriginals and westerners have in common. 

People familiar with the first books of the Bible – which therefore includes followers of Christianity, Judaism and Islam – will see some parallels between Aboriginal Dreaming and, for example, the Book of Genesis.

The Biblical God created the world over a number of days, and on the seventh day he rested. Aboriginal Spirit Ancestors created the world, and then rested. In many instances, the Spirit Ancestors then became part of the landscape, or took on life forms.

The Biblical God created the world yesterday, but God continues to exist today, and his basic laws for our guidance remain unchanged after many thousands of years. From the point of view of Aboriginals, the word Dreaming might be better than the word Dreamtime because the Ancestral Beings who created the world – like the western God – still exist.

The Biblical God created the world but the process is not yet complete. The world God created is a dynamic one. The Ice Age has come and gone, volcanos still erupt, earthquakes happen along fault lines, and the physical world keeps changing. Aboriginal tradition is not simply a memory or recreation of a dreamtime which was in the past; there is only a Dreaming which is continuous, or timeless. The world the Spirit Ancestors created is also a dynamic one.

Many non-Aboriginals believe in angels, and have a tradition which incorporates good, mischievous or bad spirits such as pixies, fairies, leprechauns or Satan. Aboriginals believe in good, mischievous and bad spirits.

Just as some people believe the western God gives them guidance, Aboriginals listen to their Spirits.

The Dreaming stories, which vary from one People to another, explain a person’s relationship to the universe, their country, their clan and their family. Spirit Ancestors created the physical world and its features along Dreaming Tracks (sometimes known as Songlines).