Dreamtime

Dreamtime (English Dreamtime or Dreaming ) should play the central concept of the mythology of Australian Aborigines, the translation is misleading. The Dreamtime legends speak of the universal, space and timeless world from which the real presence is evident in a ceaseless process of creation, in turn, to "fill" the dream time with new historical events to. The Dreamtime thus explains how everything came into existence, and justifies the unwritten laws according to which people live. The events of the dream time manifest themselves according to their faith in landmarks such as rocks, springs and the like.

Etymology

The British anthropologist Walter Baldwin Spencer and his Australian colleague Francis James Gillen translated the word Alcheringa the Central Australian language Arrernte with dreaming, which was reproduced in English with Dreamtime. The terms, however, dreaming or dreamtime are misleading, because they remember the dream. With dreams in his sleep the dream time has nothing to do. For the Aborigines, it is rather the " spiritual, natural and moral order of the cosmos ."

In another Central Australian language, Pitjantjatjara, called the Dreamtime tjukurrpa. In other languages ​​of the Aborigines there may have their own terms for the dream time, but it is always the same thing meant by. " The Dreamtime is rendered orally in stories [ only ] ."

Representations

The various terms of Australian languages ​​that are misleading translated as " Dreamtime ", denote the idea of ​​a space-and timeless source of existence, which could be described as ' continuous creation present. " In the past, only the events and experiences of this world are ( " dreams " or " Songlines "), which react from time immemorial to the Dreamtime and convert them incessantly in a timeless process. All beings, but also the things of inanimate nature have their origin and their counterpart (ancestral beings ) in the Dreamtime. However, in contrast to the this-worldly beings and events, the nature and events of the Dreamtime are equally and simultaneously with all previously happened side by side. The dreams of this world are identical with the life energy of people and the animate and inanimate nature, which expand the Dreamtime incessantly. The Dreamtime - the holy ongoing creation, present - is regarded as actual reality.

After the presentation of Aboriginal Lore can contact the Dreamtime and their characters through certain rituals and ceremonies at all times (especially in sacred places ). There are the characters in this story of creation, who created mountains, the rivers, the sea and the sky and the animals and plants gave their name. The central figure of this creation story is in most dreamtime ideas the rainbow serpent, because it " is the fusion of two important principles that represent the unity of mind and matter. " Probably since the colonization of Australia 40,000 or more years ago people began to dream time legends - which were handed down orally - to report on the creation of the world ..

The Dreamtime is also considered the origin of all the rules of human coexistence, for law and order. From the Dreamtime to the social rules derive, with violations of the code of conduct will be sanctioned. Nevertheless, the Dreamtime is no immutable moral authority, but " learns" from the experiences of this world. There is nothing that is not connected with the Dreamtime. " In the minds of the Aborigines " a dreamy landscape " is an embodiment of mystical realities, which are difficult to explain with words."

The Aborigines believe that their immortal soul is a " spark" their Ahnwesen from the dreamtime, who returns after death of a being in the dream time to then, in a new form of existence - perhaps as a tree, as a man or as a kangaroo - to be reborn. In addition, provides that spark is the unbroken connection to the Dreamtime, which can be stimulated by certain rituals. This Ahnwesen are not idealized god-like, but are faulty as any real beings. Your " stored " in the Dreamtime walks of life to serve the people as teaching pieces for the personal and collective action.

The Dreamtime knows no gods and no God. After Gerhard Leitner, there are three main approaches this 'belief'.

• Since there are regional and personal dream time, the personal dream times are in the larger regional context, the country involved. This embedding comes about through the paternal line. The attachment to the land is so strong that people feel themselves as belonging to the country and not vice versa.
• The Dreamtime is not called into question. It is evident, there are few doubters.
• The Dreamtime is godless, its central theme is the Geography, which reveals itself in the country binding. The events of the Dreaming manifested in thousands of sacred landmarks that have become over thousands of years to a kind of spiritual map of Australia. There are " solidified evidence of former events ," and in such places is to contact the Dreamtime instead. Knowledgeable Aboriginal people can bring these landmarks at any time with the associated dream -time events connected. The country is therefore the central Dreamtime figure and not a god. The land and the dreamtime of others are respected. All times dream - better Dreamtime paths - are chained together. The Songlines ( songlines ) - Bruce Chatwin has used this term - mean that no one had the entire knowledge of the Dreamtime and this item knowledge was put together in periodically held rites and ceremonies, and will.

The knowledge is not accessible to all, but only the chosen carriers of the Community. It 's a secret. There were prominent figures in the groups, the tribal leaders ( clever man), the medicine man ( medicine man ) and the judge (law ​​man), the elders of the group, the further mediated this knowledge. This knowledge was distinguished by women and men. It also does not mean that the person held a prominent position in the group. The knowledge of the men women was not available, and vice versa.

The case law was done by the elders of the group, and wrong was punished. There were either immediate sanctions or negotiations; also could be a fight agreed. Implied the judge, the law is, with a bone on the convict, so this was an exclusion from the group the same. Exclusion from the group meant that he alone had little chance of survival in the wilderness ( Outback ).

A special sign of the Dreamtime is totemism. Each person is a carrier of a totem, totem figure. " You put the carrier on certain obligations. For example, if the totem is an animal, say a kangaroo, then it will not hunt or eat the person. He will not marry anyone who has this totem, even if otherwise conditions are met. Totems create connections that go beyond the relationship. "