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Aboriginal Australia Totemic Dreamtime
Rainbow Sacred Symbols
The Danceman and the Songman were respected men who were esteemed by the group because of their specialized song and dance skills. The songman performed songs passed down from his ancestors and also composed songs about everyday life.
He was often asked to perform for other groups where he led others in a chorus. The Danceman specialized in miming the movements of animals and other ceremonial totemic portrayals. Songs could vary in length from several days to several weeks to several months.
Although dance techniques vary between tribal groups, most of the dancing was done with lots of foot stomping which is now called shake a leg. There were also arm, foot, and body movements that imitated the actions of birds and animals.
Headdresses and body decorations enhanced the connection between dancer and totemic Dreaming. There were sacred ritual dances. There were dances for Dreaming events, for rain, and for successful hunts. There were also campfire dances where women, children, and men shared clan totem dances.
The story of the Aboriginals is in the land in their Dreaming Tracks and Songlines. The law is imprinted upon their sacred spaces. The Dreaming Tracks distinguish all features of the land created by their Spirit Ancestors as they travelled across it. These songlines are the footprints of their Spirit Ancestors as they sang Beingness into the landscape, setting the law. Today the journeys of the Spirit Ancestors are brought to life through these songlines.
By performing the appropriate ceremonies and singing certain songs at precise points along the Dreaming Track, the Aboriginals gain direct access to the Dreaming. Many groups travell along Dreaming Tracks with their children, educating them by telling them stories of the Dreamtime. Through the verses of these songs, Aboriginal Australians know every part of the landscape and where to find sources of water and food.
They also use the songlines when they move about within the territory of the tribe or when visiting other tribes. Tribe members carried message sticks with them whenever they crossed the boundaries of another tribe.
Engraved with sacred Dreaming symbols, these pieces of bark or wood identified the walker and served as an official request for permission to enter and pass through the belonging place of another tribe. Under Aboriginal law to enter the belonging place of another tribe without their consent was trespassing, which courted hostility and could result in death.
All Aboriginal tribes tell stories about the Rainbow Serpent
Snake. Although some elements of the Rainbow Serpent Story are known only to initiated members
of the tribe, the illustration of the Rainbow Serpent has become public knowledge.
Aboriginal Sacred Site Uluru, Uluru National Park
Rainbow Serpent Stories are Creation Stories so each of them is descriptive of the creation of the landscape where the storyteller lives. Rainbow Serpent artists often add clan symbols to the body of the Rainbow Serpent, symbolic of the connection between the clan and the land. The Rainbow Serpent is linked with fertility, abundant plants and animals, protection, regenerating rains, watercourses, and peace.
A female Rainbow Serpent, as the original mother creator, and, a male Rainbow Serpent, as the transformer of the land, are the two Rainbow Serpents most commonly depicted in Aboriginal ceremonies, art, and oral traditions. When the Rainbow Serpent is not respected or laws are transgressed, the Rainbow Serpent can act as a destructive force, bringing floods and storms.
String Games make use of string figure designs often resembled objects that were, and in some parts of Australia still are, used in everyday life such as dilly bags and baskets, or they represented animals and people, or abstract ideas such as the forces of nature. As people played the string game, designs would change quickly from one thing to another. This game was also used to help tell stories... Go back
Read Aboriginal Australia Articles
Animal Totems Shamanism,
Belonging Place Taking Care,
Corroborees Ceremonies,
Cultural Heritage,
Dreaming Tracks Songlines,
Glossary Terminology,
Kinship Elders,
Musical Song Dances,
Rainbow Snake Sacred Symbols,
Spiritual Beliefs,
Storytelling Custodianship
Visit other Beliefs Faiths Religions Traditions
Aboriginal Dreamtime,
Alchemy Alchemist,
Cosmos Astronomy,
Buddhism Buddhist,
Christianity Biblical,
Daoist Confucian,
Druidry Treelore,
Heathenry Ásatrú,
Hinduism Vedas,
Islam Sunnah,
Judaism Talmud,
Native American,
Paganism Wiccan,
Shamanism Shaman,
Shintoism Kami
Aboriginal Australia Totemic Dreamtime Copyright © 2002-2008 Maureen Grace Burns, Blessings Cornucopia. All Rights Reserved.
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