Dreams

The Dreaming, or Dream Time in Australian Aboriginal mythology (see Aborigines), is the period of creation in which the known landscape took shape and all life had its source. The Dreaming represents a distant mythic period in which Wondjina (ancestral spirits) traveled across Australia, establishing the essential fabric of life and depositing the spirits of unborn children. The Wondjina were born from the earth, and their journeys during The Dreaming are recorded in the oral traditions of the Aboriginal peoples of different regions of Australia with great attention to local geographical detail and specific events. After passing on to humans the knowledge necessary for survival and social living, the Wondjina disappeared back into the earth or, according to other traditions, married into humankind. The waterholes they created on their wanderings later became sacred sites. The Dreaming is also considered to be a part of the present. It can be reentered through rituals using totems, in which the participants themselves become the Wondjina and retrace their journeys, reliving the so-called strong time of creation.