The history of the Australian Aborigines goes back 50,000 years, making their culture the oldest still living in the world. And it is extremely diverse: the Aboriginal people consist of many different tribes that speak their own languages and maintain different customs and traditions. What they have in common is a spiritual worldview based on the unity of all beings with nature and a kind of metaphysical parallel world, the omnipresent "Dreamtime".
Towards the end of the 18th century, diseases introduced by European immigrants, but also targeted expulsion and forced assimilation of indigenous children, wiped out a large part of Australia's original population and with it a considerable part of their culture passed down from generation to generation.
In search of their roots, descendants of the indigenous people are increasingly rediscovering the old myths and are inspired by them to follow the traces of their ancestors into the Dreamtime.
Dreamtime and Dreaming Paths
The term "Dreamtime" stands on the one hand for the long past, but at the same time the present and everything existing in the world are also part of the Dreamtime.
Dreamtime and Dreaming Paths
The term "Dreamtime" stands on the one hand for the long past, but at the same time the present and everything existing in the world are also part of the Dreamtime.
In the beginning, humans, animals and spirit beings formed a great whole before the spiritual beings of creation dreamed the world and created the universe, animals and plants.
They shaped the land and entrusted it to the people:
Each tribe was given its own region, with which it became one and is forever connected. The resulting duty of care for nature is an essential part of the Aboriginal worldview.
Even today, everything is one and can transform into something else: the spirit of a deceased person can be reborn as an animal, a plant or even a stone.
Totems in the form of animals, plants, objects or natural phenomena embody one's own kinship to the totem form - and thus to nature - and strengthen the spiritual connection to the ancestors. Totems are considered sacred and play an important role in precisely defined ceremonies and rituals through which Aborigines can enter the Dreamtime at any time and participate in the spiritual energy of the creatures of creation.
All rules and laws - there are corresponding instructions for every conceivable event - also go back to the spiritual beings of the Dreamtime. One looks in vain for written records in the culture of the Aborigines, traditional knowledge is exclusively passed on orally and often very expressively embellished by dances, songs, plays and music.
To receive spiritual energy, Aborigines often visit sacred sites where the spiritual power of the creatures of creation can be felt particularly strongly. One of these sacred sites is the famous Ayers Rock, called "Uluru" in the Aboriginal language. The Sacred Mountain is the home of the Rainbow Serpent, which is considered the most important creature of the Aborigines.
On dream paths, Aborigines not only walk spiritually enraptured in dream time, but also in real life.
Totems in the form of animals, plants, objects or natural phenomena embody one's own kinship to the totem form - and thus to nature - and strengthen the spiritual connection to the ancestors. Totems are considered sacred and play an important role in precisely defined ceremonies and rituals through which Aborigines can enter the Dreamtime at any time and participate in the spiritual energy of the creatures of creation.
All rules and laws - there are corresponding instructions for every conceivable event - also go back to the spiritual beings of the Dreamtime. One looks in vain for written records in the culture of the Aborigines, traditional knowledge is exclusively passed on orally and often very expressively embellished by dances, songs, plays and music.
To receive spiritual energy, Aborigines often visit sacred sites where the spiritual power of the creatures of creation can be felt particularly strongly. One of these sacred sites is the famous Ayers Rock, called "Uluru" in the Aboriginal language. The Sacred Mountain is the home of the Rainbow Serpent, which is considered the most important creature of the Aborigines.
On dream paths, Aborigines not only walk spiritually enraptured in dream time, but also in real life.
The so-called "songlines" serve as orientation on traditional walks ("walkabouts"): by singing a precisely defined sequence of songs containing landmarks and other useful clues, Aborigines manage to navigate the entire continent.
Health and illness
Illness is regarded by Aboriginal Australians as an absence of health and thus as an unnatural occurrence.
Health and illness
Illness is regarded by Aboriginal Australians as an absence of health and thus as an unnatural occurrence.
Therapy does not focus on treating the symptoms, but on finding out the causes of the suffering. All aspects of life are examined: The relationship of the individual and the community to the living and the dead, the influence of creator beings and totems, abnormalities in the region or the country as a whole.
Numerous rules help to maintain well-being and avoid illness:
If illnesses occur despite following the rules, shamans and women skilled in healing can draw on a wealth of medicinal herbs, as well as rituals and magic.
Numerous rules help to maintain well-being and avoid illness:
- "It is necessary to do the right things,
- eat the right food,
- choose the right time and the right direction,
- to find the right place to sleep,
- to be with the right partner..,
- to live in the right place with the right people..,
- and to always act and think right."
If illnesses occur despite following the rules, shamans and women skilled in healing can draw on a wealth of medicinal herbs, as well as rituals and magic.
The aim of every treatment is to restore the balance between soul and body.
Birth and death
In the Aborigines' imagination, every future child already exists as a spirit child, which itself determines the time at which it seeks its parents or is found by them. If a woman feels the desire to conceive a child, she may visit a sacred place - such as a fertility cave - and try to lure a spirit child into her womb. Sometimes a spirit child also appears to its future father and is passed on by him to the mother. Wise women are consulted in cases of unfulfilled desire for children: Mysterious ceremonies held in sacred places are supposed to help achieve the long-awaited pregnancy. It is not uncommon for the longed-for conception to actually occur.
Aborigines understand death as an inevitable part of life in order to give rise to new life. At death, the spiritual and physical parts of the human being separate from each other:
Birth and death
In the Aborigines' imagination, every future child already exists as a spirit child, which itself determines the time at which it seeks its parents or is found by them. If a woman feels the desire to conceive a child, she may visit a sacred place - such as a fertility cave - and try to lure a spirit child into her womb. Sometimes a spirit child also appears to its future father and is passed on by him to the mother. Wise women are consulted in cases of unfulfilled desire for children: Mysterious ceremonies held in sacred places are supposed to help achieve the long-awaited pregnancy. It is not uncommon for the longed-for conception to actually occur.
Aborigines understand death as an inevitable part of life in order to give rise to new life. At death, the spiritual and physical parts of the human being separate from each other:
The physical part remains as an empty shell, while the spirit enters the Dreamtime and attains immortality.
In due course, the spirit will return from the dreamtime and animate a human being, an animal or a plant. With each death, a circle is thus closed, which is at the same time the beginning of a new one.