Why are the Dreamtime Stories important to Aboriginal people?

Question

Why are the Dreamtime stories important to Aboriginal people? What does it teach them about the laws, behaviour and land?

All answers are appreciated.

Answer 1

Why is religion important to the rest of the world!

I am not aboriginal but even I know that the dreaming is the period of creation and spirits both good and bad ruled the world. The stories explain how the world and things in it were created and also why certain things are set apart from (different in some way) from others. The dreaming is full of fascinating stories and is no different to the stories of creation in various tradditional religions. I must admit that I find some of the stories more plausible than the fact that there was adam & eve who only had sons but somehow we all ended up being descended from them (Hmmmm and were them some young women living over the hill that some one forgot to tells up about?)
European culture has a "folk law" tradition of entertaining stories with morals/concepts that we should adopt if we are to "get on " in society and some of the dreaming stories are no different, they speak of consequences for bad behaviours, reward for good behaviours, justice, morals and so on.
Apologies to any Koori poeple if I havent quite got it right -so thats my european descent perspective of it.

Answer 2

The dreamtime is known as the Tjukurpa in Central Australia is the time of creation, when giant sprit beings roamed the earth and created everything that we see today. These spirit beings often had the form of animals but could change into human form as well, hence they are both the anilmal and human ancestrys. The way that these spirit beings interacted with the land was passed down generation to generation through a series of ceremonies and sacred objects known as tjuringas. These sacred objects carry each story and these stories and the full meaning behind them is passed on to each aboriginal person at a time of initiation and these stories contain the rules and laws of the land. Only those who have been through initiation know the full meanings and rites of the law, however there are stories that are shared with children and these versions of the stories are usually what is passed on to the outside world. They are similar to parables in the bible where each story has a moral behind it but as people grow up they become mrore knowlegeable as they pass through their rites of passage, hence why aboriginal elders are considered wise old men because they understand a lot of the law and its ways.

Answer 3

Like history is important to us including evolution and why we are here, Dreamtime is just as important to any indigenous community, not just Aboriginal people.

Dreamtime goes in some way to explaining the reason for things. It's a deep belief.

Answer 4

What Is The Dreamtime

Answer 5

The Dreaming is the period of the creation of the world. It is their equivalent of Genesis which can be considered the Dreaming of another nomadic people. It explains who we are, why we are here and how we relate to the land, the fauna and each other. Unlike Genesis, there are no gods in the Dreaming but there are spirit people who were able to interact with the world. Many of the spirit people changed into animals and birds and the stories explain why they did so. The spirit people seldom interact with the world today but some of them can. These can be woken if the wrong things are done in various places so rules apply to one's behaviour there and who can and cannot visit.

The stories differ from one culture to another although some of the basic themes are the same across the country. The rainbow serpent, or variations of it, seems to be ubiquitous but it is not a god. At least it is not a god in the sense we understand gods from other religions.

Answer 6

Dreamtime is their history,their culture,the reason why things exist

Answer 7

For the best answers, search on this site https://shorturl.im/axxEb

To the aboriginees; their dreamland is just as important as heaven is to a Christian, or the summerlands to the Wicca.