Aboriginal people believe in a creation time or Dreamtime, when ancestral beings emerged from beneath the earth. They resembled plants and animals, but were part human. Journeying across the land, the ancestors created everything that formed the World. They behaved like human beings- hunting,fighting, loving and hating. They taught the descendants the sacred rituals and the symbols and designs used in body painting. The ancestors were the Law makers and from their deeds Aboriginal people learnt the correct way to behave and to live with each other. As these mythical creatures tired of their live they disappeared under the earth again. Often these places are marked by rocky outcrops ant trees and so have special religious significance to Aboriginal people. Tjkurpa is an Aboriginal word which we interpret as the Dreamtime. To Aborigines, the Tjukurpa means existance in the past, present and future. For thousands of years, desert Aborigines have slept out under clear, star-studded skies. So it is not surprising that there so many Dreamtime creation myths explaining the origins of the sun, moon, stars and planets.
As I'm an Aboriginal I've got a totem. Mine is the Barramundi and I've drawn you a picture for you to keep. I hope you enjoy the reading about the Dreamtime and what it means and I hope you like the picture I've given you.
Thanks Best luck.... Dellisa Kumsing
References
Deirdre Stokes Desert Dreamings The Jacaranda Press, Milton, Queensland, 1992, p3,8,18,19
Magie K. C. West The Inspired Dream Peter Maralwanga, Maranggol, NT 1980, p60
Picture by Dellisa Kumsing, Herberton, Queensland, Australia