Dreamtime

What is Dreamtime?
Dreamtime is the Aboriginal understanding of the world, it's creation, and it's tales. It was also the beginning of knowledge and the universal laws that needed to be followed in order to survive.

Legend
According to legend, the world started as a flat, endless plane. Darkness covered the entire world, as it was just a dead and silent thing. Then, the ancestor spirits broke out of the crust with tremendous force. They were born alongside the Earth, as some would say, they were born out of their own existence.

Along came the sun, which rose with the ancient spirits, shining light over the land for the first time. The spirits were depicted as half human and half animal. They then traveled throughout the land, shaping it into mountains, deserts, rivers, trees, waterholes, and plains. Their actions such as hunting, playing or fighting. resulted in new ideas, which led to new creations. They made many of the different animals that we see in Australia and the rest of the world today. They also created the elements: water, air, fire, and earth. They then made the people, who are believed to be direct descendants of the spirits. Lastly, they created the moon and the stars. After they felt that the world was complete, they went back into the Earth and returned to their state of slumber. Sometimes when these spirits went to sleep, they transformed into rocks or trees as part of the landscapes. These sites are considered to be sacred and are only visited by initiated men.