Australia is becoming a very multicultural country of which the Aboriginal culture is a part. The Aboriginal culture is one of the oldest in the world. The earliest evidence of human habitation on the Australian continent has been reported from between 40,000 to even 125,000 years ago. This also makes Aboriginal religions and beliefs some of the oldest surviving belief systems.
Aboriginal people make up a very small portion of the entire Australian population, only about 2.5 percent. This puts the population around 517,000. The broad term of Aboriginal Australians has been used since 1789 to describe several different regional groups of indigenous people who have different languages and beliefs. In the census of 2001 only 5,244 people reported practicing Aboriginal traditional religions. As the people have suffered and become less populous, the religion has suffered as well and become far less prominent. In the 2006 census it was reported that among Aboriginals, 72 percent practiced some form of Christianity and 16 percent listed no religion.
Aboriginal mythology begins with Dreamtime, in which the creation of the earth occurred. The Dreamtime can also be described as a time that runs parallel to time as we are aware of it, although in this infinite spiritual cycle the values, symbols, and laws of Aboriginal society are formed. In general, Aboriginals refer to the Dreamtime as the time of creation, but depending on what country (region) a particular group of Aboriginals come from they can have a specific dreaming such as the kangaroo dreaming or the shark dreaming. The dreaming of every regional group creates the structure of that particular society's rules for social behavior. It also creates the ceremonies practiced in order to guarantee the continuity of life and land. This includes having specific totems for each regional group who were protectors or good luck symbols for that group. These totems are usually animals. This belief also prevented over hunting of specific animals such as kangaroos, if that was a specific group's totem. The Dreaming governs the laws of community, cultural teachings, and how people are required to behave in their communities. When the Dreaming is seen as the parallel time to the current, people can be incorporated into the Dreaming when they live according to the laws and practice the rituals of their society.
Aboriginals believe that everything in nature leaves a trace. They believe that totems caused all the natural landmarks throughout Australia in the dreamtime. The totems created everything from a stream to Uluru. The totems also created the boundaries for each country. Each Aboriginal Australian would recognize all the natural landmarks and significance of each of these in his own country. This shows, because of this belief system, how inextricably linked Aboriginal people are connected to their own region, their own country. Aboriginal beliefs and spirituality, even among those who identify themselves as members of traditional organized religion, are intrinsically linked to their own land in general and to certain sites of significance in particular. This may be why there is such a significant decrease of participation in the Aboriginal mythology. Aboriginals have been pushed from their own land since settlers first arrived with Captain Cook. This movement of Aboriginal people occurred well into the 1960s, and by this point Aboriginal children had been taken away from their homes as well. It makes sense that Aboriginals are now unable to practice their religion. They cannot practice their religion if they are not in their homeland. Many Aboriginal people today do not live in their home countries (regions), which make them feel like trespassers on other Aboriginal groups' land.
I believe that at least one of the causes of the fall of Aboriginal beliefs from prominence even in Aboriginal society is the settlers movement of the Aboriginal people from their homelands, although the Australia government is trying to make amends now. At every public event I went to in Australia, the announcer would first start by thanking and honoring the elders of the Aboriginal people of which the land the event was taking place on belonged. Although I thought this was a step in the right direction, I still wonder if this is too little too late.
Aboriginal mythology begins with Dreamtime, in which the creation of the earth occurred. The Dreamtime can also be described as a time that runs parallel to time as we are aware of it, although in this infinite spiritual cycle the values, symbols, and laws of Aboriginal society are formed. In general, Aboriginals refer to the Dreamtime as the time of creation, but depending on what country (region) a particular group of Aboriginals come from they can have a specific dreaming such as the kangaroo dreaming or the shark dreaming. The dreaming of every regional group creates the structure of that particular society's rules for social behavior. It also creates the ceremonies practiced in order to guarantee the continuity of life and land. This includes having specific totems for each regional group who were protectors or good luck symbols for that group. These totems are usually animals. This belief also prevented over hunting of specific animals such as kangaroos, if that was a specific group's totem. The Dreaming governs the laws of community, cultural teachings, and how people are required to behave in their communities. When the Dreaming is seen as the parallel time to the current, people can be incorporated into the Dreaming when they live according to the laws and practice the rituals of their society.
Aboriginals believe that everything in nature leaves a trace. They believe that totems caused all the natural landmarks throughout Australia in the dreamtime. The totems created everything from a stream to Uluru. The totems also created the boundaries for each country. Each Aboriginal Australian would recognize all the natural landmarks and significance of each of these in his own country. This shows, because of this belief system, how inextricably linked Aboriginal people are connected to their own region, their own country. Aboriginal beliefs and spirituality, even among those who identify themselves as members of traditional organized religion, are intrinsically linked to their own land in general and to certain sites of significance in particular. This may be why there is such a significant decrease of participation in the Aboriginal mythology. Aboriginals have been pushed from their own land since settlers first arrived with Captain Cook. This movement of Aboriginal people occurred well into the 1960s, and by this point Aboriginal children had been taken away from their homes as well. It makes sense that Aboriginals are now unable to practice their religion. They cannot practice their religion if they are not in their homeland. Many Aboriginal people today do not live in their home countries (regions), which make them feel like trespassers on other Aboriginal groups' land.
I believe that at least one of the causes of the fall of Aboriginal beliefs from prominence even in Aboriginal society is the settlers movement of the Aboriginal people from their homelands, although the Australia government is trying to make amends now. At every public event I went to in Australia, the announcer would first start by thanking and honoring the elders of the Aboriginal people of which the land the event was taking place on belonged. Although I thought this was a step in the right direction, I still wonder if this is too little too late.
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