AUSTRALIA
Australia has one of the most ancient populations on Earth, inhabited by Aboriginal people for 65,000 years. People lived as hunter gatherers in small groups developing localised myths influenced by their environment. Their spirituality was based on a two tiered belief system. They believe in ancestral heroes whose actions remain effective among their descendents today. They also believe in the concept of spiritual power which exists in people or in places, in actions as well as in object and therefor who or what possesses this power must be respected and feared.
The Aboriginal belief system is based on two kinds of reality, the everyday life in the world around them today and the Altjeringa. This Dreamtime was the age at the world’s dawn when a giant ancestor race walked the land moulding its contours and stocking it with a wealth of plans and animals. Wherever ancestors went they left traces of themselves and these numinous areas together with magical songs and objects bequeathed to their human successors formed the heart to the Aborigines’ spiritual heritage.
Myth was the means by which Aborigines comprehended a world in which unseen forces were believed to be shaping people’s destinies from day to day. Never simply a thing of the past, the myths had everyday relevance. The myths became one of the few means by which native people might retain their distinct sense of identity.
Australia has one of the most ancient populations on Earth, inhabited by Aboriginal people for 65,000 years. People lived as hunter gatherers in small groups developing localised myths influenced by their environment. Their spirituality was based on a two tiered belief system. They believe in ancestral heroes whose actions remain effective among their descendents today. They also believe in the concept of spiritual power which exists in people or in places, in actions as well as in object and therefor who or what possesses this power must be respected and feared.
The Aboriginal belief system is based on two kinds of reality, the everyday life in the world around them today and the Altjeringa. This Dreamtime was the age at the world’s dawn when a giant ancestor race walked the land moulding its contours and stocking it with a wealth of plans and animals. Wherever ancestors went they left traces of themselves and these numinous areas together with magical songs and objects bequeathed to their human successors formed the heart to the Aborigines’ spiritual heritage.
Myth was the means by which Aborigines comprehended a world in which unseen forces were believed to be shaping people’s destinies from day to day. Never simply a thing of the past, the myths had everyday relevance. The myths became one of the few means by which native people might retain their distinct sense of identity.