h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: The Dreamtime - A20512829
Author: Kyra - I come from a land down-under. Where women glow and men plunder. Can you hear, can you hear the thunder? Better run, better take cover - U1572880

Feeling patriotic for some reason

Traveller in Time on his head
"Good attempt I once tried to catch the concept, not to be an edited entry, just the feeling, the idea. < A2279162 >

dance on. "

What a nice little Entry on a huge subject matter! Well done for keeping it so readable and concise! Being an Aussie I know a little bit about the Dreamtime, but not all that much. To be honest my knowledge all came from those books like The Rainbow Snake, the Quinkins and The Devil Dog. Don't know if you know of them yourself?

Do you think it's worthwhile mentioning some certain Dreamtime stories? Or something about Songlines? Or do you feel these subjects deserve individual Entries themselves?

If you don't think the Entry needs any kind of reference to the Dreamtime stories, I think that's fine too, because it reads nicely as an explanation and introduction to the subject. Nice work

Thanks Yeah, I know the Rainbow Snake.

To be honest, I think this would be best kept as an introduction, as there's so much that *could* be added.

A good plan I think, otherwise it will just grow into an unreadable and tiresome monster of an Entry. At present it reads nicely.

I might take on some Dreamtime Stories for an Entry myself...

We'll see.

Good idea

I still need to go through and put some links in, and figure out whether aboriginal or aborigine need to be capitalised, but I'll do that tomorrow, it's getting late here.

If you want to work on some of the Dreamtime stories together, let me know, I'm happy to collaborate.

Aborigine or aborigine. Tough call. Some would say no to capitalising because an aborigine is simply the term for any person indiginous to a place. Others would argue that it needs be capitalised as it's a term for a race of peoples, like Celts, or Sioux. But then there's the other argument that you should not call Australian Aborigines that at all, and refer to the people as what they called themselves in the various areas, such as what is done in the Americas with the native people there (Apache, Sioux, Inca etc.).

Tough call that one.

This is a nice clear entry as it stands; I'll let you know if I think of anything (potentially) worth adding.

I like footnote 3, by the way.

You suggest that there was a single Aborigine culture across the whole of Australia. Yet I've heard that there are hundreds of different languages, and you yourself say that they arrived in small groups and spread out when they arrived. So is there such a thing as an Aborigine culture, or are we really talking about a load of different cultures? Is the Dreamtime something common to all Aborigines or does it belong to the people of only one area?

I really liked this, Kyra, well done... and I agree with the idea that it be kept as an introduction to the concept. I am relly looking forward to reading more about Dreamtime.

One niggly point I have is that the ending is disappointing somehow. Could you try to wrap it back into talking about Dreamtime again? Perhaps how it is performed/used today... how it relates to present day indigenous Australians? How it has impacted the evolving culture of the immigrant Australian population (if it has at all). I am not sure what would be best, but I found the present ending abrupt.


W

Good point, Gnomon. The concept of the Dreamtime is common to all the different tribes, with some small differences. I'll add something to address that.

And I'll rework the conclusion, thanks

I'd always meant to find out more about this since listening to Kate Bush.
My 11 yr old daughter has just discussed this in her re lessons, and its a wonderful way to look at our relationship with the Earth.
I'd like to hear some more detailled stories and some explanations of symbols in the beautiful artwork
Thank you for such a lovely introduction!!

Just one comment. You explain the different aspects of Dreamtime; law, childbirth and death. Although these passages work well, there is no definition of what Dreamtime as a concept is. Is the religion, or the name for the whole way of life (incorporating the religion)? As a layman of the subject I always thought that it involved dreams and their meanings somehow (I really, really know nothing about the subject).
Having read the article I still couldn't tell someone what the definition of Dreamtime actually is. Do I make sense?

Otherwise it reads very well and held my attention from beginning to end.

Traveller in Time on his head
"For what I understand about it. The Dreamtime is something like the biblical paradise and heaven. Perhaps also the same as Nirwana.

What I read about the 'Stories' is that they 'should not' be told to unintroduced. They can not be told by unintroduced as they should be told at an appropriate place and under the right circumstances. Sir David Attenborough did a documentary about one once though. "

Oops, nearly forgot about this.

I've added a bit to clarify what is meant by the Dreamtime, but it is a little bit difficult to classify it as one thing or the other. It's not really a religion or a way or life, per se.

And as far as I know, while dreams can have meaning, at least as a way of communicating with the totem spirits, the concept of dreamtime doesn't have much to do with dreams, as far as I know.

This can explain it better, I think.

http://www.dreamtime.net.au/dreaming/dreamtime.htm

Traveller in Time dancing the song of information
"I can only find some very minor points

First paragra[h in the end you are talking about 'some inconsistencies' of wich I can not find any further reference.

The paragraph 'Law' does refer to the stories as passed on in dreaming. I think the little paragraph above 'Law' needs the title 'Dreaming'. There can be some more text about this dreaming or 'singing the dream'.

--The dreaming is the cultural memory of the stories. By singing, dancing and performing rituals on the sacred places they encounter during their nomadic tavels the aboriginals teach their children the laws customs and rituals of their heritage.

"

That's really interesting, especially if you're in the UK In Australia the only thing I was taught in Religious Education was Christianity (which turned me into an athiest) I'd have loved to learn about all the different types of religions.



The 'some inconsistencies' is an attempt to answer Gnomon's point about the differences between the tribes across the continent, but I'll rework it.

How's this one going? Changes made?