Australian Aboriginal mythology
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Note: the word mythology used in this article is used in a technical sense of traditional knowledge, and does not imply that a belief is false.
Indigenous Australians can be classified into about 400 separate language groups, each of which has a distinct culture. For this reason it is incorrect to classify any attribute as universal to them as a whole. However, almost all the belief systems found seem to be what can be considered a polytheistic, animistic religion. It is quite incorrect to refer to the mythological beings as Gods, as they are not Gods in the European sense. Instead, words like Creator Spirits, Culture Heroes, or Aboriginal Ancestral Spirit are more often used.
Many similarities between the groups may be seen:
- The Australian Aboriginal cultures are based on nature in every aspect. Many of their mythological heroes are animals common in Australia, a prominent example being the Rainbow Serpent.
- Humans are very much part of the land, and are associated with particular places.
- Another similarity is the so-called "Dreamtime". It is often thought of as the time in which the world was created, but correctly describes the process of the world being called into being. Another general explanation can be seen in anthropologist Max Charlesworth's reference to the Indigenous Australian "Dreamtime" as the ability to 'see with eternal vision' [1]. However, the word Dreamtime is now generally discouraged, as it implies a time which has now passed, whereas many Indigenous Australians maintain that the Dreaming time is still with us for those with eyes to see, and so it is now more commonly referred to as the Dreaming. In the dreaming, there is no clear distinction between humans and animals, and several of the spirits are able to change from human form to animal form at will.
- Dreaming paths or song lines describe the path taken by the Ancestral Spirits during the Dreaming. As they walked these paths, they sang the rocks, plants, and animals into existence. These paths are sacred, and there are songs and ceremonies that describe the journeys along these paths. Particular places along the path (e.g. Ubirr) are especially sacred, and sometimes dangerous.
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[edit] Figures and elements
The following list mixes up many different cultures, and should not be regarded as definitive in any sense.
- Alchera (myth)
- Alcheringa - term used by the some Indigenous Australians for the Dreamtime
- Altjira - the sky spirit of the Aranda.
- Anjea - a female fertility spirit
- Bagadjimbiri - two brothers and creator spirits
- Bahloo - the moon spirit
- Baiame - the creator spirit of many language groups of South-East Australia, such as the Kamilaroi
- Bamapana - a trickster hero who causes discord (Murngin people)
- Banaitja - a creator spirit
- Barnumbir - spirit for the Yolngu people
- Baralku - island of the dead for the Yolngu people
- Bobbi-Bobbi - a giant snake that lived in the sky, similar to the Rainbow Serpent.
- Brolga
- Bunbulama - rain spirit
- Bunjil - creator spirit of the language groups in Victoria such as the Kulin, and sometimes identified as another name for Baiame.
- Bunyip - a mythical creature said to lurk in billabongs in South-East Australia
- Daramulum - a creaor spirit, who may have been Baiame's son or borother, in South-Eastern Australia
- Dhakhan - the ancestral spirit of the Kabi
- Dilga - spirit of fertility and growth
- Djanggawul - in Nortehrn Australia, three siblings, two female and one male, who created the landscape of Australia and covered it with flora.
- Djunkgao - a group of sisters who are associated with floods and ocean currents
- Dreamtime - central, unifying theme in Australian Aboriginal culture.
- Eingana - a creator spirit and the mother of all water, animals, and humans
- Erathipa - a boulder that has the shape of a pregnant woman
- Galeru - a rainbow snake who swallowed the Djanggawul
- Gidja - moon spirit, creator of women
- Gnowee - a solar spirit who lived on Earth before there was a sun
- Inapertwa - simple creatures with which the Numakulla formed created all life on Earth. (Aranda)
- I'wai - I'wai is the culture hero of the Koko Y'ao.
- Jar'Edo Wens - a spirit of earthly knowledge and physical might
- Julana - a lecherous spirit who surprises women by burrowing beneath the sand
- Julunggul - a rainbow serpent and fertility spirit
- Kalseru
- Karora - a creator spirit
- Kidili - an ancient moon-man who attempted to rape some of the first women on Earth (Mandjindja)
- Kondole - a mean and rude man who became a whale
- Kunapipi - mother spirit and the patron deity of many heroes
- Kutjara
- Makara - the seven sisters who eventually became the Pleiades
- Mamaragan - a lightning god who speaks with thunder as his voice.
- Mamu
- Mangar-kunjer-kunja - a lizard spirit who created humans.
- Mar'rallang - name shared by two twin sisters
- Mimi - thin beings of Arnhem Land who live in rock crevices
- Minawara - ancestors of the Nambutji
- Mokoi - an evil spirit who killed sorcerers who used black magic.
- Mura-mura - another word for Dreamtime
- Nargun - A female monster who abducts children
- Ngariman - a cat-man who killed the Bagadjimbiri
- Nogomain - a spirit who gives spirit children to mortal parents
- Puckowe - Grandmother spirit who lives in the sky
- Pundjel - a creator spirit who invented religious rites.
- Rainbow serpent - the inhabitant of permanent waterholes and is in control of water; creator spirit.
- Tjilpa - ancestor of the cat-people.
- Tjinimin - ancestor of the Australian peoples
- Ulanji - a snake-ancestor of the Binbinga.
- Ungud - a snake spirit who is sometimes male and sometimes female
- Wagyl - a snakelike creature who created the waterways in and around the south-west of Western Australia
- Walo - the (female) Sun creaor spirit in Nortehrn Australia
- Waramurungundi - the first woman (Gunwinggu)
- Wati-kutjara - lizard men
- Wawalag - pair of sisters who were daughters of Djanggawul
- Wollunqua - a snake-spirit of rain and fertility
- Wondjina - cloud and rain spirits
- Wuluwaid - a rain spirit
- Wuragag - first man (Gunwinggu)
- Wuriupranili - female solar spirit who carries a torch that is the sun.
- Wurrunna - a culture hero.
- Yara-ma-yha-who - a small, vampiric man or humanoid monster,
- Yowie - a giant beast resembling a cross between a lizard and an ant.
- Yhi - a female spirit of light and creation, and a solar deity
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ Max Charlesworth, 'Introduction' in Religion In Aboriginal Australia: An Anthology, ed. by Max Charlesworth, Howard Morphy, Diane Bell and Kenneth Maddock, University of Queensland Press, Queensland, Australia, 1984.
[edit] References
- Lawlor, Robert (1991). Voices Of The First Day: Awakening in the Aboriginal dreamtime. Rochester, Vermont: Inner Traditions International, Ltd. ISBN 0-89281-355-5
