Dreamtime is the foundation of Aboriginal religion and culture. It dates back some 65,000 years. It is the story of events that have happened, how the universe came to be, how human beings were created and how their Creator intended for humans to function within the world as they knew it.
The 1996 census reported that almost 72 percent of Aboriginal people practised some form of Christianity, and that 16 percent listed no religion. The 2001 census contained no comparable updated data. The Aboriginal population also includes a small number of followers of other mainstream religions.
Aboriginal people are very religious and spiritual, but rather than praying to a single god they cannot see, each group generally believes in a number of different deities, whose image is often depicted in some tangible, recognisable form.
Aboriginal spirituality is the belief that all objects are living and share the same soul or spirit that Aboriginals share. This is a very fundamental statement about Aboriginal spirituality. It implies that besides animals and plants even rocks have a soul.
In Australian Aboriginal mythology, Baiame (or Biame, Baayami, Baayama or Byamee) was the creator god and sky father in the Dreaming of several Aboriginal Australian peoples of south-eastern Australia, such as the Wonnarua, Kamilaroi, Guringay, Eora, Darkinjung, and Wiradjuri peoples.
Christianity has influenced Aboriginal spirituality in many ways, and many Aboriginal people are Christians. Aboriginal and Christian spirituality can sometimes peacefully coexist in the same person's belief system, and churches open up to this change.
Terms to know animism- the belief that all things have souls and spirits that live after death polytheistic- the belief in multiple gods monotheistic- the belief in one god reincarnation- the belief that an individual is reborn in another body after death totems- a method of preventing marriage between relatives.
Aboriginal Death Beliefs
When it comes to the dead, most tribes traditionally believed that the spirit needed to go to the Land of the Dead. Notions of heaven and hell though, were not a part of their beliefs. So the idea of an Aboriginal afterlife with rewards or punishment does not exist.
Aboriginal Australians' oral tradition and spiritual values build on reverence for the land and on a belief in the Dreamtime, or Dreaming.
The Dreaming is used to represent Aboriginal concepts of Everywhen, during which the land was inhabited by ancestral figures, often of heroic proportions or with supernatural abilities. These figures were often distinct from gods, as they did not control the material world and were not worshipped but only revered.
Indigenous Australian religion
Aboriginal Australian religious practices associated with the Dreaming have been practised for tens of thousands of years.
You can find Aboriginal Muslims all over the country. Most live in urban areas and attend mosques alongside Muslims from other cultural backgrounds. Some of them are “cultural Muslims.” They identify with the cultural practices and some beliefs found in Islam, but they don't go to the mosque.
To the Anishinaabe, Mother Earth is both the physical manifestation and embodiment of creation, and the Great Spirit Manitou who created it. Walking in harmony with the world is extremely important to the Anishinaabe culture and explains, in part, why there are so many Aboriginal people in constant distress these days.
Religious affiliation in 2021
Christianity (43.9%) No religion (38.9%) Islam (3.2%) Hinduism (2.7%)
First Languages and colonisation
More traditional languages are being replaced by new Aboriginal languages; Aboriginal English, Pidgin, and Kriol. Aboriginal English is a form of English that reflects Aboriginal languages.
Often, "Aboriginal peoples" is also used. The Canadian Constitution recognizes 3 groups of Aboriginal peoples: Indians (more commonly referred to as First Nations), Inuit and Métis. These are 3 distinct peoples with unique histories, languages, cultural practices and spiritual beliefs.
Aboriginal origins
Humans are thought to have migrated to Northern Australia from Asia using primitive boats. A current theory holds that those early migrants themselves came out of Africa about 70,000 years ago, which would make Aboriginal Australians the oldest population of humans living outside Africa.
Many Aboriginal tribal groups share the belief that this life is only part of a longer journey. When a person passes away, the spirit leaves the body. The spirit must be sent along its journey; otherwise it will stay and disturb the family.
It is believed that our Creator Spirits and Ancestors reside there and that we too will eventually go there when we pass away. The Dreaming is the basis for all the beliefs and Lore that we as Aboriginal people chose to live our lives by.
Many burials have been found on high points, such as dune ridges, within surrounding flat plains. They are often near or within Aboriginal occupation places such as oven mounds, shell middens or artefact scatters.
There are Aboriginal Catholic Ministries in every State and Territory of Australia. These services can provide support in incorporating the gifts of Aboriginal culture, rituals and symbols into liturgy and the spiritual life of the school. Contact details for these ministries can be found here.
But Aboriginal people are subject to the same social security laws and entitled to no more (and no less) government sponsorship than any other Australian. There has never been a government program that distributed free houses or cars, and Aboriginal students have to pay for university like everyone else.
First, we hold beliefs about ourselves. Second, we hold beliefs about others. Lastly, we hold beliefs about the world around us. Our beliefs in each of these areas shape our perceptions and perspectives which ultimately shape our reality.