Dreams are universally experienced, but take on different meanings across time. In the Aboriginal cultures of Australia, “the Dreamtime” or “Alcheringa” in the Arandic central Australian language, refers not to an individual’s dreams, nor even to the images or narrations that come in sleep. Rather, it signifies an eternal space out of which comes creation, ancestral forces, and stories giving meaning to various Aboriginal peoples.
The stencil art you see in the first slide comes from the Carnarvon Gorge and is thousands of years old. Anthropologists think that the overlapping forms and outlines could refer to ancestral totems or dreaming stories. The ethereal quality and overlapping of the images evoke a dreamlike interpretation with many possible meanings.
One of the most famous stories of the Dreaming/Alcheringa is the legend of the Seven Sisters (shown in a 2012 painting in the second slide). The stars making up the constellation known as the Pleiades rise in central Australia shortly after sunset, and stay low to the horizon. In the myth — which is documented across many different Aboriginal peoples– the stars are seven sisters who run across the sky, pursued by a man (one of the stars in the constellation Orion). Some interpretations include thinking about the sisters as a particular kin group who are not permitted to mix with certain other groups. Initiation ceremonies for young men also draw upon this very old tale.
Throughout the week, I will be looking at other ways people have interpreted dreams in history.
Source(s): @japingkaaboriginalart.com. Wikipedia. Painting by Alma Granites Nungurrayi, Cooee Art.
