Dreamtime 2 The Rainbow Serpent

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Australian Aboriginal Art
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Dreamtime
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The Dreamtime for Aboriginal people is the time
which the earth received its present form and in
which the patterns and cycles of life begun.
Sometimes creating their surroundings and
sometimes changing into animals or people, the
Dreamtime reflected the events and characters of
daily life in the Australian desert.
The expression dreamtime is often used to refer
to the time before time, or the time of the
creation of all things, while Dreaming is
often used to refer to an individual's or group's
beliefs.
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The Rainbow Serpent is a consistent theme in
Aboriginal painting and has been found in rock
art up to 6000 years old. The Rainbow Serpent is
a powerful symbol of the creative and destructive
power of nature.
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Australian Aborigines were almost exterminated by
the English colonizers. Today, they represent
only 1 of the Australian population, roughly
estimated at around 200,000 people. When Captain
Cook arrived in 1770, there were about 300,000 of
them. The Aborigines inhabited Australia for at
least 25,000 years (this was proven by Carbon 14
on paintings left on rocks). At that time,
Australia was probably connected with Papua-New
Guinea, and had many more rivers and forests in
contrast to the desert that it is today.
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Most paintings of Rainbow Serpent tell the story
of the creation of landscape particular to an
artist's birthplace. Some aspects of Rainbow
Serpent stories are restricted to initiated
persons but generally, the image has been very
public.
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Today most artists add personal clan designs to
the bodies of Rainbow Serpent, symbolizing links
between the artist and the land
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One of the most important dragons of creation
mythology is the Australian Rainbow Serpent, its
symbol being the rainbow bridging Heaven and
Earth.
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The belief in the Rainbow Snake, a
personification of fertility, increase (richness
in propagation of plants and animals) and rain,
is common throughout Australia. It is a creator
of human beings, having life-giving powers that
send conception spirits to all the waterholes. It
is responsible for regenerating rains, and also
for storms and floods when it acts as an agent of
punishment against those who transgress the law
or upset it in any way
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In Dreamtime mythology, the Rainbow Serpent slept
beneath the ground until the time of creation.
At that time, it awoke and pushed its way to the
surface, creating ridges, mountains, and gorges
in the process. Since then, the Rainbow Serpent
inhabits permanent waterholes and controls water.
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Rainbow Serpent mural created by teacher Jenny
Noble and the children of Rosebank School, New
South Wales, 2000
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