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time involved
Let me tell you story.
There once was a Bluetongue Lizard. He traveled around the great expanse of
Australia forming rivers, mountains and lakes as he went along. He traveled
many days and nights until one day he saw the outlines of trees on the horizon.
He was very thirsty for he had eaten some strange mushrooms that had turned his
tongue blue and parched his throat. He knew that the trees meant water and so he
hurried towards the river, but when he got there
What happens next? Do not worry, I will finish the story for you at the end of
this post. For now, Id like to tell you a little bit about what makes this tale
special.
This story follows a style that is probably familiar to you. It may include some
strange animals, but you recognize the general concept and structure: This must
be a creation myth; a fairytale, maybe. A story told around the campfire.
And you are right. This is a part of an Australian Dreamtime narrative. These are
the creation stories of Aboriginal Australians. They explain how the world was
formed, why the sun sparkles on the water, why the Bluetongue Lizards tongue
is, yes you guessed it, not red. They are an oral tradition, told over and over
from generation to generation and thus passed on over millennia.
When is it Dreamtime?
For Indigenous Australians the Dreamtime is a time when the Ancestors, humans
and animals alike, lived together on earth. Everyone had the ability to talk and
each creatures actions were able to alter the environment and their appearances.
Wherever something significant happened, the Ancestors left their marks on the
landscape: In the form of a rock, a river, an indestructible grove of trees. Where
they met their end, they went into the ground and formed places of high
significance. We might call them sacred spaces. These have their own set of
rules: For example, allow only women to enter, or give you a horrible rash if you
collect pebbles from it.
The Place where the Bluetongue Lizard roasted mushrooms which turned its tongue blue: Kumugut
Gulbtyurr
But what if I told you that not everybody tells stories like this? That there are
different ways to structure a story? That you wouldnt be able to follow along as
easily as here? Well, I am about to do just that.
Take a look at this translated excerpt from one of the first times I heard the
Bluetongue Lizards story. A group of lovely Aboriginal ladies told it to me in
MalakMalak, a highly endangered language spoken in the Daly River area of
Northern Australia.
He (the Bluetongue Lizard) covered the mushrooms in ashes.
He went to eat the mushrooms.
He told the Goanna, no! If you eat this food you will die! Only I (can eat it).
He ate it all by himself.
I have to eat it (he says).
He crawled around while eating.
The food has turned black.
The Bluetongue Lizard ate the mushrooms.
He ate them, finished.
He brought it (the food) along to here.
He walked from there.
He (the other Bluetongue Lizard) ran to the water and swam.
The King Brown Snake came looking for him (the Bluetongue Lizard).
He (the other Bluetongue Lizard) kept on swimming.
They both (the Bluetongue Lizard and the Goanna) now sit here forever.
We turned into a dreaming they say.
Confused? I know! I was when I first heard the story like this. I even now made it
a little bit easier for you by identifying the different protagonists in brackets. Still,
who is talking to whom? Are there two different Bluetongue Lizards? Two
Goannas? Two different stories in one? Does the Lizard roast the mushrooms
before he eats them or afterwards?
since they take place at the same spot without regards to temporal or
episode organization. This is what happens in the small excerpt above. In the
Bluetongues story it seems that two different lizards appear. One escapes the
King Brown Snakes fangs by crossing the river while the other forms an alliance
with a Goanna and buries himself into its hole where he remains to form a sacred
place. Consequently, the two storylines are told in a parallel fashion overlapping
and intersecting with one another.
Additionally, it never becomes quite clear what happens at what time in the
story. Are the mushrooms eaten before the Bluetongue gets to the river or after?
What happens after one Lizard crosses the river? While the Goanna fights the
Snake, is the Lizard already in the hole or still on its way to the river?
However strange this might seem: It actually doesnt matter. The Dreaming, its
actions and effects on the landscape are everywhen. They matter irrespective
of their temporal succession. In fact, they cannot be ordered in time, because the
Dreaming and its effects are omnipresent and cannot disappear in one place to
occupy another.
[For] Aboriginal people living in remote Aboriginal settlements, The
Dreaming isnt something that has been consigned to the past but is a
lived daily reality Jeannie Herbert Nungarrayi
What we can know is that Dreamtime narratives are the creation stories of
indigenous Australians. They are deeply rooted in landscape and environmental
features and create zigzagging invisible pathways Dreaming Tracks all over
the continent. Each section is assigned an owner who is responsible for retelling the story in order to keep the connection between the land, its people, and
animals strong. Most importantly, these stories cannot be forgotten. They are key
to essential knowledge about the land; where to set up camp, where to find food,
what to avoid doing.
But it is also important to know that
We [non-Indigenous Australians] shall not understand The Dreaming
fully except as a complex of meanings W.E.H. Stanner
The place where the second Bluetongue emerged from the river, occupied by a local Saltwater
Crocodile: Yinindelik
This is the story. Or it might not be. We may never know. All we really need to
know is that the land is telling us these stories. It asks us to respect and protect it.
It gives us insight into the oldest continuously surviving culture on earth. This
knowledge is invaluable. We cannot let it disappear.