Tag Archives | Aborigine

First there was the Dreaming

In our online classes kids and their parents find themselves in awe of the beauty of Australian Aboriginal’s explanation of creation. “The Dreaming”/”Dreamtime” is an expansive Aboriginal Australian concept that refers at the same time to the sacred era of the world’s creation, the before-life and after-life state in which all people exist until they’re born into the world through their mother, and an individual or group’s set of spiritual beliefs. In Aboriginal lore, everything essential originated in Dreamtime–the society’s structure and rules for interaction, all laws and cultural cues, the most important rituals and ceremonies and, not the least, the actual land on which we all live. During the Dreaming each Aboriginal ancestral being who created the earth developed its own physical path across the land which Aborigines recount and recall in their song, dance and visual art. Aboriginal Australians call these ancient trails “Songlines.”

One Hollow Branch and 1,500 Years of Sound

One of our favorite instruments at All Around This World is the didgeridoo, an instrument identified most with the indigenous peoples of Australia and rumored to have been in existence for roundabout 1,500. The best didgeridoos are made from eucalyptus branches hollowed by termites and can be as long as nine feet long. NINE FEET! I don’t know how long the didgeridoo Larry Gurruwiwi plays this video is, but we can all agree that it sounds great.