Editing The Dreaming (section)

==Aboriginal beliefs and culture==
[[File:Ku-ring-gai Chase - petroglyph.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Ku-ring-gai Chase-petroglyph, via Waratah Track, depicting [[Baiame]], the Creator God and Sky Father in the dreaming of several Aboriginal language groups]]
[[File:Bibbulmun Track Markings.jpg|thumb|200px|Waugals (yellow triangles with a black snake in the centre) are the official [[Bibbulmun Track]] trailmarkers between [[Kalamunda]] and [[Albany, Western Australia|Albany]] in Western Australia. The Noongar believe that the Waugal, or Wagyl, created the Swan River and is represented by the Darling scarp.]]
{{Further|Aboriginal Australian culture|Aboriginal Australian religion and mythology}}
Related entities are known as ''Mura-mura'' by the [[Diyari|Dieri]] and as ''Tjukurpa'' in [[Pitjantjatjara language|Pitjantjatjara]].

"Dreaming" is now also used as a term for a system of totemic symbols, so that an Aboriginal person may "own" a specific Dreaming, such as Kangaroo Dreaming, Shark Dreaming, [[Camponotus inflatus|Honey Ant]] Dreaming, Badger Dreaming, or any combination of Dreamings pertinent to their country. This is because in the Dreaming an individual's entire ancestry exists as one, culminating in the idea that all worldly knowledge is accumulated through one's ancestors. Many Aboriginal Australians also refer to the world-creation time as "Dreamtime". The Dreaming laid down the patterns of life for the Aboriginal people.{{sfn|Encyclopædia Britannica}}

Creation is believed to be the work of culture heroes who travelled across a formless land, creating [[Aboriginal sacred site|sacred sites]] and significant places of interest in their travels. In this way, "[[songline]]s" (or {{lang|wbp|Yiri}} in the [[Warlpiri language]]) were established, some of which could travel right across Australia, through as many as six to ten different language groupings. The dreaming and travelling trails of these heroic spirit beings are the songlines.{{sfn|NMoA: Jukurrpa}} The signs of the spirit beings may be of spiritual essence, physical remains such as [[petrosomatoglyph]]s of body impressions or footprints, among natural and elemental simulacra.{{citation needed|date=December 2019}}

Some of the ancestor or spirit beings inhabiting the Dreamtime become one with parts of the landscape, such as rocks or trees.{{sfn|Korff|2019}} The concept of a life force is also often associated with sacred sites, and [[Aboriginal Australian ceremony|ceremonies]] performed at such sites "are a re-creation of the events which created the site during The Dreaming". The ceremony helps the life force at the site to remain active and to keep creating new life: if not performed, new life cannot be created.{{sfn|The Dreaming: Sacred sites}}

Dreaming existed before the life of the individual begins, and continues to exist when the life of the individual ends. Both before and after life, it is believed that this spirit-child exists in the Dreaming and is only initiated into life by being born through a mother. The spirit of the child is culturally understood to enter the developing [[fetus]] during the fifth month of pregnancy.{{sfn|Bates|1996}} When the mother felt the child move in the womb for the first time, it was thought that this was the work of the spirit of the land in which the mother then stood. Upon birth, the child is considered to be a special [[Indigenous Australian traditional custodianship|custodian]] of that part of their country and is taught the stories and songlines of that place. As Wolf (1994: p.&nbsp;14) states: "A 'black fella' may regard his totem or the place from which his spirit came as his Dreaming. He may also regard tribal law as his Dreaming."

In the ''[[Wangga]]'' genre, the songs and dances express themes related to death and regeneration.{{sfn|Marett|2005|p=1}} They are performed publicly with the singer composing from their daily lives or while Dreaming of a ''nyuidj'' (dead spirit).{{sfn|Povinelli|2002|p=200}}

Dreaming stories vary throughout Australia, with variations on the same theme. The meaning and significance of particular places and creatures is wedded to their origin in The Dreaming, and certain places have a particular potency or Dreaming. For example, the story of how the sun was made is different in [[New South Wales]] and in [[Western Australia]]. Stories cover many themes and topics, as there are stories about creation of sacred places, land, people, animals and plants, law and custom. In [[Perth]], the [[Noongar]] believe that the [[Darling Scarp]] is the body of the ''[[Wagyl]]'' – a serpent being that meandered over the land creating rivers, waterways and lakes and who created the [[Swan River (Western Australia)|Swan River]]. In another example, the [[Gagudju]] people of [[Arnhemland]], for whom [[Kakadu National Park]] is named, believe that the sandstone escarpment that dominates the park's landscape was created in the Dreamtime when ''Ginga'' (the crocodile-man) was badly burned during a ceremony and jumped into the water to save himself.{{citation needed|date=December 2019}}