The Aboriginal people of Australia believe in ‘Dreamtime’, a time before time, and a time before knowledge. That was when the Great Spirit Ancestors came out of the Earth and created everything we know today. The Aborigines believe that the Ancestor Spirits dwell in the world today as sacred sites they have helped create. One such spirit is the Rainbow Serpent.
In the Dreamtime, all Earth was silent and deep in slumber. Nothing moved, nothing grew and all was quiet. Earth was flat at that time. There were no hills or mountains nor were there rivers and lakes. No grass, plants or trees grew. There was no bird no animal nor man. A world that was not yet awakened.
But it was time for the Beginnings. The Rainbow Serpent lying asleep under the Earth stirred slowly. When she woke, she began to move dragging her long, winding body all across the vast expanse of land. The winding tracks she left behind turned to ridges and valleys. Soon she grew tired and went to sleep again, curling her body. Again, the curves she made created patterns on the land. Every marking she made changed the landscape, bit by bit. The world was changing, very slowly.
Eventually she came back to the place she started out from. She called out to the frogs: “Come out!” The frogs came out of the earth, walking very slowly for their stomachs were full of water they had stored in their sleep. The Rainbow Serpent smiled at the sleepy heads. Seeing their swollen bellies, she tickled them playfully.
When the frogs began to laugh, the water ran all over the Earth to fill the tracks of the Rainbow Serpent’s wanderings. That was how lakes and rivers were formed.
When there was water, plants, trees, flowers and fruit grew. The land turned green. All the animals awoke and began to follow the Rainbow Serpent as she wandered across the land. Everyone was happy .Each tribe lived and gathered food with their own kind. Some lived on the rocks, some on the plains, some on trees and some others on air.
There were many of them. The Rainbow Serpent made laws which they were all asked to obey. Before long, some became quarrelsome and began to fight with each other.
The Rainbow Serpent watched sadly and sighed. “This will not do,” she told them “those who do not obey my laws will be turned to stone and those who abide by them, I shall reward them; they will be given human form.”
Those who paid no heed to her wise words — the law breakers — were turned to stone. They became hills and mountains. Those who lived by the law were made human. To each of the newly created humans she gave totems of animal, bird or reptile from which they came. That was how the tribes knew where they belonged; kangaroo, emu, carpet snake and many more. The Rainbow Serpent made some food rules so that no one would starve. No man should eat of his own totem but was allowed to eat of the others’ totems. And so in that was there was food for all.
The tribes lived together in harmony in the land given to them by the Rainbow Serpent, the Mother of Life. They knew the land belonged to them and no one would take it from them. The Rainbow Serpent, like all Ancestor Spirits went back to where it came but you can still see the Spirit after a rain. Look closely, she‘s there, the Rainbow!
