Dreamtime is a fundamental spiritual concept that connects traditional beliefs and practices among the Aboriginal peoples of Australia. It is also called the Dreaming. According to tradition, the Dreamtime includes an ancient time when the first beings existed. Yet, it is also an eternal aspect of the universe. Stories of the Dreaming form the foundation of traditional Aboriginal society. 
Aboriginal religions vary greatly from one region of Australia to another. However, many of the general beliefs and practices of the Dreamtime are held in common.
Stories
of the Dreamtime explain the origins of Australia’s present-day landscape, animals, plants, and people. According to tradition, the beings of the Dreamtime originally existed within the earth. These beings could take human or animal form. They eventually came out of the land and traveled across it. They shaped the land as they went, making mountains, hills, lakes, and creeks. For example, a rock formation might have been a weapon left behind by a Dreaming being. The Dreaming beings made and named the places and people who would belong at particular locations. The Dreamtime beings also deposited their spiritual essence or sacred powers in the landscape.
To Aboriginal people, the continent of Australia and its coastal waters are made up of defined areas called countries. The boundaries of countries were formed by the different paths the Dreaming beings took between sites that they visited. Certain sites and countries are associated with particular Dreaming stories. The Dreaming beings also created the first humans. They assigned the various lands and languages of modern Aboriginal groups.
As the Dreaming beings journeyed, their encounters and interactions helped established the code of behavior to be followed by humans. The Dreaming beings were neither wholly good nor wholly bad. Sometimes they were selfish, greedy, or envious. At other times, however, they were generous and caring. Proper behavior may be revealed by their failures or wrongdoings as well as by their merits.
Once the Dreaming beings completed their journeys, they reentered the earth. The beings are immortal and live eternally within sacred sites across the landscape.
Dreamtime and ritual.
In Aboriginal beliefs, living humans keep the Dreamtime alive by properly caring for one another, for the land, and for the knowledge imparted by their ancestors. Individuals and families have rights and responsibilities regarding certain Dreaming stories and their sites and countries. These include rights of land access and use. They also include overseeing the rituals that recount Dreaming stories in song, dance, and painting.
Some rituals associated with the Dreaming are public displays. Other rituals are conducted in secret. Some of the sacred rituals are exclusive to men or women. Other rituals are open to all, including children and non-Aboriginal people. The rituals do more than simply retell events that happened during the Dreamtime. Rather, their proper performance recreates the creative actions of the Dreaming beings in the present. Such rituals are thought to activate the sacred power imbued in the land, ensuring that the universe and life itself will continue. In this way, the Dreaming remains eternally part of the present-day world.
