Entering the Dreamtime

A few years ago I came across a book by Bruce Chatwin titled 'Songlines'. This book introduced me to an ancient view of the world, which I found so enchanting that I decided to read a bit more about it. This system is complex, just like any system made about creation, but I will try to explain the bare bones of it in a relatively simple way.
The Aboriginals, the indigenous people of Australia, have a dual concept of reality. There is the plane of everyday activity and there is another one, a parallel reality called the Dreamtime or the Dreaming. This is quite different from the Western concept of dreaming. Aboriginals believe that before humans, animals and plants came to existence, strange archetypal beings roamed the Earth. These totems or ancestors appeared, travelled across the land, performed their deeds and then finally returned to where they had come from or as the indigenous people say "went back in". During their journeys, they established the Songlines, the routes that link all the significant places of creation. For example, the Rainbow Serpent, an ancestor who appears in many dreaming stories, created rivers and mountains on its way through Northern Australia.








Rainbow Serpent Dreaming (from here)


Aboriginal people believe that with singing, dancing and fasting they can temporarily reconnect to this other plane of reality and they can heal or gain important insights for their lives. Walking long distances across the land is also one way to enter the dreamtime. Sometimes Aboriginals walk through the entire length of a particular Songline, the path of an ancestor. Some of the Songlines are so long that they pass through several language regions. Hills, rocks, waterholes, caves and all the other formations speak about the ancestors. Because of this, the land is extremely important for the indigenous people of Australia. In the Northern Territory, the two biggest and most sacred sites are Uluru and Kata Tjuta.





Uluru ( from here)






Kata Tjuta, also known as Mount Olga (from here)

An important instrument of story-telling and celebrations is the didgeridoo, the oldest wind instrument on Earth. It is a big piece of hollow wood and it is often ornamented with dreamtime symbols. Traditionally, the didgeridoo is made from an eucalyptus tree that the termites have made hollow. To play this instrument you have to vibrate your lips and have to use circular breathing to make sure that the air flow remains continuous. The sound is unique and cannot really be mistaken for any other instrument. Watch how it is played by an Aboriginal artist.





Now listen to the dreamtime story titled 'The Emu and the Jabiru' and watch the animation. The speaker has a strong Australian accent but the transcript of the video is provided under the video box. If you cannot understand the speaker at first - it's OK - be patient. Understanding different accents is part of learning English and with practice it gets easier and more fun.


You can find some exercises for the post here.

A visit to the mysterious pantry

Good old-fashioned pantries are quite mysterious. Paying a visit to one of them can be a real adventure. Huge jars, bottles of all shapes and sizes, different kinds of fruit and vegetables, boxes of biscuits, dusty baskets and all sorts of funny smells and sounds. "Sounds?", I hear you say. Yup, that's right. Imaginary and real sounds too. Strange, mystical things are lurking around those shelves and benches. Is your pantry really tidy without the messy bits or you don't have a pantry at all? Never mind, you don't have to miss all the fun. Go to the Pantry created by Amanita Design and take a good look around. And don't forget to click on all of the things that you find there. Surprising things might happen.














My favourite little surprise is the strawberry jam on the second shelf. When you click on the small jar it makes a pleasant jingle while daises and strawberries start to circle around it. But the 'pork-ghost' is also very cool and funny. Which one did you like best?

Learning English with comics

(Words in purple are explained in the language notes if you click on them.)

When I was a child I used to spend long hours reading comics (Asterix, Lucky Luke, Superman and the like) Later, when I grew a bit older, I thought that reading such things was too childish and I started to read more "serious" stuff instead. Then somehow all the comic books disappeared. I must have lost them when we moved to a new flat or may have given them to somebody.

Old habits die hard, sometimes they linger on even when you think you have nothing to do with them any more. A couple of weeks ago a friend of mine lent me an old Asterix comics in Portuguese (one of the best of the series, 'Asterix and Cleopatra') to help me with my Portuguese studies. (Thanks Eszter once more :-) These picture stories are not only great fun to read but they can help you with your language studies as well. When you are not confident enough to read a whole book you can still try to read a comic book - especially, if you read it as a child in your native language and you can still remember most of the plot and even some of the conversations.

Of all the Asterix comics there is one that stands out as a must-read for everyone who learns English: 'Asterix in Britain'. The plot is fairly simple: Asterix and Obelix set off on a journey to help their British friends to fight the Romans. They take some magic potion with them, which can make the warriors incredibly strong.














During the journey, they learn about all the strange habits of the Britons. All the well known characteristically British things, such as famous landmarks (London Bridge, The Tower...),the language, the weather, the nice grass, rugby, bitter ale, tea and even double-deckers are featured and parodied in the story.

The picture I have chosen for this post makes fun of the traditional British turf. A turf is a thick layer of grass. Apparently, you have to work for a very long time to achieve the proper even surface and the perfect density. That is exactly what the gentleman in the picture is working on. The caption says: "Another 2000 years of loving care and I think it'll make quite a decent bit of turf."

(Click on the picture to see it better.)






As you can see, he is working very hard on perfecting the 'turf' in his garden. It must take ages to get rid of all the unnecessary grass blades with that small scythe. But I'm sure it is very sharp, otherwise it wouldn't make a 'click' sound like that, would it? I also like the thatched roof of the house. It is very typically British and it is one of the things in the picture that surely existed already when the story is set. However, there are some things here that were certainly not yet present around 100 A.D. Take the watering can, for instance. This 'sophisticated' watering device was invented much later. I am not sure about the pine trees. They are natural on mountains but were probably brought to lower lands only later. Anyway, it is funny and is there anything else that really matters?

Now, you can guess what happens to the gentleman's nice grass in the next pictures.

a, A UFO lands on it and burns a 'magic circle' right in the middle.
b, A horse carriage goes across it at a high speed.
c, Nothing.
d, A giant walks across leaving huge footprints behind.


You can see what actually happens next here.

Learning to fly with the Hitchhiker's Guide and with the Pythons

Well, looks like we are back to the flying topic again. In dreams, it is not such a big deal. You jump up a bit, stretch your "wings", flap around a bit and then off you go. Sometimes the air has a strange resistance or some wires stop you from getting any higher but usually it works. Reality (meaning when you are awake, or at least when you think you are) is different. Planes, balloons, birds, butterflies, insects and flying squirrels can all fly but humans can't. Or maybe they can too? Douglas Adams, author of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy suggested a new technique. Let me quote him:

"There is an art, it says, or rather, a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. Pick a nice day, [The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy] suggests, and try it.
The first part is easy. All it requires is simply the ability to throw yourself forward with all your weight, and the willingness not to mind that it's going to hurt.
That is, it's going to hurt if you fail to miss the ground. Most people fail to miss the ground, and if they are really trying properly, the likelihood is that they will fail to miss it fairly hard.
Clearly, it is the second part, the missing, which presents the difficulties.
One problem is that you have to miss the ground accidentally. It's no good deliberately intending to miss the ground because you won't. You have to have your attention suddenly distracted by something else when you're halfway there, so that you are no longer thinking about falling, or about the ground, or about how much it's going to hurt if you fail to miss it.
It is notoriously difficult to prize your attention away from these three things during the split second you have at your disposal. Hence most people's failure, and their eventual disillusionment with this exhilarating and spectacular sport."

Well, only try it at home at your own risk! I am not saying you are sure to succeed but who knows? You can read the whole extract about Adams' flying method here.

The next method is the Monty Python way of flying. Some people might say that it is cheating a bit. Nevertheless, I found it hilarious. From this video you will not only learn to fly but you will also be able to master how to pronounce the word "aeroplane" with style. Ok, ready? Well then...up on the table...arms out, fingers together, knees bent, head forward. Now, flap your arms. Go on, flap, flap...faster... faster...

A bit off-topic matter, but now you also know why you should never ever remove an infant's pacifier:-)

You can read the script of the sketch here.

You can find some exercises for the post here.

Feeling Good

Summer is here. (Well, according to the calendar, anyway. I hope the weather will catch up soon.) It is time to feel good, relax a bit and leave the more scientific topics behind for a couple of weeks. The main feature of this week's post is a song. I first heard it some years ago at a friend's party. It was dawn and most of the folks had already left or had fallen asleep. A few of us were still up and we were just chilling out. Then suddenly there was this woman singing from a CD and I became wide awake. What a great song and what a voice! It was Nina Simone singing the song 'Feeling Good'. Since then, I have heard this song many times in many different versions but this one still remains to be my favourite.



















Nina Simone (picture from here)

Nina Simone (Eunice Kathleen Waymon) was a Grammy-award winner singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger and civil right activist. She was trained as a classical pianist and started singing only later in her career, when she got a job as a bar musician. (According to a legend, the bar's owner told her that playing the piano was not enough and she had to sing as well - big thanks to the anonymous owner.) She is mainly classified as a jazz musician although her style is a mixture of blues, jazz, classical music, folk music, RnB and gospel. She took on her stage name because she didn't want her mother to know that she played the "devil's music". Her songs have been used in many motion picture soundtracks (e.g. The Big Lebowski, Notting Hill, Sex and the City...) and many artists (e.g. Aretha Franklin, David Bowie, The Animals...) have covered her work. Now, let's listen to the song!





You can read the lyrics of the song here. After the text of the lyrics you will find a very easy exercise to revise the words of the song :-)