Wandjina, Australian Aboriginal Rain Spirits
The Wandjina are worshipped under the Dreamtime mythology. Popular culture rarely references Dreamtime — at least in comparison to any Indo-European mythologies. Dreamtime is a complex concept that anthropologists coined to refer to the various beliefs that stretched across ancient Australia and persist today. At least 900 distinct Aboriginal groups exist under this umbrella term, and they all have distinct folklore; however, some common threads run through the tribes. One such thread is the Wandjina.
Wandjina date at least as far back as 4,000 years ago, as evidenced by cave paintings. They are primarily considered spirits of the clouds and rain, but also with creation itself. Adherents believe the Wandjina created Earth’s landscape and its original inhabitants, but became overwhelmed with the task and brought a snake to aid with sculpting Earth and teaching humans.
These gods have been consistently painted for over 4,000 years, possibly the longest on record! Interestingly, their appearance coincides with monsoons that followed a long period of drought in Australia’s climate history. That does not make them unique in Dreamtime folklore, though; a few Aboriginal stories accurately explain volcanic activity that geologists confirmed happened 10,000 years ago. Many tribes claim Dreamtime is the oldest continuous culture on the planet, with their mythology (supposedly) dating back 60,000 years.
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