Facts about Rainbow Serpent: Australian Dreamtime
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A prominent gender association exists in many Aboriginal traditions, where the Rainbow Serpent is regarded as female and symbolically connected to fertility and birth.
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In many Aboriginal traditions, the Rainbow Serpent is believed to live in permanent waterholes and emerges during the wet season, bringing life-giving rain.
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Rock art depicting the Rainbow Serpent in Arnhem Land, Australia, dates back at least 6,000 years, making it among the earliest recorded religious iconography anywhere.
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Across hundreds of distinct Aboriginal language groups, the Rainbow Serpent appears under different names but consistently represents a powerful creator being linked to waterholes and rivers.
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The Rainbow Serpent is one of the oldest continuing religious beliefs in the world, associated with water, rain, and the creation of landscapes in Aboriginal Australian Dreamtime traditions.