RELIGIOUS IDEAS
Religious instincts of aboriginal—Nature worship—Fire
ceremony—Fire legends—Mythical fire thief called
“_Ngardaddi_”—Water legends and ceremonial—Sun worship—Sun
myths—The moon man—The mythical serpent—The kobong and
totem—The tjuringa—Tjuringa legend—Ancestor worship—“Knaninja”
or “Totem” deities—The significance of the tjuringa—Sacred
tjuringa caves—“Totemic” diet restrictions—Gradation of
sacred ceremonial—Great emu ceremony—The “_Altjerringa_”—The
sacred yam or “_Ladjia_” ceremony—The “_Etominja_” design—Sex
worship—The phallus—Mythical origin of phallus—Ideas
concerning procreation—Grey hairs blackened artificially—A
phallic monolith known as “_Knurriga Tjilba Purra_”—Foetal
elements or “_Rattappa_”—The “_Tjilba Purra_” embodied
in the headgear—“_Waraka_,” a phallic stone on the
Roper River—Similar Kukata legend—Phallic ceremonial
on Cambridge Gulf—Cylindro-conical stones of phallic
significance—Matronal chasm of Killalpaninna—“_Arrolmolba_,”
a sacred stone possessing stimulating principles—Phallic
drawing of “_Mongarrapungja_”—Evil spirits—Disenchanted
enclosures—Aboriginal belief in Supreme Being—Etymology of His
name—The eternal home of all deities and spirit ancestors.
It has often been written that the Australian aboriginal is without
religious ideas and without religious ceremonies. Such assertions are
grossly incorrect and by no means portray the psychological side of the
primitive man in its true light. He has, on the contrary, religious
institutions and obligations which verge on the basis of all modern
conceptions and recognition of divine supremacy. If we can class
Nature-worship, Ancestor-worship, and Sex-worship as the beginnings of
all religious teachings, then the Australian aboriginal has certainly
inherited by instinct and tradition a very solid foundation from which we
might trace the origin of many, if not most, of our most sacred beliefs
in Christianity. At the same time, it must not be forgotten that it is
really a difficult matter to distinguish clearly between mythological
beliefs and what we class as religion. Religious thought has fluctuated
with the advance of civilization and science to such a degree that, even
within the short space of time covered by the more reliable records of
our history, several revolutionary modifications have come about. As time
advances, man becomes more sceptical and more exacting in his demand for
proofs, and in his despair over finding nothing tangible to worship, he
resorts to the recognition, by instinct or persuasion, of a God who is a
Spirit. But all the while, as this secular metamorphosis is proceeding,
he keeps his innermost feelings and faith alive by appealing to his
knowledge of the gospel or his belief in salvation, in the manner it was
presented to him by myth, by legend, or by the Scriptures. His principal
guide is his intellect; the less it is trained the stronger his inherited
conviction; the more scientific it becomes, the greater his desire to
probe the truth.
The modern man has so accustomed himself to an artificial environment
that he takes the so-called “elements” of Nature, especially water and
fire, in a strictly matter-of-fact sort of way. But the primitive man,
who realizes that his very existence is dependent upon these factors,
has learned to respect, preserve, and worship them as legacies he
imagines to have been left him by some of his illustrious forbears who,
he supposes, have gone to an unknown realm where they live in peace and
can only return temporarily to their former haunts in the invisible
form or through the medium of some other object which is related to the
individual in some mysterious way.
The aboriginal looks upon fire as one of the great indispensible
quantities of his social existence; it is the element which dispels
the evil spirits from his camp; it is the means by which comfort and
friendship are made accessible to him; it is his universal companion.
More than this, it is the fire, with its warmth and its light, which
draws individuals, families, groups, and tribes together and through its
agency and influence that social concourse is established which lies at
the bottom of all conviviality, oracular discussion, and ceremony. How
well this sentiment agrees with the knowledge we possess of the origin of
civilization! Indeed the appreciation of fire together with the knowledge
of its preservation is perhaps the mightiest factor responsible for
making our species human. Once man learned to nurse an original flame he
found through accidental cause and kept it constantly by his side, his
progress became an established fact. His crude camp-fire talks developed
into discussions which he further expanded by means of drawings on the
walls of caves he occupied. The free exchange of thought brought about
by congregation round the cheerful flame could not fail to incite the
intellect; and thus he ascended to the high road of civilization and
gathered the fruits of culture he now enjoys.
The Aluridja, Wongapitcha, and some of the north-western coastal tribes
believe that many years ago, a party of ancestral creatures, more
animal than human, came down from the sky through the branches of tall
gum-trees to confer with the spirits which roam about at night and
conceal themselves in inanimate objects during the day. These monsters
brought a fire-stick with them and when they reached the earth, they lit
a fire to cook some grubs which they had taken from the bark of the trees
during their descent. As they were feasting, the spirits called them and
they went with them to a cave where the bones of the persons rested,
originally occupied by the spirits themselves. Whilst they were away, the
fire which had been left unguarded, decided to run into the bush and,
being in a mischievous mood, started an enormous blaze which burned down
much of the forest and the tall gum-trees as well. The spirit-ancestors
and the heavenly monsters beheld the disaster with consternation and
called upon the fire to come back. This it did. But it so happened that
some of the tribes’ fathers were hunting in the area, and when they saw
the fire, which was strange to them, they snatched portion of it away and
ran with it to their camp, where they kept it and fed it with dry grass
and sticks. The spirits and their visitors were very angry and never
left the fire out of their sight, lest it might abscond again; they were
compelled to live on earth for a very long time until the trees grew up
again to their lofty domain. The hunters, on the other hand, zealously
guarded their prize fearing that it might run away from them. Even to the
present day, this belief exists among the older folks, and they always
take great care that the ground is cleared of inflammable matter to stop
the fire from bolting; to be on the safe side, they invariably carry or
keep near to them a fair-sized, glowing fire-stick.
Among the Minning this legend is circulated in a slightly modified form.
Two ancestral spirits had their fires burning in the sky at points
represented by the pointers of the Southern Cross constellation, when one
day they decided to come down to the earth to hunt opossum. They took
their fires with them, but while engaged in the chase they left them
at their camp. When they had obtained a sufficient number of opossums
to make a good meal, they returned to their camp, where they noticed
six young men sitting around the fires, who immediately made off, and,
in doing so, each took a fire-stick away with him. The spirits gave
chase and re-captured five of the thieves, but the sixth, who was named
“_Warrupu_,” reached the camp of his tribe and handed the fire-stick to
his mother, “_Wenoinn_.” The woman ran with it to the white sand hills
about Eucla in which she intended hiding it. But the spirits had noticed
her and came towards her from above with a spear. In her predicament, the
woman threw the fire-stick away, which immediately set the whole of the
country ablaze between Eucla and Israelite Bay. All the tribes were thus
enabled to seize some of the fire which they have carefully watched over
ever since.
[Illustration: _PLATE XXXIII_
Ceremonial venesection, Arunndta tribe.
1. The median basilic vein is being slit. Note ligature above the biceps.
2. The blood which is spurting from the incision is being collected on a
shield.]
A similar tradition is perpetuated by the north-western tribes referred
to and affords the motive of one of the most earnest and sacred
fire-ceremonies known in Australia. The performance takes place during
the night. It is introduced by two men; the one represents a mischievous
spirit trying to steal back the sacred fire which is being carefully
guarded by a number of men impersonating the ancestral tribesmen who
originally discovered it; the other is a warrior who has accidentally
come upon the would-be thief and overpowered him. The spirit crouches at
the feet of the warrior, sitting upon his heels, with his head drooping
upon his chest and his hands hanging loosely between his thighs. The
warrior stands erect behind his supposed captive, with his legs apart,
and continues striking the fellow with small bundles of brushwood, one
of which he holds in either hand. The beating is done regularly, both
hands rising simultaneously, high above the warrior’s head, and falling
together upon the spirit’s head.
Some two chains away, the tribal ancestors are grouped by the fire-side
and are chanting the following lines:
“_Wai dang bunnai,_
_Inna dinna dulla ngai._”
The men sit in a row at the back of the fire, with their thighs asunder
and their legs bent in the knees; their chins are resting upon their
chests whilst they beat the backs of their heads with small bundles of
brushwood, keeping time with their song and with the performance of the
warrior.
When, after a while, the music ceases, the warrior is seen to be lying
asleep beside his captive. The ancestors become restless and begin to
move sideways, first in a body to the left and then to the right; then
they move backwards and forwards. This movement is peculiarly weird since
the performers do it by shuffling over the ground in the sitting posture,
with their arms held erect, but bent in the elbow.
Presently the music starts again, and the spirit known as “_Ngardaddi_”
is seen to be stealthily creeping towards the fire, his body lying flat
upon the ground and his legs dragging behind. He advances very slowly,
turning his face towards the ground, in search of the fire which escaped
from heaven. He wears a tall head-dress quite thirty-two inches long,
which consists of a tightly fitting hemispherical cap carrying a column
in its centre, at the top of which a bundle of split black-cockatoo
feathers is attached. The feathers are from the male bird’s tail, and
the brilliant red patches in them are representative of fire. The whole
structure is made of paper-bark and human hair-string, the outer surface
being decorated with ochre, pipeclay, charcoal, and vegetable-down. Vide
Plate XXXII.
All the time the men at the fire-side are beating time with their hands
and simultaneously turn their heads from side to side, to all intents and
purposes quite unconcerned about the Ngardaddi who is gradually crawling
near to them. This is done to entice the thief nearer and lead him to
believe that he is unobserved. All of a sudden, however, when the spirit
is about to touch the fire and is in the act of snatching it from the
tribesmen, one of the group on either side of the fire throws a handful
of dry grass upon the smouldering heap. The flame responds immediately
and casts a bright light all around.
Alarm is raised by the tribesmen by clapping their hands together
violently. The spirit collapses and lies flat upon the ground at full
length. Two or three of the men nearest by seize some of the burning
grass and hit the prostrate figure over the head. The spirit jumps to
his feet and treads the ground as if endeavouring to make his escape.
Seeing this, the men at the fire rise quickly and treat their victim
most unmercifully with bundles of burning grass and twigs. Eventually
each of them seizes a fire-brand and digs the burning end deeply into
the spirit’s back and the unfortunate fellow eventually decamps into the
darkness amidst the bellowing whoops of his victors.
The air is fouled for some distance around by the smell of the burned
skin, reminding one of the stench in a smithy when horses are being shod.
The back of the spirit-impersonator is naturally severely scored by the
cruel treatment it is subjected to, but the fellow takes it all in good
faith and without flinching.
The object of the ceremony is twofold. Firstly all members of the
community who are present, men, women, and children, are taught to
appreciate the value of fire, and secondly it is believed that the
exemplification of so harsh and drastic a treatment for attempted theft
will tend to make abortive any schemes of the evil spirits.
The Arunndta are quite convinced in their own minds that in the days of
their tribal fathers there was no water on the surface of the ground
they occupied; their ancestors in those times were compelled to live
on grass and succulent plants, no consideration being given to the
fact, as we have learned, that the vegetation derives its moisture from
outside sources. But it happened one day, when their forefathers were
out hunting, that they met with a number of strange-looking men who were
sitting around a pool of pure water from which they were drinking. At
the sight of the men, the strangers fled, leaving the water behind. The
hunters gave chase but all except one disappeared and he made for a cave
in the hills. The hunters closed the mouth of the cave with a big stone
and went back to the pool of water to quench their thirst, but when they
reached the spot, the water had turned into a massive, round stone. The
men made back to the cave and removed the obstruction, but imagine their
surprise when they found the cave empty. Upon making a careful search,
however, they discovered a long cylindrical stick which had some peculiar
markings on it. They took the stick and walked once more towards the
petrified pool, and, lo, they beheld the stranger they were looking for
walking in the sky. When he saw the stick in the hands of the hunters, he
took the form of a cloud, and as he bent his body towards the stick, his
long matted hair fell forwards and from it water poured upon the earth
beneath. The hunters drank freely of the precious fluid and when they
looked skywards again the cloudman had vanished.
From that day onwards the Arunndta medicine men (“_Nangarri_”) have
kept that spot sacred and taboo to the women and children; they call
the big stone “_Imbodna_” which means “the hailstone.” The man who fled
to the cave and then escaped from the hunters as a vapour they call
“_Nangali_,” the name for a cloud. The tribe has never since been without
water because Nangali left his magic wand in the hands of their ancient
sorcerers and whenever the country was suffering from drought they could
call upon him to appear in the sky and bring forth rain.
Nangali is one of a group of celestial beings who have been termed
“_Atoakwatje_,” that is Water-Men; they are now looked upon as Demigods
who control all terrestrial supplies of water from their abode in
the clouds. The Atoakwatje are believed to have certain mysterious
connections with some of the tribal sorcerers who in a sense parade on
earth as their disciples and attend to the rain-making ceremonies through
which they are able to commune with each other.
When the people are in need of water, the rain-makers assemble around
the Imbodna and one or two of them produce the sacred stick, known to
the Arunndta as “_kwatje-purra_,” literally meaning “the reproductive
organ of water,” and to the Aluridja as “_kapi-wiyinna_.” Nowadays these
sticks, which strictly speaking are of phallic significance, are flat and
more like a tjuringa in shape, and have a number of peculiar markings
on them. For a time the stick is laid beside the great water-stone, and
the sorcerers kneel while they chant with a barely audible voice. They
rise to their feet and the most influential individual who is decorated
with stripes of yellow vegetable-down and wears a dog-tail tassel on
his belt, lifts the stick towards the sky and continues mumbling. The
other members kneel again and all present chat together. The man who is
standing poises the stick horizontally between his hands and rocks it one
way, then another; and this performance is frequently repeated.
When at length the principal performer sits down, the other men leave the
spot and run in a single file towards the camp, loudly crying “_kurreke
ta ta_” in imitation of the call of the spur-winged plover.
In the evening a general corroboree is indulged in; and all grown-up
persons, male and female, are allowed to join in. Several refrains are
forthcoming which are connected with ordinary rain or water festivals.
The principal rainmaker does not attend but joins the camp again during
the night. It appears that in the interim he has visited the sacred
cave, in company of one or two of his brother-sorcerers, to hide the
magic stick and preserve it for future use. Any representative of the
Atoakwatje group inherits the power to fashion and use the rain-stick,
but it is imperative that he learns the art under the direction of a
senior and duly qualified nangarri.
A ceremony directly connected with sun-worship belongs to the old
Arunndta people and is known as “_Ilpalinja_.” When the weather has been
and continues to be unpleasantly cold, and the mating season of birds
and animals has on that account been long delayed, the men construct
a large colored design upon the selected ceremonial ground. Radiating
from a point upon a cleared space, many lines are drawn with red and
white vegetable-down to represent the rays of the sun; and these are
intersected at different distances from the central point by a number of
concentric circles which represent the fathers of the tribe. The centre
of the design is occupied by a stick which is supposed to incorporate
some mystical and sacred sun-creature known as “_Knaninja Arrerreka_.”
The same Ilpalinja-design is occasionally carved as the crest of the
Knaninja upon a sun-tjuringa. Vide Fig. 6.
[Illustration: Fig. 6. Sacred sun-design of the “_Ilpalinja_” ceremony (×
1/20).]
A most impressive function might occasionally be witnessed on the
north coast, which is associated with the setting sun; it is known
to at least two tribes, the one living on the upper reaches of the
Victoria River and the other on the western shores of Carpentaria Gulf,
including some of the islands. It is usually performed in conjunction
with demonstrations calling upon a fabulous being which lives in the
sky to fecundate certain species of plants and animals necessary for
their daily life. The Carpentaria tribes, moreover, keep their sacred
poles, akin to the tjuringas of central Australia, not in caves but in
special huts which they construct upon chosen spots absolutely taboo to
the general public. These slabs of wood are up to five feet long and are
covered with peculiar carvings and markings; they are of the two sexes.
Ordinarily they are kept “asleep” by laying them on the floor of the hut
side by side, and covering them with sand. When the hour of the ceremony
arrives, they are brought out by the “Sun-Men” and stuck in the ground
in the full light of the sinking sun. Just as the orb is about to touch
the horizon, the tenders of the sacred implements kneel, with their faces
turned towards the sun and, lifting their hands, bend their bodies to the
ground much after the fashion of an Eastern salaam. We have before us a
true form of worship recognizing the supreme powers of the sun, but aimed
primarily at calling upon a demigod or Deity in supplication for making a
needed article of diet, animal or vegetable, fruitful or prolific.
Mythologically the sun is regarded as a female having human form and a
fiery exterior, who walks daily across the firmament and returns at night
to rest at her sacred haunts on earth. Some of the central tribes, like
the Aluridja, split the sun’s identity into an indefinite number of such
women, a different one of which makes the journey every day.
The moon on the other hand is thought to be a man who originally
inhabited the earth but was one day chased off it by a gigantic dog the
Aluridja call “_Tutrarre_.” The man jumped into space and walked among
the clouds until he reached the earth again. His long walk had made him
so hungry and thin that he ravenously ate a great number of opossums
which he found in the trees at night. In consequence he swelled out, and
became fat and round. Then it was his bad fortune to fall in with the dog
again, and this time his obesity prevented his escape. The dog tore him
to pieces and swallowed him, bone and all. But it so happened that one
of his arm-bones flew from the dog’s jaws and found its way to the sky.
There it floated from east to west as a luminous sickle and gradually
swelled until it was perfectly round. The dog stood looking up at the
bone and howled in anger, but the moon-man reappeared in the sky and
converted the dog into stone.
The Kakatu natives believe in a moon-man who lives in the sky and
controls the clouds. On a certain day, very long ago, this man was seen
by the ancestors of the tribe. It happened thus: Just about dusk, a cloud
was observed descending from the sky which came to rest upon the summit
of a hill; it was glowing red. A big man, a woman, and two girls stepped
upon the earth, and the man took a fire-stick from the cloud which then
became black and ascended again. It was the moon-man and his family.
The party walked down on to the plain and camped, the old man making a
fire with his torch whereby his feminine escort could warm themselves.
The moon-man left, taking a new fire-stick with him. In a deep, green
water-hole lived a monstrous snake whose colour was much like that of
the slime which covered the surface of the water. A lengthy and secret
interview took place between the moon-man and the snake on the bank of
the lagoon, and the snake produced many tubers of water-lily, and mussels
also, for the moon-man to eat. Then the two heard a rustling noise. The
snake exclaimed: “What is that? Who dares approach our trysting place?”
The moon-man snatched a fire-brand and held it high in the air; this made
it light as day. The moon-man’s daughters could be seen creeping towards
the men to hear the secret discussion! With a curse upon his mouth, the
angry father hurled the fire-stick at his deceitful daughters. The stick
struck the ground and sent a shower of sparks over the girls. In an
instant everything became dark as night, but every now and again there
came from the spot the girls had last been seen at long-drawn growls;
from the same spot flashes of light shot forth and illumined the clouds.
The snake and the moon-man had disappeared, but the daughters remained
just where they had last been seen, for they had been turned to stone and
had assumed the rigid form of a dog whose head was directed skywards as
if to rebuke the moon-man for the curse he had brought upon them. For a
long time the clouds remained dark; then the moon-man re-appeared among
them and cast a mournful beam upon the canine image of his daughters.
From then till now he has continued to appear periodically in the sky,
and his repentant daughters gaze at him; but at times, when the sky is
covered with heavy black clouds, the daughters become angry and growl
aloud. At these times, too, bright flashes dart from their eyes across
the clouds like spears of fire threatening revenge. The stone has
remained to the present day, and is known by the name of “_Koreno kardjo_
(dog) _gambi_” (stone).
[Illustration: _PLATE XXXIV_
The “_Tjilbakuta_” of the great emu ceremony, Arunndta tribe.
“The moment the sacred object is completed, the Illiyakuta delegates one
of his group to act as its attendant or guardian.”]
The snake is an important character in the mythology of practically
every tribe of Australia; in fact most of the permanent water-holes are
supposed to be inhabited by great serpents which guard the supplies,
destroy unlawful consumers or polluters thereof, and frequently
communicate with those spirit ancestors of the tribes who are descended
from the original snake-man still living in the sky. In many cases
the mythic snakes can be recognized in some characteristic features
of the landscape. Take, for instance, the great artesian spring near
Coward Springs Station which is known as Blanche Cup. This is looked
upon as the mouth of a snake, while the hill immediately at the back of
it (Mt. Hamilton) is its head. In consequence the formation is called
“_Worma-Kadiabba_” (snake’s head) by the local Arrabonna tribe. The
natives have a dread of these imaginary snake-monsters and prefer not to
visit a water-hole at night; in fact, at any time, day or night, they
feel safer in the company of a man who is “related” to the snake, because
he can protect them and give them the right of approach. The snake is
possessed of evil and will molest any but its totemic “relatives.”
The fundamental conception of the kobong (or totem), so far as the
Australian aboriginal is concerned, is of a religious nature. In
the beginning of all things, the Aluridja say a number of exalted
creatures of human form came out of the earth and were gracious to
their tribes-people. Then appeared a menace in the shape of a gigantic
dog which chased the good people from one place to another, until they
decided to adopt the forms of various animals and plants, and thereby
became either too fleet for the dog or were not recognized by it. Other
good people now descended from the hills and drove the dog back to its
hiding place in a cave where the evil spirit dwells. The newcomers
kindled a fire at the mouth of the cave and kept the evil beings in
captivity whilst the original Deities re-assumed the human form. Ever
after, however, these good creatures were able to alter their appearance
from human to animal at will; but each individual in his choice adhered
to the particular animal or plant which had saved him from the ravages
of the great evil dog. Eventually they formed themselves into flat
slabs of stone or wood, upon the surfaces of which they scratched the
emblems of their animal representation and the traditions of their long
wanderings on earth. The spirits of these Deities now live in the sky
but can return at any time to re-enter the slab generally known as the
“tjuringa.” Among the Minning at Eucla the larger of these objects are
known as “_wagal-wagal_,” the smaller as “_bobi_,” whilst further west,
in the Laverton district, “_kaidi_” is the prevailing word. It is true,
the tjuringa is not known to all tribes; in which case the Deities are
supposed to have entered such natural objects as rocks, hills, and
conspicuous trees.
The Roper River natives believe that their deified forbears were molested
not by a dog, but by a hideous old woman or witch, who, by the influence
of evil, entrapped them and subsequently ate them. On one occasion,
however, a party of warriors were successful in decoying her away from
her haunts and slaying her. The jubilant victors decided to cut out the
old woman’s tongue as a trophy, but as they were thus engaged, the tongue
flew out of the mouth and spun round in the atmosphere above them, making
a terrible noise as it did so. The men chased the tongue, but it flew
towards a beefwood tree and embedded itself deeply in the butt; in vain
they looked for it and tried to cut it out; it had become part of the
tree. Before returning, however, the men took a piece of wood out of the
tree, shaped like the woman’s tongue, which they tied to a piece of human
hair-string and swung round their heads with joy. Behold their mixed
feelings of delight and fear when the piece of wood began to howl with
a voice like that of the slain witch! The tribe retained that piece of
wood as a sacred memento of their victory, and they gave to it the name
the witch was known by, namely “_Kunapippi_.” Nowadays this object is the
equivalent of the central Australian _tjuringa_.
All tribes recognize the existence of deified ancestors, now real or
spiritual, whom they regard as sacred and worship accordingly. All
ancestors stand in a definite, intricate, and intimate relationship
to some animal, plant, water-hole, or other natural object which they
have at some time or other represented; some indeed in the first place
appeared as animals and later took the human form. They are now looked
upon as being those powers who by virtue of sacred ceremonial can produce
the species they have at some time incarnated, in plenty or allow it to
proliferate. As a matter of fact, some of the sorcerers of the tribes
often declare that they can see the inside of a sacred rock or tjuringa
teeming with young, ready to be produced.
The Arunndta refer to their “_Knaninja_” (i.e. “totem” Deities)
as “_Altjerrajara_,” meaning the Supreme Number; the Aluridja as
“_Tukurata_” or “_Tukutita_”; and the Dieri as “_Muramura_.”
Just as the “totem” ancestor is connected with an animal, plant, or other
natural object, and is embodied in the sacred form of the tjuringa, so
the individual who traces his descent from such ancestor recognizes a
close and mysterious affinity between himself and the tjuringa which has
become his by heredity; henceforth it becomes his sacred talisman which
protects him from evil and procures for him the means of maintaining his
existence.
The emblematic representation of the deified ancestor, based upon the
form of an animal or plant living to-day and in some way “connected”
with the individual, is the “_kobong_” of the north-western tribes first
referred to by Sir George Grey.
The “totem” is very dear and sacred to the native, and is religiously
protected by him. I well remember on one occasion on the Alberga River
I discovered a small black and yellow banded snake which I killed. An
Aluridja man who was attached to the party at the time was greatly
shocked at this, and, with genuine sorrow, told me that I had killed his
“brother.” Turning to an Arunndta he lamented aloud: “_Kornye! Nanni
kallye nuka kalla illum_,” which literally translated means: “Oh dear!
This brother of mine is dead.”
One thing is always essential and that is that a native performs
frequent, prolonged, and reverential ceremonies, remote from the women
and children, and in the presence of his tjuringa. Under these conditions
the tjuringa is believed to have powers similar to those of the Deity it
embodies.
When not in use, the tjuringas are stored in caves, the entrances to
which are small and not easily discernible; the ground is proclaimed
taboo to any but initiated tjuringa holders and is strictly regarded as
a _sanctum sanctorum_. Although the sticks and stones are the individual
property of the tribesmen, the objects are generally kept together,
and only brought out during a religious ceremony. The old men are the
authorized custodians of the sacred collection. The female tjuringas are
included, because even though a woman may possess one, she must never see
it; if she does, accidentally or otherwise, she is in imminent danger of
being killed. No unauthorized hunter is allowed near the prohibited area
under any pretext at all; even if an animal he has wounded should by
accident make for the sacred ground to breathe its last, the hunter is
required by tribal law and usage to sacrifice it to the divine factors
incorporated in the tjuringa, by leaving it on the spot.
[Illustration: _PLATE XXXV_
Flashlight photograph of “_Illiya Tjuringa_” or great emu ceremony,
Arunndta tribe.
“The chief emu man is distinguished by an extra large head-dress called
the ‘Illiya Altjerra Kuta.’...”]
When on the warpath, a warrior always craves to carry his tjuringa with
him, even though this is not always possible. He firmly believes that
with the talisman kept on his person, or at any rate knowing that it is
nearby, no deadly missile thrown by an enemy will penetrate his body. The
mere knowledge of the fact that his opponent has a tjuringa with him, and
he not, is sufficient to make a coward of the bravest fighter. Should he
be wounded or take ill, one of his “totem-brothers” endeavours to produce
a tjuringa, from which, if the medicine man considers it necessary, a
little powder is scraped and handed to the patient to swallow with water.
With regard to “totem” animals which form the objects of hunting
expeditions, a man is allowed to kill and eat thereof with some
restriction. He must kill only one animal at a time, and only in
accordance with the method prescribed by the tribal fathers and handed
down to them by tradition. This is usually a straightforward hunting
method, with as little loss of blood as possible. If much blood should
flow, the hunter is obliged to cover it without delay with sand. If
possible, other men should cut up the carcase, and only certain portions
be handed to the “brother” of the slain animal.
Each tribe has an endless variety of objects (animal, vegetable,
terrestrial, meteoric, mythic, and so forth), which may figure as a
“totem.” Any one of these may be the primary motive of a separate cult
or sacred ceremony, but here again the variety is usually reduced to the
number corresponding to the most sanctimonious and most useful creations
affecting the affairs of the particular tribe.
The ceremonies take the form of either a direct worship or a prayer
for increased productivity of a certain plant or animal, either being
offered to the Knaninja or “totem” ancestors living as spirits in the
sky. Usually the two ideas are embodied in one grand ceremony, and the
method of procedure is governed by tradition. Such ceremonies have been
particularly elaborated by the Arunndta tribe, who refer to them by
the same name as that of the sacred object, namely “_Tjuringa_”; less
frequently they call them “_Intitjuma_,” the latter name being applied
more to ceremonies without worship.
The Tjuringa ceremonies are divided into grades according to their
importance and sacredness. The water ceremony is ordinarily called
“_Kwatje Tjuringa_,” but if the “totem” spirit ancestor is invoked to
attend, it goes by the name of “_Kwatje Tjuringa Knaninja_”; if the
principal spirit ancestor is assumed to be present, the title becomes
“_Kwatje Tjuringa Knaninja Knurrendora_”; and finally the most sacred
water ceremony of all is the “_Kwatje Tjuringa Altjerra Knaninja
Knurrendora_.”
As a typical illustration we shall discuss the “_Illiya Tjuringa_” or
Great Emu Ceremony of the eastern Arunndta groups. The date of the
performance is decided by the senior emu “brother” of the tribe, the
oldest member who claims to be related to the Illiya Knaninja. Somewhat
extensive preparations are made beginning a few days prior to the opening
event. Only fully initiated men take part, but the women are allowed to
witness certain of the most awe-inspiring stages from a distance. Whilst
the younger men are out collecting leaves, out of which they make the
down later to adorn the bodies of the performers, the older men prepare
the sacred ground. Others slay a number of brown hawks, off which they
pull the feathers and then pluck the down. A suitable site having been
selected, the old men clear it by removing all grass and bush from the
surface and smoothing the sand with their feet. The “brothers” who claim
relationship alike to the great Emu-Man, the Emu-Knaninja, and the emu
itself, thereupon proceed to anoint the sacred ground with their blood,
for which purpose they puncture the median basilic vein of the forearm
with a quartzite chip and allow the fluid of kinship to sprinkle upon
the sand. It is surprising to see the amount of blood sacrificed by the
men on occasions like this; and time after time, when such is required,
the process is repeated. By examining the forearms of an old stager, one
can usually count a number of small scars along the course of a vein
indicating places where a perforation has at different times been made. A
venesection is made after much the same manner among the various tribes.
The following Arunndta method will serve as an example. A ligature of
hair-string is in the first place tied tightly round the upper arm, a
little above the biceps muscle, after the style of a tourniquet to check
the flow of blood in the veins and thereby distend the vessels. The man
then makes a small longitudinal cut through the skin and punctures the
vein beneath it lengthwise; the blood spurts forth immediately and is
collected in the handle-pit of a shield. When the flow is to be stopped,
the native removes the ligature, and this in most cases is all that is
needed. Should, however, the blood continue to come, he places a small
amount of down over the incision and presses it against the vein, or
winds three or four strands of fur-string around it. The little pad
of down is usually left on the arm until it dries and falls off. None
of the women are allowed to witness this operation, which is called
“_Ilgarukna_.” The blood, when it is to be used as an adhesive for the
down-decoration, is applied with a small brush (“_ipinja_”) made of twigs
tied together with fur-string. Vide Plate XXXIII.
The principal among the emu group is called “_Illiyakuta_,” and it is he
who directs the performance. He takes his followers to a secluded place,
such as a clump of timber or down a creek-bed, and there the wooden
tjuringas belonging to the ceremony are produced and painted afresh with
red ochre and emu fat.
Down is made out of the white, felty leaves and twigs of _Kochia_ bush,
which the Arunndta call “_kemba_.” Small quantities of these are placed
upon a flat slab of stone and pounded with a pebble. The fluffy material
which results is next mixed and rubbed by hand with powdered kaolin
or ochre according to the colour required, the white being known as
“_wadua_,” the red as “_wanjerra_.”
A sacred object is now constructed which encloses the painted tjuringas
and is called the “_Tjilbakuta_.” It is about three feet high and is made
in the following way. The tjuringas are laid one on top of the other and
bound together with many lengths of human hair-string, which completely
obscure the shape of the separate pieces. A thick layer of the stalks of
the kangaroo grass (_Anthistiria_) is laid around the parcel and kept in
position with a few lengths of twine, and then the whole structure is
covered with great masses of human hair-string wound spirally from top
to bottom. A cylinder results which is decorated with alternate vertical
bands of red and white vegetable down. Into the top of this Tjilbakuta
one bundle of emu feathers and one of black cockatoo tail-feathers are
stuck; and often additional plumes are hung beneath them. The moment the
sacred object is completed, the Illiyakuta delegates one of his group
to act as its attendant or guardian. For the time being his body is
decorated with symmetrically placed, curved ochre bands upon the chest
and vertical bands down the arms; at a later stage he ornaments his body
more elaborately, prior to taking part in the principal performance; but
all the time he remains in his place of hiding beside the Tjilbakuta.
Vide Plate XXXIV.
At the sanctified place close by the other men have been stacking
firewood at different points to illuminate the proceedings during the
evening. Occasionally, too, the Illiyakuta group of men cover a portion
of the ground with a coloured emblem of the traditional emu.
Early in the afternoon of the festive day the men who will take part
in the ceremony at night begin to prepare themselves. Many of the
non-performers help them.
Large quantities of down, both vegetable and birds’, are used to decorate
the bodies. The design is shaped much like a cobbler’s apron, extending
from the neck down the front to the level of the knees. The greater part
of this surface is red, but it is lined with white and split along the
centre by two parallel lines of white. The back is not decorated at all.
The entire surface of the face, including the eye-lids and beard, is
thickly covered with down which is white, except for an oval red patch
around the mouth.
The principal attraction, however, of the sacred emu ceremony is the
head-dress, which is both elaborate and imposing. To prepare it, the
attendant combs back the actor’s hair with his fingers, and interlaces it
with stalks of grass and small twigs in such a way that a tall conical
structure results right on top of the head. This is made secure and of
a uniform exterior by winding much human hair-string around it, at the
same time taking in a plume of emu feathers at the apex of the cone.
The headgear is completely enveloped in red and white down, extending
upwards from the head as alternate vertical bands. The chief emu-man is
distinguished by an extra large headdress called the “_Illiya Altjerra
Kuta_”; this measures a good three feet in length, and it embodies,
between the apex and the emu plume, deeply enshrouded with hair-string
and down, the sacred “_Illiya Tjuringa_.” Other members who are of the
same rank as the “Tjilbakuta” guardian, wear their insignia beneath the
emu feathers in the form of a sickle-shaped rod, which carries at each
of its points a tuft of white cockatoo feathers. All performers cover
their person with a dog-tail appendage which hangs from a thin waistband
of human hair-string. And lastly, they all tie bundles of eucalyptus
twigs, with the leaves attached, to their legs just above the ankles.
If possible, old or half-dried leaves are selected in order that a more
pronounced rustling is produced when the men move about; the noise is
made to imitate the rustle of the wiry feathers of an emu. Vide Plate
XXXV.
At nightfall the Tjilbakuta is removed from the hiding place and planted
on the edge of the ensanguined patch. The guardian is thus given an
opportunity to slip away and to attend to his ceremonial toilet, which is
similar to that of the rest of the Tjilbakuta group. When he returns, the
performance is about to begin, and all except he leave the ground.
The stacks of wood are set fire to by invisible hands, and, so soon as
the flames flare upwards, the silence is broken by the booming note of a
bull-roarer, which is produced some distance off in the bush.
The Tjilbakuta guardian sits beside the object like a statue, with his
eyes rivetted to the ground immediately in front of him. From behind
him the thud of stamping feet and the rustle of dry leaves announce
the coming of the official performers, while from the other side the
non-performing members step from the darkness and take up their position
by squatting between two fires. When the decorated men come into view,
the latter start beating their boomerangs together in perfect time to
the stamping of the feet of the advancing actors. They come as a body
of five or six rows, one behind the other, each man holding his hands
locked behind his back and uttering a deep guttural note resembling a
pig’s grunt. The folded hands held over the stern represent the tail, the
guttural noise the call of the emu.
The Illiyakuta, wearing the tall Illiya Altjerra Kuta, is in the front
row, and he is attended on either side by a Tjilbakuta man. The chief now
starts a chant: “_Immara janki darrai_,” and all the others, including
the sitting men, join in; the same is repeated several times. When the
two parties are opposite each other, the performers quicken the pace of
their stamping and extend their arms sideways, thereby widening their
ranks. After this they retreat to behind the Tjilbakuta and one hears a
shrill chirping note resembling the cry of a young emu.
The interpretation of this act needs no special elucidation. The
decorated performers are those of the tribe’s manhood who, in all
matters pertaining to the emu, have a right to communicate, through the
Tjilbakuta, with the astral emu ancestor living in the great celestial
domain of the ancestral spirits, which is known as “_Altjerringa_.”
They are invoking the benign Knaninja or originator of their particular
“totem” species to increase the numbers of emu on earth for the exclusive
benefit of their tribe. It is the Illiyakuta who imagines that he
receives the favourable response from above, and, when it comes, it is he
who imitates the cry of a young emu. It often happens, however, that the
chief persuades himself to believe that the Great Spirit had not heeded
the appeal, in which case the last-mentioned cry is wanting. The ceremony
is repeated time after time.
Altjerringa, it will be observed, is a compound word consisting of
“_Altjerra_,” the Supreme Spirit, and “_inga_,” a foot or trail. The
implied idea is that Altjerringa is the “walk-about” of the spirit
ancestors, where they walk, and have always walked, and where the spirits
of all tribes-people eventually hope to find their way.
After this act, the performance becomes less restrained and takes more
the form of a corrobboree. Some of the men seize firebrands from the
burning stacks and hurl them in the direction of the women’s camp. From
the moment of the sounding of the bull-roarer at the beginning of the
ceremony until now the women sat huddled together, with their faces
buried in their hands, thoroughly cowed by the portentous happenings.
When the firebrands come whizzing through the air and crash into
the branches of the trees around them, sending sparks flying in all
directions, they are almost beyond themselves with fear. But just at
this juncture the men call upon them to look towards the festive ground
and behold them dancing. In obedience to the order, the women’s fears
are dispelled and soon superseded by a noticeable enravishment. They
feast their eyes upon the array of manhood in gala dress, and it is
not long ere they pick up the rhythm of a dance by beating time to the
step. Provided the Tjilbakuta has been removed to a place of secrecy,
well out of reach of accidental discovery, the men entreat the women to
come up and join in the song. Thus the sublime is eventually reduced to
commonplace, and the remainder of the night passes in joviality.
To refer briefly to a vegetable ceremony, we shall select the yam or
“_Ladjia Tjuringa Knaninja_.” The preparations are much the same as
those of the emu ceremony. An enclosure is first made in a secluded
spot with branches, in the centre of which the “totem” or Knaninja
“stick” is erected. Several men immediately set about to decorate it
with vegetable down as previously described. The design in this case
consists of vertical rows of red circles upon a yellow ochre background.
In addition, a large plume of split eagle-hawk feathers is stuck into
the top of the stick. All ordinary performers wear conical head-gears
or “_tdela_” made of _Cassia_ twigs, into the apices of which tightly
bound bundles of grass stalks (“_gortara_”) are fixed carrying plumes of
emu feathers (“_mangalingala_”) (Plate XXXVI, 1). Other men have squat,
cylindrical bark structures called “_elbola_” placed over their heads,
which are elaborately decorated with vertical coils of human hair-string
and coloured down.
One of the principal actors represents the “_Kuta Knaninja_.” His
head-gear consists of two long kutturu, tied together with hair-string
and completely covered with gum leaves, the whole being subsequently
besmeared with blood and decorated with coloured down. As the assistants
are dressing this character, they keep up a chant sounding like “_Winni
kutcherai_.” Vide Plate XXXVI, 2.
The leading figure is the “_Ingada Ladjia Knaninja_,” who wears a tall
vertical head-piece which contains the tjuringa of the Ladjia Knaninja.
The tjuringa is, however, not visible, but is covered with pieces of
bark, securely tied over it with hair-string, the whole being richly
decorated with vertical bands of red and white down.
The Great Spirit of the Yam, called “_Knaninja Tjilba Ladjia_,” when
he leaves Altjerringa, takes up his abode in a cave near Mount Conway,
where the tjuringas are kept, but at night, before the fires are lit, he
is supposed to come to the ceremonial ground and occupy the decorated
“totem” stick described above. During the performance he is surrounded by
all the ordinary performers, who are known as “_Tjilba Ingarrega_,” and
are directly under the guidance of the Ingada and Kuta Knaninja.
A group of men who are not decorated sit near one of the fires and sing
while the performers are thus encircling the Ladjia stick:
“_Imbanai yinga_
_Wi ma bana Ladji di bana_
_Yammana wi ma bana_
_Jai ra ja ja_
_Jai ja ja na_
_Wi ba na na_
_De a re a ja betja_,”
the voices finally fading away to an almost inaudible whisper.
If the Great Spirit, Ladjia Altjerra Knaninja, is gracious, the tap-root
of the yam will be sent deep down into the earth near the Jay River and
from there spread its laterals all over the country to supply the needs
of the tribe.
When some of the most sacred ceremonies are performed, the oldest
“relatives” of the presiding Knaninja often construct a coloured drawing
upon the consecrated ground, whose purpose is similar to that of the
“totem” stick above described. The drawing is executed in coloured down,
both vegetable and bird. A space of suitable size, often measuring many
feet in length, is cleared of grass and stones, and sprinkled with water,
when it is ready to receive the down. In the case of, say, the “_Ladjia
Tjuringa_,” the design takes the form of a number of concentric circles
alternately red and white, from the outermost of which six equally spaced
groups of red and white lines stand out radially. The enclosing border of
the design consists entirely of white down. Vide Plate XXXVII.
Once constructed, this drawing, which is known as “_Etominja_,”
is zealously guarded by one of the old men. If, peradventure, an
unauthorized person happens upon the sanctified place, he is killed and
buried immediately beneath the spot occupied by the design; thereupon the
ground is smoothed again and the Etominja re-constructed. Nobody in camp
ever hears what became of the person, and should any relative track him
in the direction of the area known to be tabooed, he is horror-stricken
and runs away.
While the old men are re-constructing the Etominja, they sing to the
Knaninja as follows:
“_Yedimidimi_
_Dakarai pa ma taka,_
_Pa mitu min jai, jin tarai,_
_Ja ra nai malgada, ja ranai._”
The next, and probably the most important, group of religious ceremonies
is that dealing with Sex-Worship. For years past peculiarly shaped stones
have been found in caves and among the possessions of the Australian
aborigines whose shape was strikingly suggestive of a phallus, but
hitherto no actual phallic ceremonies have been observed. It was my
good fortune to witness such among the Aluridja, Arunndta, Dieri, and
Cambridge Gulf tribes. From enquiries made of the old men, it appears
that in former days this form of worship was practised considerably more
than it is nowadays. New stone phallus are rarely made by the present
tribes; those in their possession have generally been inherited from
previous generations. The old men have the phallus in their keeping, and
they are very loth to either produce or part with them.
The natives of the King Sound district in the north-west believe the
origin of the phallus to be as follows: In the early times a scourge was
raging among their forefathers, from the effects of which many were daily
dying, when a hairy man and his mate, a woman of ordinary human form,
came to earth from above. The evil was due to the exhalation of poisonous
breath from the gaping jaws of a green monster resembling a crocodile.
The stranger relieved the sufferers from the awful curse by showing them
how to perform an operation upon their person which taught them to endure
pain and protected them against future ravages of the pestilence. This
great and benevolent stranger then took his departure, but left his name
to designate the surgical operation which to the present day is performed
upon the male members of the tribe; the name, strange though it may
seem, is “_Elaija_”; and it is known, at any rate, as far east as Port
George IV. But the tribe had become so weak through the terrible havoc
the disease had wrought that the old men called him back and entreated
him to stay. Elaija, however, took from a dillybag his female companion
was carrying, a stone carved after the shape of a mutilated member,
which he gave the name of “_Kadabba_.” When the old men gazed upon this
object, they took fright and appealed to Elaija, but the good fellow had
vanished. The stone has remained with the tribe ever since, and through
the divine property Elaija endowed it with, their threatened extinction
was eluded. Moreover, they continued to practise the operation on all
young men because it made their members like the Kadabba of Elaija, which
they knew had the power of multiplying their kind. And so the Kadabba
became a sacred object whose procreative power they have learned to
worship, thinking that by such observance they would augment their own
capacities of sex. Vide Fig. 7.
[Illustration: Fig. 7. Stone phallus, Northern Kimberleys, Western
Australia (× 1/2).]
One often reads, and I was under the same impression myself until I
became better acquainted with the tribes, that the Australian natives
do not connect the knowledge of conception with any intercourse which
might have taken place between the sexes. This I find is not altogether
correct, although usually the younger people are kept in complete
ignorance on the subject. No doubt strangers are treated similarly when
they put any pertinent questions to the old men on matters of sex.
The old men believe in the duality of human creation, the spiritual
and the material; sexuality is regarded as the stimulus of corporeal
reproduction, but the spirit quantity is derived through mystic and
abstract influences controlled by a “totem”-spirit or Knaninja. Under
these circumstances, it is not surprising to note that the ceremonies of
the phallus are transacted principally by the old men of the tribe who
aim at the rejuvenation of their waning powers.
It is interesting to see the old men preparing for a ceremony which is to
be dedicated to a Knaninja or Spirit of Sex, because they all endeavour
to conceal the white hairs of their beards by rubbing powdered charcoal
into them. The bark of the cork tree (_Hakea_) is used for the purpose;
pieces of it are charred, crushed between the palms, and applied where
needed. It is astounding what a difference this process makes to the
appearance, and some of the old grey-beards really look as though they
had been made twenty years younger by magic.
In the eastern MacDonnell Ranges stands a cylindro-conical monolith whose
origin is believed to be as follows: Many generations ago, the paternal
ancestors of the Arunndta walked from a district situated, as near as one
can gather, somewhere in the neighbourhood of Ediowie; they were known
as the “_Kukadja_,” and were characterized by the enormous dimensions of
their organs. These old men or Tjilba of the tribe migrated northwards to
beyond Tennant’s Creek and settled in the productive “_Allaia_” country
which surrounds the Victoria River. In that same district one finds, even
at the present day, cave drawings of human beings with the anatomical
peculiarities referred to (Fig. 8). At a later time, the head-man of the
Kukadja, named “_Knurriga Tjilba_,” returned southwards to the Macdonnell
Ranges. While roaming the hills, he espied two young women sitting on the
side of a quartzite cliff, and without deliberation began to approach
them. He was in the act of making lewd overtures when the guardian of the
girls, a crow ancestor, caught sight of him and hurled a boomerang at
him. The missile struck the great man and cut off the prominent portion
of his body, which in falling stuck erect in the ground. The force of
the impact was so great that the man bounced off the earth and fell
somewhere near Barrow’s Creek. He bled so profusely that a clay-pan soon
filled with his blood. Thus his followers found him, and overcome with
sorrow they opened the veins of their arms to mix their blood with his.
Then all the members of the party jumped into the pool and disappeared
for ever.
[Illustration: Fig. 8. Ochre drawing of “_Kukadja_” men, north of Wickham
River, Northern Territory (× 1/3).]
The severed portion of the old man’s body, however, remained just where
it fell and turned to stone. It has long been known as “_Knurriga Tjilba
Purra_.”
The two young women can also still be detected in the cliff as prominent
rock formations.
The stone has been protected by the tribe as long as the old men can
remember, because they realize that it contains an inexhaustible number
of unborn tribes-people. These mythic, foetal elements are generally
recognized to exist in certain objects of phallic significance, and are
called “_rattappa_.” The medicine men maintain that they can at times see
the dormant living matter in the stone. It is on that account that it is
regarded as sacred, and every now and then very secret and worshipful
ceremonies are transacted near its base, the main objects of which are to
multiply the future membership of the tribe and to preserve the sexual
powers of the old men.
The Tjilba Purra naturally figures prominently in some of their
ceremonies. In fact, it is reproduced and worn upon the head of the
leading man during the functions. The sacred effigy consists of an
upright column, about two feet high, composed of a stout bundle of grass
stalks, in the centre of which the tjuringa is contained. It is decorated
with alternating bands of red and white down throughout its length. This
upright column represents the “_Tjilba_” or revered ancestor whose spirit
is invoked to “sit” in the tjuringa; at the top of it a plume of wiry emu
feathers, well powdered with charcoal (“_unjia_”) to give it a youthful
appearance, takes the place of the forbear’s hair and beard. Standing
at an angle with the central column, a similar though slightly smaller
structure is intended for the “_Purra_” or phallus; it carries a plume
of white cockatoo feathers at its end to represent the glans. Vide Plate
XXXVIII, 2.
A landmark, of similar significance as the Tjilba Purra of the Arunndta,
exists on the Roper River in the Northern Territory; it is a pillar of
sandstone known as “_Waraka_.” Waraka is also the name of the great
Spirit Father of the tribe. In very early times this man came to earth
in a semi-human form, and made the country abound in game, animals,
birds, and fish. Then he found a woman on the shores of Carpentaria Gulf
who remained with him as his wife. Many children came of the union; and
Waraka’s mate has since been looked upon as the mother of the tribe.
The woman’s name was “_Imboromba_,” and to this day the tribe takes its
name after her. Warraka had an enormous sex characteristic which was
so ponderous that he was obliged to carry it over one of his shoulders.
Eventually the organ became so huge that Warraka collapsed and sank into
the earth. His burden remained, but turned to stone, and is now looked
upon by the local natives as the great symbol of Nature’s generative
power which first produced their game supplies and then the original
children of the tribe; it is revered accordingly.
The Kukata have a somewhat similar legend of the origin of a stone of
phallic significance, the name of the possessor of the large organ being
“_Kalunuinti_.”
In the extreme north-western corner of Australia, in the Glenelg River
district, the natural stone is replaced by an artificially constructed
one which possesses the true shape of a phallus. The stone is about three
feet long and stands in a vertical position in the ground commanding a
ceremonial cirque as if intended to watch over the proceedings which are
instituted there.
On the shores of Cambridge Gulf, a grotesque dance is performed by
the men, during which a flat, wooden phallus is used, shaped almost
like a tjuringa, about seventeen inches long and three inches wide
at the middle. It is painted in alternate bands of red and black,
running transversely across the two flat surfaces, which are, in
addition, decorated with the carved representations of the male organ
of generation. The dance takes place at night and is too intricate to
describe in detail. It is introduced by the following chant:
“_Wa, la, ja-la-la_
_Wa, la, ja-la-la_
_Wa la gori wau!_”
The verse is repeated three times, and then the performers stamp the
ground with their feet, about ten times in quick succession, the action
suggesting running without making headway. Presently, and with one
accord, the whole party falls upon the knees. The phallus is seized with
both hands and held against the pubes in an erect position, and so the
party slides over the ground from left to right, and again from right to
left. An unmistakably suggestive act follows, when the men jerk their
shoulders and lean forward to a semi-prone position, after the fashion
generally adopted by the aborigines. Still upon their knees, the men lay
the phallus upon the ground and shuffle sideways, hither and thither, but
always facing the object in front of them. After several repetitions of
this interact, the performers raise their hands, in which they are now
carrying small tufts of grass or twigs, and flourish them above their
heads, while their bodies remain prone. Then follow some very lithe,
but at the same time very significant, movements of the hips. When,
presently, they rise to their feet again, the phallus are once more
reclaimed and held with one of the pointed ends against the pubes in an
erect position. A wild dance concludes the ceremony, during which the
men become intensely agitated and emotional; very often, indeed, their
excitement, verging on hysterical sensibility, evokes an orgasm.
[Illustration: _PLATE XXXVI_
1. An ordinary performer in the Ladjia or yam ceremony, wearing the
“_tdela_” head-gear.
2. The impersonator of the “_Kuta Knaninja_” in the Ladjia or yam
ceremony.]
These occurrences must not be confused with the mixed intercourses
which occasionally take place at the climax of friendly corrobborees to
celebrate the meeting of neighbouring tribes. In this case we merely have
to do with an inter-sexual embrace following an animated orgy, in which
those members of both tribes standing in the general relationship of
husband to wife take part.
The Dieri have a number of long cylindro-conical stones in their
possession which are supposed to temporarily contain the male element of
certain ancestral spirits now residing in the sky as their recognized
deities. These are on an average about fifteen inches long and an inch
and a half in diameter, circular in transverse section and pointed at
one end. The old men have these phallus in their custody, and are very
unwilling to let them get out of their reach because they believe the
virility of the tribe is dependent upon the preservation of the stones.
Should one of them be accidentally lost, the mishap is calculated as
little short of disastrous; should a stranger find the object, the
old men maintain that evil will come to him, and if he keeps it he
will die. The stone is used principally during religious ceremonies
connected with sex-worship, but it is also produced during some of the
initiation practices. After he has submitted to the “gruesome rite” in
his initiation, a novice is required to carry the stone, firmly pressing
it against his body with his arm, until he is overcome by the exhaustion
occasioned by the painful ordeal. By so doing, the young fellow’s virile
powers are supposed to receive considerable stimulation through the
agency of the phallus he carries. The object drops into the sand beside
him; and, when he recovers, he returns to the men’s camp without it. Two
of the old men thereupon track the lad’s outward course and recover their
sacred stone to take it back to a place of safety.
The tribes inhabiting the great stony plains of central Australia
and those adjoining them, and also the Victoria Desert tribes, are
occasionally in possession of nodular ironstone and concretionary
sandstone formations, of the “natural freak” kind, which simulate
the _membrum virile_ to a marked degree. These are believed to have
been left them by a deified ancestor and are kept by the old men as a
sacred legacy; they answer in every way the purpose of an artificially
constructed phallus.
Closely allied to the phallic significance given to natural pillars of
rock and smaller imitative specimens, is the idea that natural clefts
in the earth represent a female character. Killalpaninna is the name
of a small lake lying about fifty miles east of Lake Eyre in central
Australia, it being the contracted form of the two words, “_killa_” and
“_wulpanna_,” which stand for that typical of woman. It is the conviction
of the Dieri tribe that when a person, especially one stricken with
senility or enfeebled by sickness, at a certain hour passes from the
water of the lake into the open, and is not seen doing so by the women,
he is re-born and rejuvenated, or at any rate cured of his decrepitness.
In this sense Killa-Wulpanna has from time immemorial been an aboriginal
Mecca, to which pilgrims have found their way from far and wide to seek
remedy and solace at the great matronal chasm which has such divine
powers to impart. This fact is of particular interest, since a native,
generally speaking, is superstitious about entering any strange water,
and does so very reluctantly, thinking that, by doing so, the evil spirit
will foist disease upon him through the medium of the water.
A singular stone exists in Ellery Creek, a short distance south of the
MacDonnell Ranges, which is called “_Arrolmolbma_.” It was at this place
that a tribal ancestor, named “_Rukkutta_,” a long time ago met a young
gin, “_Indorida_,” and captured her. The stone at the present time shows
a cleft and two depressions which are supposed to be the knee-marks
of Rukkutta. On account of the intimacy which took place, the stone
is believed to be teeming with rattappa, which entered by the cleft.
The ancient Arunndta men used to make this stone the object of special
veneration, and during the sacred ceremonies which took place at the
spot, they used to produce carved slabs of stone they called “_Altjerra
Kutta_” (i.e. the Supreme Spirit’s Stone or Tjuringa). These inspirited
slabs of stone, being of the two sexes, were allowed to repeat the
indulgent act of Rukkutta and Indorida, while the natives themselves
rubbed red ochre over the sacred stone of Arrolmolba, and engaged in
devotion. The act of rubbing red ochre over the surface of the stone
was supposed to incite the sexual instinct of the men and to vivify the
virile principle of the tribe. By this performance the men believed
they took from the pregnant rock the embryonic rattappa which in the
invisible form entered the wombs of the gins and subsequently came to
the world as the young representatives of the tribe they called “_kadji
kurreka_.”
Among the cave drawings of Australia, designs are here and there met with
depicting scenes from ceremonies having to do with phallicism and other
sex-worship. In the picture reproduced from the Pigeon Hole district on
the Victoria River (Fig. 9), one notices a man of the Kukadja type who
was named “_Mongarrapungja_” in the act of dancing around a sacred fire
with an ancestral female. The organ of the Kukadja, it will be observed,
passes into the flame, whence a column of smoke is rising to find its
way to the body of a gin which is drawn in outline above the dancers.
Here we have the representation of a traditional ceremony associating the
Kukadja’s phallus with the impregnating medium supplied by fire, which,
we have already learned, may be looked for in the column of smoke.
[Illustration: _PLATE XXXVII_
The sacred “_Etominja_,” Arunndta tribe.
“If, peradventure, an unauthorized person happens upon the sanctified
place, he is killed and buried immediately beneath the spot occupied by
the design; ...”]
The Australian tribes, without exception, believe in the existence of an
evil spirit, or Demogorgon, who prowls their camps at night. It is on
this account that natives are loth to leave the glare of the camp-fire,
fearing they might be caught and injured by the spirit. In reality, they
picture this fellow much as we do a ghost. Ordinarily he is invisible,
and during the day haunts the graves of the dead tribesmen. At nightfall
he opens the grave and walks about under cover of the dead man’s
skeleton; the natives often imagine they can hear the bones rattling as
he passes near them; and they shudder with fear. It is on this account
that they imagine the spirit to be not brown like themselves, but white,
the colour of bone. If he catches anybody roaming alone, he will bite his
victim in the abdomen and the latter perceives an unpleasant feeling or
pain in that region. So far as one can ascertain, the symptoms of this
damage are those of an acute attack of dyspepsia. The Arunndta call this
ghost “_Iltdana_.”
[Illustration: Fig. 9. Charcoal drawing of a Kukadja man named
“_Mongarrapungja_” dancing at a sacred fire with an ancestral female,
Pigeon Hole, Victoria River (× 1/3). Tracing.]
There is another evil creature which is at large after dark; it is known
by the Arunndta as “_Erinnja_.” It is supposed to have fleshy parts, a
tail, and large projecting teeth; it runs like a dog, and possesses only
one large toe on each foot. If it catches anybody unawares, it will turn
the captive’s head back to front. The natives claim that this monster has
a predilection for opening people’s navels with a bone nose-stick. It
takes children from their mothers and ties them to trees for the great
mythical dogs to feed upon; for this reason the terrified mothers often
place meat outside their huts to appease Erinnja’s hunger. The Nangarri
or medicine men imagine they can detect the presence of the brute when it
is about, and they immediately exhort the people by informing them of the
impending mischief.
At times it is necessary to protect a person or party from likely harm
or witchcraft emanating from the supposed presence of an evil spirit.
It may be that a warrior is indisposed and is anticipating molestation,
or a number of men may wish to perform a sacred ceremony during which
the evil spirit may be thought an undesirable listener. The Nangarri or
medicine man alone has it in his power to exorcise the demon. And after
the surroundings have been clarified of all deterrent contamination,
he proceeds to mark off an area around the man or party concerned with
selected stones which he consecrates. This area, mostly oval or circular
in shape, remains a strict taboo to all beyond its confines, and is
believed to disenchant any morbid influence the evil spirit may bring to
bear upon it. If, in the former case, he wishes to further protect his
patient, he places some green gum leaves over the sufferer’s body. Vide
Plate XXXIX.
Although a spiritual Evil Being is feared more than a Good is revered,
the existence of the latter is faithfully admitted, so far as our
personal experience goes, by both the central and northern Australian
tribes; and such a belief has, moreover, been found by reliable observers
among the now practically extinct tribes of southern Australia.
According to the late Dr. A. W. Howitt, the natives of Victoria and New
South Wales used to speak with bated breath of a great Supernatural Being
which once inhabited the earth and now lives in the sky. The belief is
original and not in any way due to missionary influence. The oldest
myths, such as only the untaught and unsophisticated grey-beards can
tell, contain references to the existence on earth in ancestral times
of convivial beings, kindly disposed towards the people, who eventually
found their way to the sky by way of towering trees, since destroyed
by fire. The Supreme Being is called by the Arunndta “_Altjerra_,” by
the Fowler’s Bay natives “_Nyege_,” and by the Aluridja “_Tukura_.” The
benign Altjerra roams about the sky (“_Alkurra_”) and keeps a watchful
eye upon the doings of the tribes beneath him. The natives are so
convinced of his ubiquitous presence that the Arunndta, for instance,
have a favourite exclamation when committing themselves on oath in the
form of “_Altjerr’m arrum_,” meaning something like “_Altjerra_ hear it”;
that is, an appeal is made to Altjerra as witness to what is said, much
after the way a school child endeavours to convince one of the truth of
an utterance by exclaiming: “God strike me dead if I tell a lie.”
The etymology of the Supreme Being’s name is often really poetical. The
Sunday Islanders, for instance, recognize such a Super-Being whom they
call “_Kaleya Ngungu_.” This name embodies in it the ideas of the past as
well as of the future. “_Kaleya_” in that locality means the “finish” of
anything, or even “Good-bye,” while “ngung” stands for that which is to
come or is to be. The implication is that this Great Being has emerged
from the obscurity of bygone days and continues to live into the still
greater uncertainty of times ahead. From a religious point of view,
then, we note here a recognition of a spiritual quantity whose influence
has been exercised uninterruptedly from the earliest past, and will be
continued again, and forever.
So, too, the name of the Aluridja God, “_Tukura_,” is composed of two
words expressing the ideas of genesis and eternity. In the same sense,
the Arunndta regard their demi-gods, or “_Altjerrajarra namitjimma_,” as
being the creators of life, although as such they themselves continue
to live uninterruptedly and _ad infinitum_. And we have already noted
that they roam for ever in the great celestial “walk-about,” which is
known as “_Altjerringa_” by the Arunndta, “_Talleri_” by the Kukata, and
“_Wirrewarra_” by the Narrinyerri.
To this consummate home all spirits of the dead find their way and
there join their spirit ancestors. In fact, so many have gone to the
happy ground that most tribes look upon the stars as the camp-fires
and fire-sticks of their departed relatives and friends. It is on
this account that many stars have been named after notable tribesmen,
the natives imagining that they can discover the new addition in the
firmament after the deceased has been interred. Whenever a shooting star
is observed travelling towards the earth, it is taken to be the spirit of
one returning temporarily to its terrestrial haunts.