churinga

STONE CHURINGA FROM CENTRAL AUSTRALIA. No.15998.
Churings is the name given by some Aboriginal tribes to certain sacred objects, which on penalty of death, or very severe punishment are never allowed to be seen by nomen or uninitiated men. Part of the following myth of Winbaraku, is depicted on this churinga. During the whole of the creation period, the earth around the hill of Winbaraku remained a huge featureless plain. It was orfly after the close of the creation period, when all the totemic beings had died, that the topographical features - trees and other parts of the present countryside, rose out of the ground where the totemic beings had performed some task. The mythical beings created at Winbaraku were JUKALPI the hare vallaby, MALATJI the wild dog, MAMU BOIJUNDA, the barking spider, WANBANBIRIS the wood gall people, LATALPA the snake, JARAPIRI the blind snake and other animals.

As time went on, the totemic creatures of Winbaraku, leaving their individual dancing grounds, assembled on an open plain to the north-east of Winbaraku, to perform their ceremonies together. But the participants of the ceremonies found this arrangement unsatisfactory,because the blind snake JARAPIRI who could not be persuaded to return to this camp, was always getting under their feet. This interference so disorganised the rituals, that the totemic creatures sneaked away from Winbarakus leavingi Jarapiri behind, who then tumed into a boulder.

Note: The sacred hill of Winbaraku is situated approximately 250 Miles west of Alice Springs in the Gibson desert. Interpretation of dessign: depicts the track of the hare-wallabies. The concentric squares represent the Waningi or ceremoniel head-dress. Design represents the tracks of the Malatji wild dogs. The parallel u-shaped design represents dogs sitting. The double meandering lines are the tracks of the Latalpa women. The dotted lines represents the tracks of the wood-gall men. The small concentric circles represent the Wanbanbiri people. The straight parallel lines represent the body decorations during the ceremony. The concentric circles next to the concentric sqaures represent the breasts of the dog-women, the very large concentric cirle represents the camp of the Malatji doge. The second largest concentric cirles depict Waturjara soakage, where the Jarapiri party performed a ceremony. (letter from Lausser to the Ethnographic Museum, Stockholm 1974)