IDNO

LS.109112.TC1

Description

On Catalogue Card: "Australia. Arunta.
Ceremony of the Sun Totem.
The Unjiamba man carries in his hand a small nurtunja/ sacred pole representing the Hakea plant.
The second man carries a small disc of the central patch = the novel of the original sun ancestor, the radiating lines being the sun’s rays." [first manuscript in ink]
"North. T.C.A. fig. 48. p. 182." [second manuscript in ink]

On Catalogue Card for On Catalogue Card: "Ceremony of sun-totem, Arunta. North. T.C.A. p.182, fig.48."

Group of Aranda (Arunta) men participating in the ceremony of the sun totem. One of the performers, represents the Unjiamba. He carries a small nurtunja (sacred pole) representing the plant and having the form of a bar about four feet long and four inches in a diameter, made of grass stalks tied round with human hair-string and decorated with longitudinal lines of white down. This is carried horizontally, attached to a headdress made in the usual way and ornamented with a design of down continued below on to the man’s face. The second man who represents the sun ancestor, carries a small disc about one foot in diameter, made of grass stalks and hair-string and entirely covered with down. A central patch represents the navel of the original sun ancestor, and radiating out from this are alternating lines of red and white down representing the sun’s rays. The performers, like the first man, belongs to the Hakea plant totem, his sacred name being Alej-me-akka, the name given to the head of the flowers of the Hakea. Both performers are decorated with white down extending from the face down to the abdomen and kneel close together on the ground. Seven man, wearing full beards and moustaches are dancing around the performers.
The landscape in the background consists of grasses and small trees. [WV 9/2/2009]: "Ceremony of sun-totem, Arunta. North. T.C.A. p.182, fig.48."

Group of Aranda (Arunta) men participating in the ceremony of the sun totem. One of the performers, represents the Unjiamba. He carries a small nurtunja (sacred pole) representing the plant and having the form of a bar about four feet long and four inches in a diameter, made of grass stalks tied round with human hair-string and decorated with longitudinal lines of white down. This is carried horizontally, attached to a headdress made in the usual way and ornamented with a design of down continued below on to the man’s face. The second man who represents the sun ancestor, carries a small disc about one foot in diameter, made of grass stalks and hair-string and entirely covered with down. A central patch represents the navel of the original sun ancestor, and radiating out from this are alternating lines of red and white down representing the sun’s rays. The performers, like the first man, belongs to the Hakea plant totem, his sacred name being Alej-me-akka, the name given to the head of the flowers of the Hakea. Both performers are decorated with white down extending from the face down to the abdomen and kneel close together on the ground. Seven man, wearing full beards and moustaches are dancing around the performers.
The landscape in the background consists of grasses and small trees. [WV 9/2/2009]

Place

Oceania Australasia; Australia; Central Australia

Cultural Affliation

Aranda [also known as Arunta; Arrarnta; Arrarnte; Arunda]; Warlpiri [language group]

Named Person

Photographer

Baldwin Spencer, Walter; or Gillen, Francis James

Collector / Expedition

Northern Tribes of Central Australia fieldwork by Baldwin Spencer, Walter and Gillen, Francis James [March 1901 - March 1902]

Date

March 1901 - March 1902

Collection Name

Teaching Slide CollectionHaddon Unmounted Collection

Source

?Haddon, Alfred Cort (Dr)

Format

Lantern Slide Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information

Publication: Image published in Baldwin Spencer, W. and F. J. Gillen, 1904. The northern tribes of central Australia. (London), p. 185, fig. 48 with the following caption:
"Performance of a sacred ceremony of the sun totem. Arunta tribe." [WV 9/2/2009]

Photographer: Note in Baldwin Spencer, W. and F. J. Gillen, 1927, p. xiii states all photos were taken by the authors. [WV 23/1/2009]

Bibliographical Reference: The ceremony concerned with the sun totem is described as follows in Baldwin Spencer:
"The ceremony concerned with the sun totem was performed in a slightly different manner from those described above, but in a way very characteristic of many Arunta ceremonies. There were two performers - one representing an Unjiamba and the other a sun ancestor. The reason for this was that, in the Alcheringa the sun, who was a woman named Okerka, arose first of all at a spot called Urapaila, in the country of the Unjiamba (Hakea flower) people. The Unjiamba man carried a small nurtunja (sacred pole) representing the plant and having the form of a bar about four feet long and four inches in a diameter, made of grass stalks tied round with human hair-string and decorated with longitudinal lines of white down. This was carried horizontally, attached to a head-dress made in the usual way and ornamented with a design of down continued below on to the man’s face. The second man carried a small disc about one foot in diameter, made of grass stalks and hair-string and entirely covered with down. A central patch represented the navel of the original sun ancestor, and radiating out from this were alternating lines of red and white down representing the sun’s rays (Fig. 48). The performer, like the first man, belonged to the Hakea plant totem, his sacred name being Alej-me-akka, the name given to the head of the flowers of the Hakea, from which a very favourite drink of the natives is made by steeping them in water. Both performers knelt close together on the ground, as shown in the illustration, and then the other men who had been summoned came running up and circled round and round them, shouting Wah! wah! as they did so. Gradually they drew in closer and closer towards the performers, who swayed their bodies about from side to side, until at length the ceremony came to an end in a way very characteristic of the Arunta tribe, two men laying their hands upon the shoulders of the performers, whose movements then ceased. This method of closing the sacred ceremony, together with the subsequent touching the bodies of the older men with something which has been used in the performance, and is therefore, for the time being, Churinga, or sacred, are two features which distinguish the ceremonies of the Arunta from those of all other tribes (Figs. 49 and 50)." (Baldwin Spencer, W. and F. J. Gillen, 1904. The northern tribes of central Australia. (London), p. 182-184). [WV 9/2/2009]

Cultural Group: The group photographed have been identified as belonging to the Warlpiri language group by Joe Neparrnga Gumbula, Arnhem Land. [JD 10/7/2012]