IDNO

LS.109113.TC1

Description

On Catalogue Card: "Australia. Arunta.
Totemic ceremonies. Closing the Sun Ceremony.
Ceremony of Atnitta ulpailima.
Touching the stomach atnitta of the men with some object used during the ceremony. In this case the sun disc which is for the time being Churinga or sacred. This method of closing a sacred ceremony is char. of the Arunta." [first manuscript in ink]
"North. T.C.A. fig. 49. p. 184." [second manuscript in ink]

On Catalogue Card for duplicate print P.380.ACH1: "Close of sun ceremony, Arunta. North. T.C.A. fig.49."

Group of Aranda (Arunta) men participating in the closing ceremony of the sun totem. Both performers are decorated with designs of down extending from the face down to the abdomen. Other man, wearing full beards and moustaches are standing or sitting 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

Arunta

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

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]

Publication: Image published in Baldwin Spencer, W. and F. J. Gillen, 1904. The northern tribes of central Australia. (London), p. 186, fig. 49 with the following caption:
"Ceremony of Atnitta Ulpailima. Touching the staomachs of the men with some object used during the performance." [WV 9/2/2009]

Context: The closing of the sacred ceremony concerned with the sun totem is described as follows in Baldwin Spencer and Gillen:
"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]