IDNO

LS.109130.TC1

Description

On Catalogue Card: "Australia. Arunta.
Intichiuma Ceremony of Water Totem.
Rainmaker quivering & waving arms." [first manuscript in ink]
"Nat. T.C.A. p.192." [second manuscript in ink]

On Catalogue Card for duplicate print P.352.ACH1: "Rainmaker quivering, throwing and waving arms. Arunta. North T.C.A. p.192."

Portrait of a standing Aranda (Arunta) man, of the quatcha? (water totem). He is painted with red and yellow ochre and pipeclay, and wearing bunches of eagle-hawk feathers on the crown and sides of the head. A number of men are sitting in the background on the ground. The landscape in the background consists of trees. [WV 4/2/2009]

Place

Oceania Australasia; Australia; Central Australia

Cultural Affliation

Aranda [also known as Arunta; Arrarnta; Arrarnte; Arunda]

Named Person

Photographer

Baldwin Spencer, Walter; or Gillen, Francis James

Collector / Expedition

Baldwin Spencer, Walter; Gillen, Francis James

Date

1894 - 1926

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]

Date: It is not clear when exactly this photograph was taken. It was taken during Walter Baldwin Spencer’s expeditions starting in 1894 and ending in 1926. This is how he summarises his research trips:
"In 1894, as Zoologist on the Horn Expedition, I had the opportunity of seeing not only the Lake Amadeus region but the whole of the country drained by the great Finke River, including the wonderful McDonnell Ranges. It was then that I met Mr. F. J. Gillen, my late friend and comrade during many years of work amongst the Central aborigines. In 1895, in company with Mr. P.M. Byrne, then in charge of the telegraph station at Charlotte Waters, I had the good fortune of being able to see the southern part of the interior after a heavy rainfall. This enabled me to study the animal life of a very typical part of Central Australia in a way that it was impossible to do during the dry season that we experienced on the Horn Expedition. In 1896, 1897, and 1898 Mr. Gilled and myself were working amongst the Arunta at Alice Springs and the Urabunna tribe in the Lake Eyre district. Later on, still working amongst the natives, we spent a year, extending from March 1901 to March 1902, in a traverse of the continent from Oodnadatta to Powell Creek and then across, eastwards, to Borraloola at the mouth of the Macarthur River, on the Gulf of Carpentaria. In 1911 I was the leader of a small expedition sent by the Commonwealth Government to make preliminary scientific investigations into conditions in the Northern Territory, and traversed the country from Darwin southwards and then eastwards along the Roper River to the Gulf of Carpentaria. In December 1911, at the request of the Commonwealth Government, I returned for a year to the Territory as Special Commissioner and Chief Protector of Aborigines, which gave me the opportunity of seeing much of the country and of studying the natives under very favourable conditions. In 1923, in company with Dr. L. Keith Ward, the Government Geologist of South Australia, I had the opportunity of traversing again a considerable area of the Macdonnell Ranges, and finally, in 1926, visited Alice Springs in order to revise and extend the earlier work of Mr. Gillen and myself amongst the Arunta people." [WV 16/2/2009]

Context: The rain-making ceremony performed by the members of the water totem during the Intichiuma ceremony is described by Baldwin Spencer and Gillen as follows:
"INTICHIUMA OF THE QUATCHA OR WATER TOTEM
In connection with the making of rain there are certain ceremonies, some of which are not of the nature of sacred Quabara, and take the form of ordinary dancing festivals which any member of the tribe, men and women alike, irrespective of class or totem, are permitted to see; but there is in addition to these a special and sacred ceremony, only shared in by the initiated men of the totem, and this is the Intichiuma.
As in the case of the kangaroo totem the majority of the members of the water totem belong to the Purula and Kumara. To them the secret of rain-making was imparted in the Alcheringa by an individual named Irtchwoanga, who also settled upon the exact places at which the ceremony should be performed. One of the most important of the water totem groups is a local subdivision of the Arunta people, inhabiting a district of about fifty miles to the east of Alice Springs, this part being known as Kartwia quatcha, or the "rain country." The Alatunja of this group at the present time is a celebrated rain-maker, and the ceremony which is described below is the one which is performed by him. The office of Alatunja, or as it is called in these eastern groups "Chantchwa," descended to him from his father, who died recently, and the fact that he is now the head man, and not his elder brother, illustrates an interesting point in regard to the inheritance of the office of Alatunja in the Arunta tribe. The office has, in fact, descended to him, and not to his elder brother, for the simple reason that he was born a water man, while the woman who is the mother of both of them conceived the elder one in an opossum locality. The latter man is therefore the reincarnation of an Alcheringa opossum individual, and so it is of course impossible for him to be the head of a water group. If the old Alatunja had had no son of the right totem then the office would have descended to one of his blood brothers—always provided of course that he were of the right totem—and failing such a one, to some tribal brother or son of the water totem as determined upon by the elder men, or, more probably still, by the old Alatunja before his death. As soon as the Chantchwa has decided to hold the ceremony he sends out messengers, called Inwurra, to the surrounding groups, to inform them of his intention, and to call the members of the totem together. In addition to the latter other men are invited to come, though they will not be allowed to take any part in the actual Intichiuma ceremony. Each messenger carries in this instance a human hair girdle, a bunch of black cockatoo tail feathers and a hollow nose bone stopped at one end with a plug made of the resin obtained from the porcupine-grass, and ornamented at the other with a small bunch of owl feathers. These objects are the property of the Chantchwa, and to refuse to attend to the request of a messenger thus accredited would be considered a grave discourtesy, and the person committing such an offence would be spoken of as irquantha, that is churlish.
When all are assembled, those who are to take part in the ceremony, that is the men of the totem, march into camp, painted with red and yellow ochre and pipeclay, and wearing bunches of eagle-hawk feathers on the crown and sides of the head. At a signal from the Chantchwa all sit down in a line, and with arms folded across their breasts sing the following words for some time :—" Ulgaranti alkwarai lathrik alkwaranti ulgaraa-a." Suddenly, at another signal from the Chantchwa, all jump to their feet and silently march out of the camp They walk in single file, and camp for the night at a spot some miles away. At daybreak they scatter in all directions in search of game, which is cooked and eaten, but on no account must any water be drunk, or the ceremony would fail. When they have eaten they again paint themselves, this time broad white bands of bird's down being fixed on as usual with human blood, so that they encircle the stomach, legs, arms, and forehead. Some of the older Purula and Kumara men have meanwhile been building a special bough wurley or hut, which is called nalyilta at a spot not far distant from the main camp, where all the women and those men who are not taking part in the ceremony have remained behind. The floor of the hut is strewn with a thick layer of gum leaves to make it as soft as possible, as a considerable time has to be spent lying down here. When the decorating is complete, the men march back, silently and in single file, to where the wurley has been built; this always takes place about sunset, and on reaching the hut the young-men go in first and lie face downwards at the inner end, where they have to remain until the ceremony is over. Meanwhile, outside the wurley, some of the older men are engaged in decorating the Chantchwa. Hair girdles covered with white down are placed all over the head; while the cheeks and forehead are covered with pipeclay and two broad bands of white down pass across the face, one over the eyebrows and the other over the nose. The front of the body has a broad band of pipeclay outlined with white down, rings of which adorn the arms. When fully decorated the Chantchwa takes up a position close to the opening into the wurley, from which extends, for thirty yards, a shallow trench. The old men, who sit around him, now begin to sing, and continue to do so for some time, the following words:—
"Illunga ilartwina unalla
Illunga kau-wu lungalla
Partini yert arlnuri elt artnuri
Yerra alt nannura alla
Partinia yarraa all nannurai
Yerra alia partinia atnartnurai
Yokaa wau wai."
When the singing comes to an end the Chantchwa comes out of the wurley and walks slowly twice up and down the trench, while he quivers his body and legs in the most extra- ordinary way—far more than is customary in other ceremonies in many of which a quivering movement is a characteristic feature. While this performance is taking place the young men arise and join the old men in singing—
"Purlaarau kurlaa
Rumpaa am
Umpaakunla karla
Rumpaa arri
Paakur tai,"
the Chantchwa’s movements appearing to accord with the singing. When he re-enters the wurley the young men at once lie down again – in fact they are always in this position while the Chantchwa is in the wurley. The same performance is repeated at intervals during the night, the singing continuing with but little intermission, until, just at daybreak, the Chantchwa executes a final quiver, which lasts longer than usual, and at the end of which he appears to be thoroughly exhausted, the physical strain of the performance having been, as can be well imagined, of a severe nature. He then declares the ceremony to be at an end, and at one the young men jump to their feet and rush out of the wurley, screaming in imitation of the spur-winged plover. The cry is heard in the main camp, and is taken up with weird effect by the men and women who have remained there. The decorations of the Chatchwa are removed, and then all march, led by him, to a spot just within sight of the main camp, where an old Purula or Kumara woman has cleared a large space and then covered it with gum-tree leaves. Here they lie down for a short time and then go to the main camp, where food and water await them. The whole performance may last forty-eight hours, and on the next night one of the ordinary rain dances, as they are popularly called by white men, is held, in which all the men take part, either as performers or as audience. The women do not perform, but may look on an assist in singing and beating time to the dancing of the men." (Baldwin Spencer, W., and F.J. Gillen, 1899. The Native Tribes of Central Australia, (MacMillan and Co. Ltd., London), p. 189-193) [WV 4/2/2009]