The serpent, or snake, is one of the oldest and most widespread mythological symbols. The word is derived from Latin serpens, a crawling animal or snake. Snakes have been associated with some of the oldest rituals known to humankind and represent dual expression of good and evil.
In Aztec mythology, Malinalxochitl, or Malīnalxōch, was a sorceress and goddess of snakes, scorpions, and insects of the desert. She claimed the title Cihuacoatl, meaning "Woman Serpent" or "Snake Woman". Her brother was Huītzilōpōchtli. During the migration, she was abandoned during her sleep by the Mexicas as directed by her brother. Afterward she had a son named Copil with Chimalcuauhtli, king of Malinalco.
In Karajarri mythology, Ngariman is a quoll-man who killed the Bagadjimbiri, two dingo spirits and sons of Dilga, an earth goddess. In revenge, she drowned Ngariman with her milk by flooding the cavern where he killed her sons.
In Australian Aboriginal religion and mythology, Binbeal is the god of rainbows. He is a son of Bunjil.
In Murrinh-Patha mythology, Nogamain is a god who gives spirit children to mortal parents. He created himself from nothingness.
In the mythology of the Wunambal people of northwestern Australia, Ungud is a snake god who is sometimes male, sometimes female and sometimes androgynous. He is associated with rainbows by the fact Ungud may be an symbolic representation of rainbows and the fertility and erections of the tribe's shamans. In the beginning, when only the sky and the earth existed, Ungud lived underground as a giant python. Ungud is associated with earth and water and is credited with causing rain to fall and also has connections with monsoons. At night, Ungud and Wallanganda, the sky deity, created living beings through their dreams. The Mother Goddess Kunapipi who is also at times is called the Old Woman is connected to Ungud. The Rainbow Serpent made paths for her to walk around creation. Both The mother goddess and Rainbow serpent are the embodiment of creative powers that live within the earth. Through Ungud Dreaming itself into new forms natural species making it part of what life is based on becoming an archetype of life.
The Wawalag sisters, also written as WauwalukWawilakWaggilak, Wagilag, or Wawalik, are ancestral creator beings whose story is part of widespread sacred rituals in the Aboriginal culture from Arnhem land, Northern Territory, Australia.
The Rainbow Serpent or Rainbow Snake is a common deity often seen as the creator God, known by numerous names in different Australian Aboriginal languages by the many different Aboriginal peoples. It is a common motif in the art and religion of many Aboriginal Australian peoples. Much like the archetypal mother goddess, the Rainbow Serpent creates land and diversity for the Aboriginal people, but when disturbed can bring great chaos.
Dragons play a significant role in Greek mythology. Though the Greek drakōn often differs from the modern Western conception of a dragon, it is both the etymological origin of the modern term and the source of many surviving Indo-European myths and legends about dragons.
Catherine Helen Berndt, néeWebb was a New Zealand-born Australian anthropologist known for her research in Australia and Papua New Guinea conducted jointly with her husband, Ronald Berndt.
A cosmic ocean, primordial waters, or celestial river is a mythological motif that represents the world or cosmos enveloped by a vast primordial ocean. Found in many cultures and civilizations, the cosmic ocean exists before the creation of the Earth. From the primordial waters the Earth and the entire cosmos arose. The cosmic ocean represents or embodies chaos.
In the anthropological study of kinship, a moiety is a descent group that coexists with only one other descent group within a society. In such cases, the community usually has unilineal descent so that any individual belongs to one of the two moiety groups by birth, and all marriages take place between members of opposite moieties. It is an exogamous clan system with only two clans.
The Nyangumarta people, also written Njaŋumada, Njangamada, Njanjamarta and other variations, are a nation of Aboriginal Australians from the northwestern coast of Western Australia. According to Norman Tindale, they are divided into two distinct branches, the Kundal and the Iparuka.
In Greek mythology, Moria was a Naiad nymph dwelling by the river Hermus. She was the sister of Tylus.
William Henry Burgess Piddington was an Australian politician and a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for six years.
In mythology of Andean civilizations of South America, the amaru or katari (aymara) is a mythical serpent or dragon. In Inca mythology, Amaru is a huge double-headed serpent that dwells underground, at the bottom of lakes and rivers. Illustrated with the heads of a bird and a puma, Amaru can be seen emerging from a central element in the center of a stepped mountain or pyramid motif in the Gateway of the Sun at Tiwanaku, Bolivia. When illustrated on religious vessels, amaru is often seen with bird-like feet and wings, so that it resembles a dragon. Amaru is believed to be capable of transcending boundaries to and from the spiritual realm of the subterranean world.
The Karajarri are an Aboriginal Australian people, who live south-west of the Kimberleys in the northern Pilbara region, predominantly between the coastal area and the Great Sandy Desert. They now mostly reside at Bidyadanga, south of Broome. To their north live the Yawuru people, to the east the Mangala, to the northeast the Nyigina, and to their south the Nyangumarta. Further down the coast are the Kariera.
The Brewarrina Riot occurred on 15 August 1987 in Brewarrina, New South Wales. It was a significant event in Aboriginal history and race relations in Australia, as well as having continuing legal impact for years afterwards.
Malinowski: Odyssey of an Anthropologist, 1884–1920 is a 2004 book about the early career of Polish-British anthropologist Bronisław Malinowski, written by Michael W. Young and published by Yale University Press. The book is described as Volume I as the author plans to publish a second volume in the future.
