Mar'rallang

Last updated

In the Australian Aboriginal religion and mythology of the Ngarrindjeri people, Mar'rallang was the name shared by twin sisters who lived together. They both married the same man.

Having heard of a young hunter by the name of Waiyungari, both Mar'rallang and her twin (also Mar'rallang) set out to meet him. While he is hunting game, the eldest of the sisters is hides in a bush and imitates the cry of a female emu. Attracted by the noise, the hunter discovers her laughing at him. A few days later, the younger sister plays the same trick. Falling under the charm of the two sisters, the hunter marries them against his uncle's advice. The uncle, upset, seeks advice from Nebalee, a wise man of heaven and brother of the Great Spirit. He is given the advice to separate his nephew from the two women.

To separate them, the man chooses to use the fire. One night, taking advantage of their sleep, he sets fire to their encampment. Awakened by noise and smoke, the young hunter and his wives quickly find themselves encircled and trapped by the flames. Seeing no escape, the hunter confides his spear to his wives and asks Nebalee to save the two Mar'rallang, making fun of his own fate. Nebalee replies by raising his spear (on which Mar'rallang and Mar'rallang were standing) towards the sky. The husband sees his wives disappear, but before he sinks into unconsciousness because of the smoke, he hears a voice say to him "take your place among the stars to remind people to think of others before thinking about oneself". [1]

It is not known which stars the narrative is attached to, but the hunter hero is associated with Mars. [1]

Sources

  1. 1 2 Stephen Robert Chadwick; Martin Paviour-Smith (November 2016). "The Love Story of Wy-Young-Gurrie". The Great Canoes in the Sky: Starlore and Astronomy of the South Pacific. Springer. p. 20-22. ISBN   978-3-3192-2623-1.

Bibliography

Alexander Wyclif Reed, Aboriginal Stories, Reed, 1994, 230 p. (ISBN 978-0-7301-0481-0), « The Husband and wives who became stars », p. 60 (en) David Unaipon, Legendary Tales of the Australian Aborigines, Melbourne University Press, 2001, 232 p. (ISBN 978-0-5228-4905-9), « Love Story of the Mar'Rallang », p. 74

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Altair</span> Brightest star in the constellation Aquila

Altair is the brightest star in the constellation of Aquila and the twelfth-brightest star in the night sky. It has the Bayer designation Alpha Aquilae, which is Latinised from α Aquilae and abbreviated Alpha Aql or α Aql. Altair is an A-type main-sequence star with an apparent visual magnitude of 0.77 and is one of the vertices of the Summer Triangle asterism; the other two vertices are marked by Deneb and Vega. It is located at a distance of 16.7 light-years from the Sun. Altair is currently in the G-cloud—a nearby interstellar cloud, an accumulation of gas and dust.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corona Australis</span> Constellation in the southern celestial hemisphere

Corona Australis is a constellation in the Southern Celestial Hemisphere. Its Latin name means "southern crown", and it is the southern counterpart of Corona Borealis, the northern crown. It is one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations. The Ancient Greeks saw Corona Australis as a wreath rather than a crown and associated it with Sagittarius or Centaurus. Other cultures have likened the pattern to a turtle, ostrich nest, a tent, or even a hut belonging to a rock hyrax.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pleiades</span> Open cluster in the constellation of Taurus

The Pleiades, also known as the Seven Sisters, Messier 45, and other names given by different cultures reflects an observed pattern formed by those stars, in an asterism of an open star cluster containing middle-aged, hot B-type stars in the northwest of the constellation Taurus. At a distance of about 444 light-years, it is among the nearest star clusters to Earth and the nearest Messier object to Earth, being the most obvious star cluster to the naked eye in the night sky. It is also observed to house the reflection nebula NGC 1432, an HII region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baralku</span>

Baralku, also written Burralku or Bralgu, is a place connected with creation ancestors in the mythology of the Yolngu people of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is referred to as island of the dead, and the place where the ancestors known as Djanggawul (Djan'kawu) originated, before travelling by canoe to Yalangbara, where they gave birth to the Rirratjingu clan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bunjil</span> Creator deity, culture hero and ancestral being in Australian Aboriginal mythology

Bunjil, also spelt Bundjil, is a creator deity, culture hero and ancestral being, often depicted as a wedge-tailed eagle in Australian Aboriginal mythology of some of the Aboriginal peoples of Victoria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yolngu</span> Aggregation of Indigenous Australian people in northeastern Arnhem Land

The Yolngu or Yolŋu are an aggregation of Aboriginal Australian people inhabiting north-eastern Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. Yolngu means "person" in the Yolŋu languages. The terms Murngin, Wulamba, Yalnumata, Murrgin and Yulangor were formerly used by some anthropologists for the Yolngu.

The Boonwurrung, also spelt Bunurong or Bun wurrung, are an Aboriginal people of the Kulin nation, who are the traditional owners of the land from the Werribee River to Wilsons Promontory in the Australian state of Victoria. Their territory includes part of what is now the city and suburbs of Melbourne. They were called the Western Port or Port Philip tribe by the early settlers, and were in alliance with other tribes in the Kulin nation, having particularly strong ties to the Wurundjeri people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Milky Way (mythology)</span> Mythological interpretations of the origin of the Milky Way

There are many myths and legends about the origin of the Milky Way, the crowd of stars that makes a distinctive bright streak across the night sky.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Big Dipper</span> Pattern of seven bright stars in the constellation Ursa Major

The Big Dipper or the plough is a large asterism consisting of seven bright stars of the constellation Ursa Major; six of them are of second magnitude and one, Megrez (δ), of third magnitude. Four define a "bowl" or "body" and three define a "handle" or "head". It is recognized as a distinct grouping in many cultures. The North Star (Polaris), the current northern pole star and the tip of the handle of the Little Dipper, can be located by extending an imaginary line through the front two stars of the asterism, Merak (β) and Dubhe (α). This makes it useful in celestial navigation.

<i>Ten Canoes</i> 2006 Australian film

Ten Canoes is a 2006 Australian historical drama/docudrama film directed by Rolf de Heer and Peter Djigirr and starring Crusoe Kurddal. The film is set in Arnhem Land in northern Australia, before Western influence, and tells the story of a group of ten men doing traditional hunting in canoes. A narrator tells the story, and the overall format is that of a moral tale.

<i>Bushy Hare</i> 1950 film directed by Robert McKimson

Bushy Hare is a 1950 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoon directed by Robert McKimson. The short was released on November 18, 1950, and stars Bugs Bunny.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dharawal</span> Australian Aboriginal people of southern and south western areas of Sydney

The Tharawal people and other variants, are an Aboriginal Australian people, identified by the Yuin language. Traditionally, they lived as hunter–fisher–gatherers in family groups or clans with ties of kinship, scattered along the coastal area of what is now the Sydney basin in New South Wales.

Australian Aboriginal astronomy has been passed down orally, through ceremonies, and in their artwork of many kinds. The astronomical systems passed down thus show a depth of understanding of the movement of celestial objects which allowed them to use them as a practical means for creating calendars and for navigating across the continent and waters of Australia. There is a diversity of astronomical traditions in Australia, each with its own particular expression of cosmology. However, there appear to be common themes and systems between the groups. Due to the long history of Australian Aboriginal astronomy, the Aboriginal peoples have been described as "world's first astronomers" on several occasions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gweagal</span> Aboriginal Australian clan

The Gweagal are a clan of the Dharawal people of Aboriginal Australians. Their descendants are traditional custodians of the southern areas of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pleiades in folklore and literature</span> Interpretations and traditional meanings of the star cluster among various human cultures

The high visibility of the star cluster Pleiades in the night sky and its position along the ecliptic has given it importance in many cultures, ancient and modern. Its heliacal rising, which moves through the seasons over millennia was nonetheless a date of folklore or ritual for various ancestral groups, so too its yearly heliacal setting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barnumbirr</span>

Barnumbirr, also known as Banumbirr or Morning Star, is a creator-spirit in the Yolngu culture of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia, who is identified as the planet Venus. In Yolngu Dreaming mythology, she is believed to have guided the first humans, the Djanggawul sisters, to Australia. After the Djanggawul sisters arrived safely near Yirrkala in North East Arnhem Land, Barnumbirr flew across the land from east to west, creating a songline which named and created the animals, plants, and geographical features.

The Wergaia or Werrigia people are an Aboriginal Australian group in the Mallee and Wimmera regions of north-Western Victoria, made up of a number of clans. The people were also known as the Maligundidj which means the people belonging to the mali (mallee) eucalypt bushland which covers much of their territory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yugambeh people</span> Group of Aboriginal Australian clans

The Yugambeh, also known as the Minyangbal, or Nganduwal, are an Aboriginal Australian people of South East Queensland and the Northern Rivers of New South Wales, their territory lies between the Logan and Tweed rivers. A term for an Aboriginal of the Yugambeh tribe is Mibunn, which is derived from the word for the Wedge-tailed Eagle. Historically, some anthropologists have erroneously referred to them as the Chepara, the term for a first-degree initiate. Archaeological evidence indicates Aboriginal people have occupied the area for tens of thousands of years. By the time European colonisation began, the Yugambeh had a complex network of groups, and kinship. The Yugambeh territory is subdivided among clan groups with each occupying a designated locality, each clan having certain rights and responsibilities in relation to their respective areas.

The Ngugi are an Aboriginal Australian people, one of three Quandamooka peoples, and the traditional inhabitants of Moreton Island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bardi people</span> Indigenous people of Western Australia

The Bardi people, also spelt Baada or Baardi and other variations, are an Aboriginal Australian people, living north of Broome and inhabiting parts of the Dampier Peninsula in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. They are ethnically close to the Jawi people, and several organisations refer to the Bardi Jawi grouping, such as the Bardi Jawi Niimidiman Aboriginal Corporation Registered Native Title Body and the Bardi Jawi Rangers.