Tjurunga

Last updated

A Tjurunga, also spelt Churinga and Tjuringa, is an object considered to be of religious significance by Central Australian Aboriginal people of the Arrernte (Aranda, Arunta) groups. The word derives from the Arrernte word Tywerenge which means sacred or precious. Tjurunga often had a wide and indeterminate native significance. They may be used variously in sacred ceremonies, as bullroarers, in sacred ground paintings, in ceremonial poles, in ceremonial headgear, in sacred chants and in sacred earth mounds. [1]

Contents

Meaning

Generally speaking, tjurunga denote sacred stone or wooden objects possessed by private or group owners together with the legends, chants, and ceremonies associated with them. They were present among the Arrernte, the Luritja, the Kaitish, the Unmatjera, and the Illpirra. These items are most commonly oblong pieces of polished stone or wood. Some of these items have hair or string strung through them and were named "bull roarers" by Europeans. Upon each tjurunga is a totem of the group to which it belongs. Tjurunga are highly sacred, in fact, they are considered so sacred that only a few are able to see them and likewise it is considered sacrilegious to publish a picture of them. Durkheim suggests that the name "churinga" is normally a noun, but can also be used as an adjective meaning "sacred".

The term Tjurunga was translated by Carl Strehlow to mean something similar to secret and personal. Tju means "hidden" or "secret", and runga means "that which is personal to me". [2] Kempe argued against this translation and suggested that Tju means "great", "powerful", or "sacred" and that runga did not translate into personal ownership.

Ownership

The ownership of sacred tjurunga amongst the Arrernte groups was determined largely by "the conception site" of every individual member of a patrilineal totemic clan. Because these relics are considered sacred, their availability is limited to a small number of people. During the early 20th century and before, only initiated males were able to see or touch these sacred objects. Women and uninitiated males were not allowed to touch them or see them, except from a far distance. The tjurunga were kept separately from the rest of the clan in a sacred location that was also unavailable to the uninitiated and women.

While some theorists, such as Strehlow, have suggested these relics are amongst the very few forms of property which may be owned legitimately by individual persons in Central Australia, Durkheim and Kempe contend that the tjurunga cannot be owned by an individual. For example, Durkheim writes, "As concerns the meaning of the word runga, that seems very doubtful. The ceremonies of the Emu belong to all the members of the Emu clan; all can participate in them; they are not the personal property of any member." [3]

In recent decades there have been moves to repatriate these sacred objects from museum collections back to their traditional owners. [4]

Religious aspects

In many myths the ancestors themselves are said to have used them and stored them away as their most treasured possessions. Such myths emphasise the life-holding magical properties of these tjurungas. The ancestor regarded his tjurunga as portions of his own being; and is always worried that strangers might come and rob him of the very essence of his life. Accordingly, legends abound with stories of theft and robbery, and the very fierce vengeance exacted. Tjuringa were thought to have magical properties. They would be rubbed on the body to confer sacredness onto the subject and to do things such as heal wounds. While tjuringa were useful to the individual, the clan's collective fate was also considered to be tied up with the items. After all, it was the totemic image that provided representation for the group on the tjuringa.

The acquisition of sufficient knowledge leading to possession of personal tjurunga was long, difficult and sometimes extremely painful. Practices differed amongst the various groups. Ted Strehlow describes how the men from the Northern, Southern and Western Arrernte groups were put on probation for several years after their last initiations.

Ceremonial significance

The tjurunga were visible embodiments of some part of the fertility of the great ancestor of the totem in question. The body of the ancestor merely undergoes a transmutation into something that will weather all the assaults of time, change and decay. Stone tjurunga were thought to have been made by the ancestors themselves. The wooden tjurunga made by the old men are symbolical of the actual tjurunga which "cannot be found". These "man-made" tjurunga were accepted without reservation as sacred objects.

At the time of receiving his tjurunga-body a young man may be twenty-five years of age. He will often be thirty-five or forty years of age before the most sacred chants and ceremonies that are linked with it have passed into his possession. As he grows older and continues to demonstrate his worthiness, he receives an ever-increasing share in the tjurunga owned by his own totemic clan. Eventually he may become a member of the assembly of senior Lawmen who are honoured trustees for the ancient traditions of the whole clan.

In 1933, Strehlow noted that after the advent of white men to Central Australia, the young men employed by the foreign intruders were watched very closely by the old men of their group. In many cases, unless the young men were outstandingly generous in their gifts towards their elders, no ceremonies or chants of power and importance were handed on to this unworthy younger generation. With the death of the old men such chants and ceremonies passed into oblivion.

Influence on Aboriginal art

Early Papunya artists like Kaapa Mbitjana Tjampitjinpa and Anatjari Tjakamarra show tjurunga in their paintings. [5] [6] Other early Papunya artists transferred the same symbols and designs found on tjurunga onto painted canvas and board. These early paintings contained the same secret sacred knowledge as found on tjurunga incised boards and stones. This practice only lasted a short time before these secret sacred symbols were hidden by artist like Clifford Possum behind veils of dots. [7] Most of the symbols people associate with aboriginal art from this region like concentric circles, U shapes and wavy lines all come from earlier designs on tjurunga.

Acquisition of knowledge

The old men would carefully note a young man's conduct. He had to be respectful towards his elders; he had to be attentive to their advice in all things. He would know the value of silence in ceremonial matters; no account of his past experiences could be spoken within the hearing of women and children. His own marriage had to conform to the laws of the group. One day the old men, sitting in a circle, would call him in to sit down in their midst. They began to chant. One man told Strehlow:

The old men seized my hand. They all struck up the chant-verse:

With fierce eyes, with glowing eyes, they seize the thumb;
With fierce eyes, with glowing eyes, they rip off the nail.

An old man produced a sharp kangaroo bone (ntjala). He stabbed my thumb with it, pushed the bone deeply underneath the nail. He drew the point out; the rest kept up the chant. He thrust it under the nail in a different place. He gradually loosened the thumbnail. It was slippery with blood. I almost shrieked with pain; the torment was unbearable. I have not forgotten it: the pain was not slight; it was exceedingly great. When the nail had been loosened, he took a sharp opossum tooth, forced it into the living flesh through the base of the thumb-nail, and tore the nail off from behind. Blood spurted over his hand. The man chanted:

They rip off the nail, they tear off the nail;
Blood flows like a river, rushes along like a river.

Then they seized my left hand and removed the thumb-nail in like manner.

Nowadays we make a great concession to the young men in our group. We no longer tear off their finger-nails. The price is too high; we give the tjurunga to them at a much lower cost. Besides, the young men of the present generation are no longer hardy enough to endure such pain. [1]

Relationship to historical research

These sacred relics were of high interest to early European anthropologists and sociologists, who were studying the nature of totemic religion and the sacred. Scholars such as Spencer, Gillen, Strehlow, Kempe and Durkheim all studied tjurunga. Durkheim discusses the nature of tjurunga throughout his seminal work The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1912). He considered the tjurunga to be an archetype of the sacred item.[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Dreaming</span> Sacred era in Australian Aboriginal mythology

The Dreaming, also referred to as Dreamtime, is a term devised by early anthropologists to refer to a religio-cultural worldview attributed to Australian Aboriginal beliefs. It was originally used by Francis Gillen, quickly adopted by his colleague Baldwin Spencer and thereafter popularised by A. P. Elkin, who, however, later revised his views.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Totem</span> Emblem of a group of people

A totem is a spirit being, sacred object, or symbol that serves as an emblem of a group of people, such as a family, clan, lineage, or tribe, such as in the Anishinaabe clan system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hermannsburg, Northern Territory</span> Town in the Northern Territory, Australia

Hermannsburg, also known as Ntaria, is an Aboriginal community in Ljirapinta Ward of the MacDonnell Shire in the Northern Territory of Australia, 125 kilometres (78 mi); west southwest of Alice Springs, on the Finke River, in the traditional lands of the Western Arrarnta people.

Theodor George Henry Strehlow was an Australian anthropologist and linguist. He notably studied the Arrernte Aboriginal Australians and their language in Central Australia.

Carl Friedrich Theodor Strehlow was an anthropologist, linguist and genealogist who served on two Lutheran missions in remote parts of Australia from May 1892 to October 1922. He was at Killalpaninna Mission in northern South Australia, from 1892 to 1894, and then Hermannsburg, 80 miles (130 km) west of Alice Springs, from 1894 to 1922. Strehlow was assisted by his wife Friederike, who played a central role in reducing the high infant mortality which threatened Aboriginal communities all over Australia after the onset of white settlement.

Collective effervescence (CE) is a sociological concept coined by Émile Durkheim. According to Durkheim, a community or society may at times come together and simultaneously communicate the same thought and participate in the same action. Such an event then causes collective effervescence which excites individuals and serves to unify the group.

Papunya Tula, registered as Papunya Tula Artists Pty Ltd, is an artist cooperative formed in 1972 in Papunya, Northern Territory, owned and operated by Aboriginal people from the Western Desert of Australia. The group is known for its innovative work with the Western Desert Art Movement, popularly referred to as "dot painting". Credited with bringing contemporary Aboriginal art to world attention, its artists inspired many other Australian Aboriginal artists and styles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arrernte language</span> Dialect cluster of Central Australia

Arrernte or Aranda or sometimes referred to as Upper Arrernte, is a dialect cluster in the Arandic language group spoken in parts of the Northern Territory, Australia, by the Arrernte people. Other spelling variations are Arunta or Arrarnta, and all of the dialects have multiple other names.

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

The Arrerntepeople, sometimes referred to as the Aranda, Arunta or Arrarnta, are a group of Aboriginal Australian peoples who live in the Arrernte lands, at Mparntwe and surrounding areas of the Central Australia region of the Northern Territory. Many still speak one of the various Arrernte dialects. Some Arrernte live in other areas far from their homeland, including the major Australian cities and overseas.

In Australian Aboriginal religion and mythology, Ankotarinja is the first man, also called the Dreaming Man. His myth belonged to a small band of Arrernte people, known as the Ngala-Mbitjana people. They were heirs to Ankotarinja's exploits at the time of the Dreaming, performing his ceremonies and initiating their young iliara (novice) into his totemic lodge. They kept alive the memory of his world-creating endeavors. Ankotarinja's birthplace is a creek-bed near Ankota.

The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, published by the French sociologist Émile Durkheim in 1912, is a book that analyzes religion as a social phenomenon. Durkheim attributes the development of religion to the emotional security attained through communal living. His study of totemic societies in Australia led to a conclusion that the animal or plant that each clan worshipped as a sacred power was in fact that society itself. Halfway through the text, Durkheim asks, "So if [the totem animal] is at once the symbol of the god and of the society, is that not because the god and the society are only one?"

Ntaria Choir, formerly known as Ntaria Ladies Choir, Hermannsburg Ladies Choir, Hermannsburg Choir], and various other names, is a choir of Australian Aboriginal people from Hermannsburg in Central Australia. The members of the choir are Arrernte people from the area and they sing a mixture of English, Arrente, and Pitjantjatjara.

Moritz Freiherr von Leonhardi was a German anthropologist.

The Anmatyerr, also spelt Anmatyerre, Anmatjera, Anmatjirra, Amatjere and other variations) are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Northern Territory, who speak one of the Upper Arrernte languages.

The Honey Ant Dreaming was a mural painted in early 1971 from June to August by Pintupi tribesmen on the outer wall of the school where Geoffrey Bardon taught in Papunya, Northern Territory, Australia. The principal artist was Kaapa Tjampitjinpa who had the assistance of Billy Stockman and Long Jack Tjakamarra. In exchange, the tribesmen received paint from Bardon. This event marked a major turning point in the history of Australian Aboriginal art, and was particularly important in helping launch the Western Desert Art Movement.

Kaapa Mbitjana Tjampitjinpa was a contemporary Indigenous Australian artist of Anmatyerre, Warlpiri and Arrernte heritage. One of the earliest and most significant artists at Papunya in Australia's Northern Territory in the early 1970s, he was a founding member and inaugural chairman of the Papunya Tula artists company, and pivotal to the establishment of modern Indigenous Australian painting.

<i>Gulgardi</i> 1971 painting by Kaapa Tjampitjinpa

Gulgardi is a 1971 painting by Kaapa Mbitjana Tjampitjinpa, an Indigenous Australian artist from Papunya in Australia's Northern Territory. It is notable for being the first work by an Indigenous Australian artist to win a contemporary art award, and the first public recognition of a Papunya painting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luritja</span> Australian Aboriginal ethnic group of the Northern Territory

The Luritja or Loritja people, also known as Kukatja or Kukatja-Luritja, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Northern Territory. Their traditional lands are immediately west of the Derwent River, that forms a frontier with the Arrernte people, with their lands covering some 27,000 square kilometres (10,300 sq mi). Their language is the Luritja dialect, a Western Desert language.

The massacre of Running Waters was the killing of 80 to 100 Arrernte men, women and children of the Southern Aranda language group of Aboriginal Australians by a raiding party of 50 to 60 Matuntara warriors in 1875. The massacre took place at Irbmangkara, a permanent water stretch of the Finke River about 200 kilometres (120 mi) south-west of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory of Australia.

References

  1. 1 2 Strehlow, T.G.H. (1947). Aranda Traditions. Melbourne University Press. pp. 85–6.
  2. ↑ Lucien Lévy-Bruhl (1922). The Soul Of The Primitive. Translated by Clare, Lilian A. Tr. Unwin Brothers Limited. p.  188.
  3. ↑ Durkheim, Emile (1915). The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, trans. Karen Fields (1995 ed.). The Free Press. p. 119.
  4. ↑ Gibson, Jason (2020). Ceremony Men: Making Ethnography and the Return of the Strehlow Collection. SUNY Press. pp. 211–338.
  5. ↑ "Aboriginal Art of Anatjari Tjakamara Indigenous Australian Art". Aboriginal Bark Paintings. 9 October 2018. Retrieved 14 July 2021.
  6. ↑ "Kaapa Mbitjana Tjampitjinpa | sell Kaapa Mbitjana Tjampitjinpa| Karpa Mbitjana". Aboriginal Bark Paintings. 18 October 2018. Retrieved 14 July 2021.
  7. ↑ "Aboriginal art meaning | Meaning of Aboriginal art | Churinga | Tjuringa". Aboriginal Bark Paintings. 7 September 2019. Retrieved 14 July 2021.

Bibliography

Aboriginal readers from Central and Western Desert regions are respectfully advised that viewing or displaying images of sacred objects may be considered inappropriate by their communities.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.