whose loss would injure the group and the individuals severely. It has all sorts of marvellous properties : by contact it heals wounds, especially those resulting from circumcision;4 it has the same power over sickness;5 t is useful for making the beard grow ;6 it confers important powers over the totemic species, whose normal reproduction it ensures ;7 it gives men force, courage and perseverance, while, on the other hand, it depresses and weakens their enemies. This latter belief is so firmly rooted that when two combatants stand pitted against one another, if one sees that the other has brought churinga against him, he loses confidence and his defeat is certain.8 Thus there is no ritual instrument which has a more important place in the religious ceremonies.9 By means of various sorts of anoint-ings, their powers are communicated either to the officiants or to the assistants ; to bring this about, they are rubbed over the members and stomach of the faithful after being covered with grease ;10 or sometimes they are covered with a down which flies away and scatters itself in every direction when they are
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whirled ; this is a way of disseminating the virtues which are in them.1
But they are not useful merely to individuals ; the fate of the clan as a whole is bound up with theirs. Their loss is a disaster ; it is the greatest misfortune which can happen to the group.2 Sometimes they leave the ertnatulunga, for example when they are loaned to other groups.3 Then follows a veritable public mourning. For two weeks, the people of the totem weep and lament, covering their bodies with white clay just as they do when they have lost a relative.4 And the churinga are not left at the free disposition of everybody ; the ertnatulunga where they are kept is placed under the control of the chief of the group. It is true that each individual has special rights to some of them;5 yet, though he is their proprietor in a sense, he cannot make use of them except with the consent and under the direction of the chief. It is a collective treasury ; it is the sacred ark of the clan.6 The devotion of which they are the object shows the high price that is attached to them. The respect with which they are handled is shown by the solemnity of the movements.7 They are taken care of, they are greased, rubbed, polished, and when they are moved from one locality to another, it is in the midst of ceremonies which bear witness to the fact that this displacement is regarded as an act of the highest importance.8
Now in themselves, the churinga are objects of wood and stone like all others ; they are distinguished from profane things of the same sort by only one particularity : this is that the totemic
4 Nat. Tr., p. 248.
6Ibid., pp. 545 f. Strehlow, II, p. 79. For example, the dust detached by rubbing a churinga with a stone, when dissolved in water, forms a potion which restores health to sick persons. Nat. Tr., pp. 545 f. Strehlow (II, p. 79) contests this fact.
7For example, the churinga of the yarn totem, if placed in the soil, make the yams grow (Nor. Tr., p. 274). It has the same power over animals (Strehlow. П.рр. 76, 78; III, pp. 3, 7)
8Nat. Tr., p. 135 ; Strehlow, II, p. 79
9Nor. Tr.. p. 278.
10Ibid... p. 180.
1Nor. Tr., pp. 272 t.
2Nat. Tr., p. 135.
3One group borrows the churinga of another with the idea that these latter will communicate some of the virtues which are in tliem and that their presence will quicken the vitality of the individuals and of the group (Nat. Tr., pp. 158 fi.).
4Ibid., p. 136.
5Each individual is united by a particular bond to a special churinga which assures him his life, and also to those which he has received as a heritage from his parents.
6Nat. Tr., p. 154 ; Nor. Tr., p. 193. The churinga are so thoroughly collective that they take the place of the " message-sticks " with which the messengers of other tribes are provided, when they are sent to summon foreign groups to a ceremony (Nat. Tr., pp. 141 f.).
7Ibid., p. 326. It should be remarked that the bull-roarers are used in the same way (Mathews, Aboriginal Tribes of N.S. Wales and Victoria, in Jour. of Roy. Soc. of N.S. Wales, XXXVIII, pp. 307 f.).
8Nat. Tr., pp. i6l„259 fi.
mark is drawn or engraved upon them. So it is this mark and this alone which gives them their sacred character. It is true that according to Spencer and Gillen, the churinga serve as the residence of an ancestor's soul and that it is the presence of this soul which confers these properties.9 While
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declaring this interpretation inexact, Strehlow, in his turn, proposes-an other which does not differ materially from the other: be claims that the churinga are considered the image of the ancestor's body, or the body itself.1 So, in any case, it would be sentiments inspired by the ancestor which fix themselves upon the material object, and convert it into a sort of fetish. But in the first place, both conceptions,—which, by the way, scarcely differ except in the letter of the myth,—have obviously been made up afterwards, to account for the sacred character of the churinga. In the constitution of these pieces of wood and bits of stone, and in their external appearance, there is nothing which predestines them to be considered the seat of an ancestral soul, or the image of his body. So if men have imagined this myth, it was in order to explain the religious respect which these things inspired in them, and the respect was not determined by the myth. This explanation, like so many mythological explanations, resolves the question only by repeating it in slightly different terms ; for saying that the churinga is sacred and saying that it has such and such a relation with a sacred being, is merely to proclaim the same fact in two different ways ; it is not accounting for them. Moreover, according to the avowal of Spencer and Gillen, there are some churinga among the Arunta which are made by the old men of the group, to the knowledge of and before the eyes of all;2 these obviously do not come from the great ancestors. However, except for certain differences of degree, they have the same power as the others and are preserved in the same manner. Finally, there are whole tribes where the churinga is never associated with a spirit.3 Its religious nature comes to it, then, from some other source, and whence could it come, if not from the totemic stamp which it bears ? It is to this image, therefore, that the demonstrations of the rite are really addressed ; it is this which sanctifies the object upon which it is carved.
Among the Arunta and the neighbouring tribes, there are two other liturgical instruments closely connected with the totem
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and the churinga itself, which ordinarily enters into their composition : they are the nurtunja and the waninga.
The nurtunja,1 which is found among the northern Arunta and their immediate neighbours,2 is made up principally of a vertical support which is either a single lance, or several lances united into a bundle, or of a simple pole.3 Bunches of grass are fastened all around it by means of belts or little cords made of hair. Above this, down is placed, arranged either in circles or in parallel lines which run from the top to the bottom of the support. The top is decorated with the plumes of an eagle-hawk. This is only the most general and typical form ; in particular cases, it has all sorts of
9 Ibid., p. 138.
1Strehlow, I, Vorwort. in fine ; II, pp. 76, 77 and 82. For the Arunta, it is the body of the ancestor itself ; for the Loritja, it is only an image.
2When a child has just been born, the mother shows the father the spot where she believes that the soul of the ancestor entered her. The father, accompanied by a few relatives, goes to this spot and looks for the churinga which the ancestor ie believed to have left at the moment that he reincarnated himself. If it is found there, some old man of the group undoubtedly put it there (this is the hypothesis of Spencer and Gillen). If they do not find it, a new churinga is made in a determined manner (Nat. Tr., p. 132. Cf. Strehlow, II, p. So).
3This is the case among the Warramunga, the Urabunna, the Worgaia, the Umbaia, the Tjingilli and the Guangi (Nor. Tr., pp. 258, 275 f.). Then. say Spencer and Gillen, " they were regarded as of especial value because of their association with a totem " (ibid., p. 276). There are examples of the same fact among the Arunta (Nat. Tr., 156).
1Strehlow writes tnatama (I, pp. 4-5).
2The Kaitish, the Ilpirra, the Unmatjera ; but it is rare among the latter.
3The pole is sometimes replaced by very long churinga, placed end to ead.
variations.4
The waninga, which is found only among the southern Arunta, the Urabunna and the Loritja, has no one unique model either. Reduced to its most essential elements, it too consists in a vertical support, formed by a long stick or by a lance several yards high, with sometimes one and sometimes two cross-pieces.5 In the former case, it has the appearance of a cross. Cords made either of human hair or opossum or bandicoot fur diagonally cross the space included between the arms of the cross and the extremities of the central axis ; as they are quite close to each other, they form a network in the form of a lozenge. When there are two cross-bars, these cords go from one to the other and from these to the top and bottom of the support. They are sometimes covered with a layer of down, thick enough to conceal the foundation. Thus the waninga has the appearance of a veritable flag.6
Now the nurtunja and the waninga, which figure in a multitude of important rites, are the object of a religious respect quite like that inspired by the churinga. The process of their manufacture and erection is conducted with the greatest solemnity. Fixed in the earth, or carried by an officiant, they mark the central point of the ceremony : it is about them that the dances take place and the rites are performed. In the course of the initiation, the
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novice is led to the foot of a nurtunja erected for the occasion. Someone says to him, " There is the nurtunja of your father; many young men have already been made by it." After that, the initiate must kiss the nurtunja.1 By this kiss, he enters into relations with the religious principle which resides there ; it is a veritable communion which should give the young man the force required to support the terrible operation of sub-incision.2 The nurtunja also plays a considerable role in the mythology of these societies. The myths relate that in the fabulous times of the great ancestors, the territory of the tribe was overrun in every direction by companies composed exclusively of individuals of the same totem.3 Each of these troops had a nurtunja with it. When it stopped to camp, before scattering to hunt, the members fixed their nurtunja in the ground, from the top of which their churinga was suspended.4 That is equivalent to saying that they confided the most precious things they had to it. It was at the same time a sort of standard which served as a rallyingcentre for the group. One cannot fail to be struck by the analogies between the nurtunja and the sacred post of the Omaha.5
Now its sacred character can come from only one cause : that is that it represents the totem materially. The vertical lines or rings of down which cover it, and even the cords of different colours which fasten the arms of the waninga to the central axis, are not arranged arbitrarily, according to the taste of the makers; they must conform to a type strictly determined by tradition which, in the minds of the natives, represents the totem.6 Here we cannot ask, as we did in the case of the churinga, whether the veneration accorded to this instrument of the cult is not merely the reflex of that inspired by the ancestors ; for it is a rule that each nurtunja and each waninga last only
4Sometimes another smaller one is hung from the top of the nurtunja. In other cases, the nurtunja is in the form of a cross or a T. More rarely, the central support is lacking {Nat. Tr., pp. 298-300, 360-364, 627).
5Sometimes there are even three of these cross-bars.
6Nat. Tr., pp. 231—234, 306—310, 627. In addition to the nurtunja and the waninga. Spencer and Gillen distinguish a third sort of sacred post or flag, called the kanana (Nat. Tr., pp. 364, 370, 629), whose functions they admit they have been unable to determine. They merely note that it " is regarded as something common to the members of all the totems." According to Strehlow (II, p. 23, n. 2) the kanana of which Spencer and Gillen speak, is merely the nurtunja of the Wild Cat totem. As this animal is the object of a tribal cult, the veneration of which it is the object might easily be common to all the clans.
1Nor. Tr., p. 342 ; Nat. Tr., p. 309.
2Nat. Tr., p. 255.
3Ibtd., ch. x and xi.
4Ibid.. pp. 138, 144.
5See Dorsey, Siouan Cults, XIth Rep., p. 4х3 ; Omaha Sociology, Third Rep., P. 234. It is true that there is only one sacred post for the tribe, while there is a nurtunja for each clan. But the principle is the same.
6Nat. Tr., pp. 232, 308, 313, 334, etc. ; Nor. Tr., 182, i86, etc.
during the ceremony where they are used. They are made all over again every time that it is necessary, and when the rite is once accomplished, they are stripped of their ornaments and the elements out of which they are made are scattered.7 They are nothing more than images—and temporary images at that—
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of the totem, and consequently it is on this ground, and on this ground alone, that they play a religious role.
So the churinga, the nurtunja and the waninga owe their religious nature solely to the fact that they bear the totemic emblem. It is the emblem that is sacred. It keeps this character, no matter where it may be represented. Sometimes it is painted upon rocks; these paintings are called churinga ilkinia, sacred drawings.1 The decorations with which the officiants and assistants at the religious ceremonies adorn themselves have the same name: women and children may not see them.2 In the course of certain rites, the totem is drawn upon the ground. The way in which this is done bears witness to the sentiments inspired by this design, and the high value attributed to it ; it is traced upon a place that has been previously sprinkled, and saturated with human blood,3 and we shall presently see that the blood is in itself a sacred liquid, serving for pious uses only. When the design has been made, the faithful remain seated on the ground before it, in an attitude of the purest devotion.4 If we give the word a sense corresponding to the mentality of the primitive, we may say that they adore it. This enables us to understand how the totemic blazon has remained something very precious for the Indians of North America : it is always surrounded with a sort of religious halo.
But if we are seeking to understand how it comes that these totemic representations are so sacred, it is not without interest to see what they consist in.
Among the Indians of North America, they are painted, engraved or carved images which attempt to reproduce as faithfully as possible the external aspect of the totemic animal. The means employed are those which we use to-day in similar circumstances, except that they are generally cruder. But it is not the same in Australia, and it is in the Australian societies that we must seek the origin of these representations. Although the Australian may show himself sufficiently capable of imitating the forms of things in a rudimentary way,5 sacred representations generally seem to show no ambitions in this line : they consist essentially in geometrical designs drawn upon the churinga, the nurtunga, rocks, the ground, or the human body. They are either straight or curved lines, painted in different ways,6 and
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the whole having only a conventional meaning. The connection between the figure and the thing represented is so remote wi indirect that it cannot be seen, except when it is pointed out Only the members of the clan can say what meaning is attached to such and such combinations of lines.1 Men and women are generally represented by semicircles, and animals by whole circles or spirals,2 the tracks of men or animals by lines of points, .etc. The meaning of the figures thus obtained is so arbitrary that a single design may have two different meanings for the men of two different totems, representing one animal here, and another animal or plant there. This is perhaps still more apparent
7 Nat. Tr., p. 346. It is true that some say that the nurtunja represents the lance of the ancestor who was at the head of each clan in Alcheringa times. But it is only a symbolic representation of it; it is not a sort of relic, like the churinga, which is believed to come from the ancestor himself. Here the secondary character of the explanation is very noticeable.
1Nat. Tr., pp. 614 ff., esp. p. 6х7 ; Nor. Tr., p. 749.
2Nat. Tr., p. 624.
3Ibid.. p. 179.
4Ibid., p. 181.
5See the examples given in Spencer and Gillen, Nat. Tr., Fig. 131. Here are designs, many of which evidently have the object of representing animals, plants, the heads of men, etc., though of course all are very conventional.
6Nat. Tr., p. 617 ; Nor. Tr., p. 716 ff.
1Nat. Tr.. p. 145 ; Strehlow, U, p. So
2Nat. Tr., p. 151.
with the nurtunja and waninga. Each of them represents a different totem. But the few and simple elements which enter into their composition do not allow a great variety of combinations. The result is that two nurtunja may have exactly the same appearance, and yet express two things as different as a gum tree and an emu.3 When a nurtunja is made, it is given a meaning which it keeps during the whole ceremony, but which, in the last resort, is fixed by convention.
These facts prove that if the Australian is so strongly inclined ,to represent his totem, it is in order not to have a portrait of it before his eyes which would constantly renew the sensation of it; it is merely because he feels the need of representing the idea which he forms of it by means of material and external .Signs, no matter what these signs may be. We are not yet ready to attempt to understand what has thus caused the primitive i to write his idea of his totem upon his person and upon different objects, but it is important to state at once the nature of the Syneed which has given rise to these numerous representations.4
[128] CHAPTER II
TOTEMIC BELIEFS—continued
The Totemic Animal and Man
But totemic images are not the only sacred things. There are real things which are also the object of rites, because of the relations which they have with the totem : before all others, are the beings of the totemic species and the members of the clan.
First of all, since the designs which represent the totem arouse religious sentiments, it is natural that the things whose aspect these designs reproduce should have this same property, at least to a certain degree.
For the most part, these are animals or plants. The profane function of vegetables and even of animals is ordinarily to serve as food ; then the sacred character of the totemic animal or plant is shown by the fact that it is forbidden to eat them. It is true that since they are sacred things, they can enter into the composition of certain mystical repasts, and we shall see, in fact, that they sometimes serve as veritable sacraments ; yet normally they cannot be used for everyday consumption. Whoever oversteps this rule, exposes himself to grave dangers. It is not that the group always intervenes to punish this infraction artificially ; it is believed tliat the sacrilege produces death automatically. A redoubtable principle is held to reside in the totemic plant or animal, which cannot enter into the profane organism without disorganizing it or destroying it.1 In certain tribes at least, only the old men are free from this prohibition;2 we shall see the reason for this later.
However, if this prohibition is formal in a large number of [129]
tribes1—with certain exceptions which will be mentioned later —it is incontestable that it tends to weaken as the old totemic organization is disturbed. But the restrictions which remain even then prove that these attenuations are not admitted without difficulty. For example, when it is permitted
3Ibid., p. 346.
4It cannot be doubted that these designs and paintings also have an aesthetic tiharacter ; here is the first form of art. Since they are also, and even above all, a ^written language, it follows that the origins of design and those of writing are one. .Kt even becomes clear that men commenced designing, not so much to fix upon 'Wood or stone beautiful forms which charm the senses, as to translate his thought .into matter (cf. Schoolcraft, Indian Tribes, I, p. 405 ; Dorsey, Siouau Cults, PP394)
1See the cases in Taplin, The Narrinyeri, p. 63 ; Howitt, Nat. Tr., pp. 146, 769 : Fison and Howitt, Kamilaroi and
Kurnai, p. 169 ; Roth, Superstition. Magic and Medicine, § 150; Wyatt, Adelaide and Encounter Bay Tribe, in Woods,
p.168 ; Meyer, ibid., p. 186.
2This is the case with the Warramunga {Nm. Tr., p. 168).
1For example, among the Warramunga, the Urabunna, the Wonghibon, the Yuin, the Wotjobaluk, the Buandik, Ngeumba, etc.