iDIDJ Australia Didgeridoo Cultural Hub

Pics for the archives, of a man who was a legend whilst alive, and will remain legendary for all time.

RIP brother.

Guan

A fitting tribute Guan. Thanks for sharing these.

I'm surprised that you post these pictures, I believed that we can't show the defund's photo until the end of the mourning's period… or to write his name or to speak about him directly….especially if some blackfella visit the page and if we respect the blackfella culture...........

Good point Cyril, I've already thought about possible grief to family members if they see the pics that but decided that the importance of Mr Mununggurr warrants his inclusion in the Picture Library. I've made a correction to the subject line so that anyone who sees that will have no doubt about the identity of the deceased and they can decide whether or not they want to proceed with viewing the images.

They are reasons why the names of the deceased are not used in Yolngu society, why the image of the deceased is not shown publicly, why the clothes and personal belongings are burnt, etc. etc.

Guan

Nice......................................................

Thank you for sharing Guan..........................

Here is my tribute to this great man.

Tuomas

Hi Guan...

just on a brows thru forum looking for more input for my thing... have a question to this one here... could you explaine why in Yolnu Culture, names of decesed are not named, photos not shown, and personal items burnt? How long can mourning time be?!

Thx
Gordon

Hi Gordon,

As far as I understand it, it is about attachment and the spirit or etheric body or whatever you want to call it. But basically Yolngu believe that when a person dies something else continues on, we might call it spirit and Yolngu might refer to it as birrimbirr or ma:rr or mokuy or a number of other terms, this entity or entities linger(s) on in this realm rather than continue(s) on to another realm/other realms if it/they is/are bound to this realm through attachment. That attachment is prolonged by humans uttering the name of the deceased.

The entity/entities has/have a keen sense of hearing and smell but not of sight from what I can gather through my limiting question-and-answer type of approach with a small sample of individuals.

So when a person dies, his or her belongings are burnt and any physical object that the deceased might have left his or her scent on is cleansed of that scent. Clothes are a person's most intimate possessions and therefore the objects carrying the most scent of a person. I've seen clothes ritually burnt when someone dies, what better way to erase the smell of a person than to cause that object to no longer exist? I've also seen clothes dumped in creeks, water being one purifying/cleansing agent in Yolngu thought, smoke another. The house of the deceased is ritually smoked and cleansed and so is his or her vehicle and workplace if the person was gainfully employed.

Wherever a person left a concentration of his or her scent is ritually cleansed to rid that thing or place of that scent.

Family members are also ritually cleansed, supposedly to rid themselves of the scent of the deceased in my thinking, and that's done through either water or smoke and maybe sometimes through a combination of both water and smoke, I can't be sure.

The funny thing about names though is that the taboo on the name of the deceased only applies to the Yolngu personal name. It is ok to say Eric or Paul or John or Martha and also Yunupingu or Marika or Gurruwiwi or Gaykamangu (these are surnames or clan names), but it would not be right to say Djalu or Liyakindirr or Djembangu or Manybunharrawuy (these are Yolngu personal names). So the identity of a Yolngu person is this realm - in this world - a part essence of a person in Yolngu cosmology has to do with the Yolngu personal name I think. There's other things that make up identity and essence and being with the Yolngu personal name just one part of it.

This is just my thinking, my distillation of bits and pieces of information, I am certain that if you asked a Yolngu person such questions you will get different answers.

Photos not being shown... I'm guessing here but maybe it has something to do with distress being caused amongst living family members? Seeing the image of the deceased brings memories back which in turn causes a stronger attachment response by the spirit/birrimbirr/marr/mokuy?

There are many parts/layers/dimensions/realms/realities to consciousness and being I think and that is reflected in Yolngu thought and cosmology because different named things go to different places. There's the mischievous trickster mokuy spirit that can linger around in this world or realm through attachment to this world/realm. There's one part of identity or being that goes back to a collective source to be re-born, usually in the form of a sacred water-hole. Here the 'spirit children' reside to be re-born again. The whole purpose of funerary ceremony is to guide this entity back to where to belongs, back to the clan water-hole or 'spirit children' source to be re-born in a future time, that's the reason for the singing and dancing and the sacred painted designs in ceremony - to guide the 'spirit' back to a piece of land somewhere through the singing of the 'songlines'.

Upon death of the body another part of identity or being goes to other places. There's the mythical island Burralku where one part of one's essence goes for some Dhuwa clans. There's different places this thing goes to depending on whether one if Dhuwa or Yirritja and also it seems to vary according to 'clanship', some of these places are literally out of this world, for example, the Birritjama-Durrurrnga clan believes that the spirit goes to Badurru which can variously mean a hollow log coffin and also the Milky Way we see in the night sky, actually the Milky Way is a Hollow Log Coffin according to Birritjama-Durrunga thinking. Badurru is surprisingly also a named site on this planet, there's a freshwater spring on Elcho Island that has this name and I think there are other named sites also with this name.

How long does the name/photo taboo lasts? I don't know really, usually it is years, there is no set time. Maybe it is when there is no longer any consciousness attachment to this world through the severing of continued 'interaction' between the deceased and living family members?

Hit me back with what you think, that goes for everyone else too who finds such topics interesting.

Guan

Guan,

thanks for this very educational post! It makes sese, there are other cultures too, who smoke & burne personal belongings. I find it magnificiently interessting that this has been a common practice in ethno-cultures, who did not have a true physical relationship... So how come they use similare rituals... where is this bridge?! Was there a spiritual connection, or a physical connection of which we do not know?!

Makes sense too with the photos, naming personal names. I just haven´t worked out why it can take for ever so long, same with sorrow camp... they can go on for ages. In this period it is so dam hard to get hold of a friend, they go somewhere completley else.

Comming back to the personal names... how are they given? I get the feeling, and so you mentioned, that it is a very strong part of their identity, well yes that is why we have a personal name, but I feel there is more to it. Some kind of bond between people, respect. I´ve experianced in Kintor (Central Desert) how a man would not even speak to me but a friend of his would, just after they asked me if I had a given or adopted name, which I have out there. This was interessting + I felt stupid and puzzled at that time, did not understand why.

Hi Gordon,

The form of the rituals are not the same but the functions are, and also the tools used are. Smoke and water are common purifying agents. I don't know about there being a spiritual bridge or connection between all Indigenous peoples, maybe there is, but my answer would be a far simpler one and that is where Humankind has retained an intimate connection to the natural world, so is his attachment to the spiritual world retained. The spiritual world could mean different things to different people, perhaps the common denominator is belief in spirits, non-corporeal beings that inhabit a realm beyond our Newtonian, dualistic view of the universe?

Personal names in eastern Arnhem Land usually come from a grandparent on the mother's side; ie. mother's mother or mother's mother's brother. It's different elsewhere in Australia. Personal names are part of identity and they also come from the land, all personal names are found in manikay, they are named features of the natural-cultural landscape. In that sense, the ma:ri-gutharra (grandmother-grandchild) relationship is highlighted, not only because ma:ri gives gutharra a name, but custodianship of land is also shared between ma:ri and gutharra. When clans become small or near extinct, the gutharra clans take on the responsibility of handling the title to the estate of their ma:ri.

In Central Australia it's different, don't they use skin names there as like surnames? I can't really say what when on there at Kintore, maybe that man couldn't speak English very well? Maybe he was shy? Maybe he preferred to communicate to you through a second person? Maybe having worked out who you are, he could not speak directly to you because of an avoidance relationship because the person who adopted you is someone the guy can't speak to directly either? Could be any of that or something else.

Guan