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Djan'kawu | Research & Encyclopedia Articles

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About 7 pages (1,951 words)
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The Garninyirdi were used as walking sticks on land and as paddles for the canoe.

The Djan'kawu also carried twined pandanus baskets, or dilly bags, decorated with the orange feathers of the red-collared lorikeet, and containing many strings of lorikeet feathers as well as rangga, which are sacred objects made of wood and other materials. The sisters had with them conical ngarnmarra mats of the kind that Dhuwa women use as aprons, bassinets, and mosquito nets, and which served as fishing nets in the myths and songs.

The Dhuwa stories relate how the Djan'kawu saw and named many fish, birds, reptiles, and animals on their journey. They gave birth to many children in the country of each Dhuwa moiety group, and left the powers of continuing reproduction in the water holes and springs they made with their sticks. The springs bubbled up on the beaches or in the saline mud of the mangroves, the fresh water mixing with salt water at high tide. The Djan'kawu placed sacred objects in the waters of each group and reserved some water holes for older men.

As in the doctrines of Aboriginal people from other regions of Australia, the Djan'kawu left traces of their journey, activities, and physical presence in the land and waters.

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Djan'kawu from Encyclopedia of Religion. Copyright © 2001-2006 by Macmillan Reference USA, an imprint of the Gale Group. All rights reserved.

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