RA60 Col. 30 mins.
Director: Roger Sandall
Anthropological consultant: Nicolas Peterson
Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies
This film - with Emu Ritual at Ruguri and Walbiri Ritual at Ngama - provides an outstandingly sensitive and vivid account of traditional Australian Aboriginal ritual in the Central Desert.
At Gunadjari, where the lands of the Walbiri and Pintubi tribes meet, there is a remarkable painted rock shelter which is a major ritual site 'owned, by an aged political leader and renowned warrior who participates in the ceremony.
During the three-day ceremony the rock shelter is repainted while sacred songs are sung. Large sacred emblems representing a penis, a bird and a snake are constructed. The bodies of the participants are decorated with elaborate red and white patterns made with plant down, dyed with red ochre and mixed with blood. ~Jore sacred songs are sung and then four ritual acts are performed. In one of these a Pintubi man takes on the role of Wadaingula, a hero of legendary sexual prowess. Another shows a mythical bird ornamented with 'bones of the dead' represented by long feathered stems on a headdress.
W.E.H. Stanner, 1970. Review of the film. American Anthropologist, Vol. 72, pp.202-203.
For other references see list under Emu Ritual at Ruguri.
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