Abstract
Totemism among the Karadjeri.—The totemic system and social organisation of the Karadjeri tribe, which inhabits territory around Lagrange Bay, north-western Australia, is described by Mr. Ralph Piddington in Oceania, vol. 2, pt. 4. Although the tribe has long been under the influence of the white man, certain elements of the totemic system, such as the increase ceremonies and their associated mythology, retain the more important features of their original elements. Increase ceremonies are associated primarily with the districts in which the ceremonies are held rather than with the individual members of the totems. Not all species have their increase centres located in Karadjeri territory, but all important natural species have increase centres somewhere. There are certain prescribed forms for the ritual, though these are not so circumscribed as among the Aranda. The ceremonies are usually performed once a year only, and, if the species appears at one season only, generally just before it becomes plentiful. If the ceremony is associated with perennial foods, it may be performed at any time. Instructions to the species to become plentiful are uttered by the performers as they carry out the ritual, the districts hi which it should become plentiful being named in succession. The places named are those in which the species are actually found. At many of the increase ceremonies decorations are worn, such as powdered charcoal, red ochre, white mud, white down, and blood from a human being, taken from the fore-arm by a pointed bone from a wallaby's leg, at a ceremony of which no woman should be a witness.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Research Items. Nature 130, 667–669 (1932). https://doi.org/10.1038/130667a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/130667a0