Everything about Rainbow Serpent totally explained
The
Rainbow Serpent (also known as the
Rainbow Snake) is an important
mythological being for
Aboriginal people across
Australia, although the
creation myths associated with it are best known from northern Australia.
The Rainbow Serpent is seen as the inhabitant of permanent
waterholes and is in control of life's most precious
resource,
water. He is the underlying
Aboriginal mythology for the famous
Outback "
bunyip". He is the sometimes unpredictable Rainbow Serpent, who vies with the ever-reliable
Sun, that replenishes the stores of water, forming gullies and deep channels as he slithered across the landscape, allowing for the collection and distribution of water.
Dreamtime stories tell of the great Spirits during creation, in animal and human form they molded the barren and featureless earth. The Rainbow Serpent came from beneath the ground and created huge ridges, mountains and gorges as it pushed upward. The Rainbow Serpent is known as Ngalyod by the
Gunwinggu and Borlung by the
Miali. He is a serpent of immense proportions which inhabits deep permanent waterholes.
Serpent stories vary according to
environmental differences. Tribes of the
monsoonal areas depict an epic interaction of the Sun, Serpent and
wind in their
Dreamtime stories, whereas tribes of the central desert experience less drastic seasonal shifts and their stories reflect this.
It is known both as a benevolent protector of its people (the groups from the country around) and as a malevolent punisher of law breakers. The rainbow serpent's mythology is closely linked to
land, water,
life, social relationships and
fertility.
There are innumerable names and stories associated with the serpent, all of which communicate the significance and
power of this being within Aboriginal
traditions.
The myth of the Rainbow serpent is sometimes associated with
Wonambi naracoortensis, a large
snake of the now extinct
megafauna of Australia.
Further Information
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