When not in use, the tjuringas are stored in caves, the entrances to which are small and not easily discernible; the ground is proclaimed taboo to any but initiated tjuringa holders and is strictly regarded as a sanctum sanctorum. Although the sticks and stones are the individual property of the tribesmen, the objects are generally kept together, and only brought out during a religious ceremony. The old men are the authorized custodians of the sacred collection. The female tjuringas are included, because even though a woman may possess one, she must never see it; if she does, accidentally or otherwise, she is in imminent danger of being killed. No unauthorized hunter is allowed near the prohibited area under any pretext at all; even if an animal he has wounded should by accident make for the sacred ground to breathe its last, the hunter is required by tribal law and usage to sacrifice it to the divine factors incorporated in the tjuringa, by leaving it on the spot.
PLATE XXXV
Flashlight photograph of “Illiya Tjuringa” or great emu ceremony, Arunndta tribe.
“The chief emu man is distinguished by an extra large head-dress called the ‘Illiya Altjerra Kuta.’...”
When on the warpath, a warrior always craves to carry his tjuringa with him, even though this is not always possible. He firmly believes that with the talisman kept on his person, or at any rate knowing that it is nearby, no deadly missile thrown by an enemy will penetrate his body. The mere knowledge of the fact that his opponent has a tjuringa with him, and he not, is sufficient to make a coward of the bravest fighter. Should he be wounded or take ill, one of his “totem-brothers” endeavours to produce a tjuringa, from which, if the medicine man considers it necessary, a little powder is scraped and handed to the patient to swallow with water.
With regard to “totem” animals which form the objects of hunting expeditions, a man is allowed to kill and eat thereof with some restriction. He must kill only one animal at a time, and only in accordance with the method prescribed by the tribal fathers and handed down to them by tradition. This is usually a straightforward hunting method, with as little loss of blood as possible. If much blood should flow, the hunter is obliged to cover it without delay with sand. If possible, other men should cut up the carcase, and only certain portions be handed to the “brother” of the slain animal.
Each tribe has an endless variety of objects (animal, vegetable, terrestrial, meteoric, mythic, and so forth), which may figure as a “totem.” Any one of these may be the primary motive of a separate cult or sacred ceremony, but here again the variety is usually reduced to the number corresponding to the most sanctimonious and most useful creations affecting the affairs of the particular tribe.
The ceremonies take the form of either a direct worship or a prayer for increased productivity of a certain plant or animal, either being offered to the Knaninja or “totem” ancestors living as spirits in the sky. Usually the two ideas are embodied in one grand ceremony, and the method of procedure is governed by tradition. Such ceremonies have been particularly elaborated by the Arunndta tribe, who refer to them by the same name as that of the sacred object, namely “Tjuringa”; less frequently they call them “Intitjuma,” the latter name being applied more to ceremonies without worship.
The Tjuringa ceremonies are divided into grades according to their importance and sacredness. The water ceremony is ordinarily called “Kwatje Tjuringa,” but if the “totem” spirit ancestor is invoked to attend, it goes by the name of “Kwatje Tjuringa Knaninja”; if the principal spirit ancestor is assumed to be present, the title becomes “Kwatje Tjuringa Knaninja Knurrendora”; and finally the most sacred water ceremony of all is the “Kwatje Tjuringa Altjerra Knaninja Knurrendora.”