New body designs

by Janjiya Liddy Herbert Nakamarra, Lajamanu, 1984

translated from Warlpiri with Barbara Gibson Nakamarra (1984, 1995) and edited for the CD-ROM Dream trackers (UNESCO, 2000) by Barbara Glowczewski

Long time ago I received a yawulyu for the Yam Jukurrpa that belongs to the Nakamarra and Napurrurla skins. Mungamunga, my mother gave me in dream four designs to paint on the body. Since then in Lajamanu and Yuendumu, women always dance decorated with these paintings to celebrate the land of Yumurrpa. The first design is the jijardu yam flower we call 'father'. From there run the wapirti roots we call 'mothers'. On these mother roots, young roots ngamarna develop, the 'children' who give the yams. The last design is mardi, the 'old man', the edible yam which terminates the young roots that spread everywhere.

I saw these paintings for the first time when we performed, here in Lajamanu, the Rain Dreaming ceremony. The Nangala and Nampijinpa were dancing their land from Kulpulunu. And us, Nakamarra and Napurrurla, we danced with them for Wingki. It was formed by a cloud that came underground from Kulpulunu, was caught by a bushfire and choked, leaving a salty waterhole.

We were dancing for weeks when I got this dream for Yam. In the morning I called the kirda women,

'Hey you, Nakamarra and Napurrurla! Mungamunga gave me a yawulyu. But it's not for my country Yiningarra. It is for your country Yumurrpa. It comes from your Yam Dreaming, so I give it to you, I can't keep it.'

'No, they said, you must make the paintings and look after this yawulyu, until we learn it properly. Then only you can give it to us.'

Mungamunga had told me in my dream,

'Look at these yam leaves. Look well! Don't give them too fast, you must learn first!'

All night the spirit of my mother helped me to learn. So in the morning I was able to teach and paint on the chest the four designs, 'father', 'mothers', 'children' and 'old man'. I also painted a yukurrukurru board with the pilkardi design, the adder that blocks the way to the roots and forces them to go up the surface. In my dream I saw the adder and heard her singing for the yams. She was going west. I dreamt I was painting a board with her design. The adder was rolling in the grass and calling the 'old man' to make many 'children'.

2. The Yam Battle 

After the adder, I saw two Yam men leave Yumurrpa to attack to other Yam men from Waputarli. The Yumurrpa men were big Yarla yams and the Waputarli men were small Wapirti yams. The men fought, the big Yams killed the little ones. Going back to Yumurrpa, the victors put their roots in the ground and I saw new young roots and yams fall from the mother root.

This story is told in one of the songs I dreamt 'In Yumurrpa, the young roots fell... In Waputarli, the little Yams were evicted for ever.'

In the Dreaming the two miyi food were fighting, but since, the groups custodians of the two Yams live in ritual company and cannot fight. After the fight, the roots spread everywhere in the plain. The 'father' went underground in a spring. His roots still come across the Yumurrpa cave.

When our elders lived in this site, they never touched these roots nor the yams from the cave. They would always go further away in the plain to find their food. When I was young, I camped with my family at Yumurrpa and used to go down in the cave to get water. I could feel the roots in the dark, and we took the water without hurting them. I had to push them gently to fill my water carrier, just like the Kajirri sisters.

3. The Two Kajirri Sisters

In my sleep, Mungamunga showed me Yurnkunjurru, the place where the 'old man' multiply himself so much that the ground cracked on the surface. I could see the grass becoming green with the growth of new yams. Two women were cooking and digging out yams. They were the Kajirri sisters. Seeing the cave, they bent over to see and shouted,

'Oh, but there's lots of women here!'

They continued to cook the yams. Then they erected two kuturu sticks in the ground. Then all the women came out of the cave and danced towards the two sticks. There was a lot of women. After the dance, they sat and the two sisters gave them yams to eat. They took out young men from the cave where they kept them in seclusion. It was midday.

'Where are we going to find some water?' asked one.

'We'll have to go down in the cave,' said the other one.

So they lit little yirriwurrunyu firesticks. They needed light to see the roots, so not to hurt them. Very carefully they pushed the roots and they filled their ngami dishes in the spring. The other women of my dream were waiting outside to pick up the dishes the two sisters were filling, one after the other.