{"id":"SG1904-002","label":"Gudanji McArthur River snake-totem churinga bullroarer","people_or_site":"Gudanji (Gnanji)","country_current":"Australia","historic_region":"McArthur River Station, Gulf country, Northern Territory","macroregion":"Australia","local_name":"","source_term":"Churinga (wooden, bull-roarer-shaped)","source_language":"English","object_description":"Fig. 95: an elongated wooden blade, lenticular in section, pierced at one end, carved with a snake winding its full length among ovals and barred lines. Probable museum match Museums Victoria X10852: 'Wooden bullroarer; decorated with dots & incised spiral lines, red ochred', from McArthur River Station.","function_summary":"Prized as a snake-totem churinga, rubbed and sung over by its owner; no sounding use recorded.","attestation_type":"ethnographic_attestation","source_key":"spencer_gillen1904_gnanji_churinga","source_type":"primary_ethnography","source_url":"https://archive.org/details/northerntribesof00spen/page/275/mode/1up","page_or_plate":"pp. 275-277; Fig. 95 (p. 277)","map_confidence":"medium","plot_status":"plot_with_caveat","coordinate_basis":"McArthur River Station anchor from the spencerandgillen.net place record - the recorded collection locality of the probable specimen match X10852, within Gudanji country; representative, not a findspot for the figured object itself.","jade_complex_role":"","blurb":"A snake winds the full length of the blade, carved among ovals and barred lines under red ochre. Among the Gudanji — Spencer and Gillen’s Gnanji — wooden churinga of this bull-roarer shape were few, and each was prized for its link to a totem; this one belonged to a snake. No spirit was thought to dwell in such an object: a man who owned a snake churinga would rub it constantly with his hand, singing the snake’s Alcheringa history, until he felt a special bond with the thing — and each generation of owners left more virtue in the wood.","pull_quote":"In every instance they were regarded as of especial value because of their association with a totem.","pull_quote_translation":"","pull_quote_cite":"Spencer and Gillen, The Northern Tribes of Central Australia (1904), p. 276","term_gloss":"","cls":"sacred","class_label":"Sacred / spirit","color":"#8A5A2B","is_candidate":false,"flags":["snake"],"f_jade_complex":false,"f_women_taboo":false,"f_women_special":false,"f_snake":true,"sources":[{"citation":"Baldwin Spencer and F. J. Gillen, The Northern Tribes of Central Australia (London: Macmillan, 1904), pp. 275-277, fig. 95; Museums Victoria X10852","url":"https://archive.org/details/northerntribesof00spen/page/275/mode/1up"}],"source_citations":"Baldwin Spencer and F. J. Gillen, The Northern Tribes of Central Australia (London: Macmillan, 1904), pp. 275-277, fig. 95; Museums Victoria X10852","source_display":"Baldwin Spencer and F. J. Gillen, The Northern Tribes of Central Australia (London: Macmillan, 1904), pp. 275-277, fig. 95; Museums Victoria X10852","date_citation_display":"","object_display":"Fig. 95: an elongated wooden blade, lenticular in section, pierced at one end, carved with a snake winding its full length among ovals and barred lines. Probable museum match Museums Victoria X10852: 'Wooden bullroarer; decorated with dots & incised spiral lines, red ochred', from McArthur River Station.","function_display":"Prized as a snake-totem churinga, rubbed and sung over by its owner; no sounding use recorded.","confidence_display":"medium","attestation_label":"ethnographic attestation","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"gudanji","display_name":"Gudanji McArthur River snake-totem churinga bullroarer","image":{"full":"assets/objects/SG1904-002_gnanji_snake_churinga_fig95.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/SG1904-002_gnanji_snake_churinga_fig95_thumb.jpg","alt":"Spencer and Gillen’s fig. 95 of a Gudanji snake-totem churinga, engraved with a winding snake design, crossbars and shaded oval panels, pierced at its rounded end.","credit":"Baldwin Spencer and F. J. Gillen, The Northern Tribes of Central Australia (1904), p. 277, Fig. 95","license":"Public domain (published 1904)","source_page":"https://archive.org/details/northerntribesof00spen/page/277/mode/1up","rehosted":true,"representative":false,"caption":"Gudanji snake-totem churinga, Spencer and Gillen fig. 95."},"slug":"sg1904-002-gudanji-gnanji"}