What is the great Rainbow Serpent?
The Rainbow Serpent or Rainbow Snake is creator of human beings. It has life-giving powers that send conception (fertility) spirits to all the watercourses, such as billabongs, rivers, creeks and lagoons as it is in control of producing rainfall.
What is the Rainbow Serpent and in what ways is it associated with the beginnings of life and death on earth?
As a protector of water, the Rainbow Serpent also controls water, so he has the power over life and death in the desert. In Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory the Rainbow Serpent is associated with rituals of abundance and propagation in the natural world, and of fertility and well-being in human society.
What myths is the Rainbow Serpent associated with?
One prominent Rainbow Serpent myth is the story of the Wawalag or Wagilag sisters, from the Yolngu people of Arnhem Land. According to legend, the sisters are travelling together when the older sister gives birth, and her blood flows to a waterhole where the Rainbow Serpent lives.
What does the snake mean in Aboriginal art?
Snakes are indigenous to all parts of Australia and feature strongly in the Creation stories held by Aboriginal people and in their paintings and carvings. The snake has been used as a symbol of strength, creativity and continuity since ancient times across many societies.
Where is the Rainbow Serpent story from?
The Rainbow Serpent or Rainbow Snake is a common deity often seen as a creator god, known by numerous names in different Australian Aboriginal languages by the many different Aboriginal peoples. It is a common motif in the art and religion of many Aboriginal Australian peoples.
What does the snake Symbolise in Aboriginal culture?
What is the Rainbow Serpent in Aboriginal art?
Rainbow Serpent in Aboriginal Art & Culture The Rainbow Serpent or Rainbow Snake is an immortal being and creating God in Aboriginal Mythology. It is a popular image in the art of Aboriginal Australia. It is the shape of a rainbow and a snake.
What is the connection between the Rainbow and the serpent?
Sharing a similar arched shape, the rainbow and the serpent are common motifs in Indigenous art. Scientists have found rock paintings in Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory featuring this ancestor spirit that date as far back as 8000 years.
What is the significance of the Rainbow and the Snake?
It is the shape of a rainbow and a snake. The connection between snake and rainbow suggests the cycle of the seasons and the significance of them and water in human life. When a rainbow is seen in the sky, it is supposed to be the Rainbow Serpent traveling from one waterhole to another.
What does the Rainbow Serpent mean to the Baha’i Faith?
So pervasive is the Rainbow Serpent in Aboriginal tradition, that respecting and honoring what their tradition represents is an important bridge between all things Aboriginal and the Baha’i Faith. As Banjo Clarke explained in his book “Wisdom Man”: