{"id":11178,"date":"2021-02-24T02:21:09","date_gmt":"2021-02-23T15:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.idaia.com.au\/en\/?page_id=11178"},"modified":"2021-02-24T04:19:14","modified_gmt":"2021-02-23T17:19:14","slug":"bawaliba","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.idaia.com.au\/en\/ancestral-stories-and-cultural-connections-in-maningrida\/bawaliba\/","title":{"rendered":"Baw\u00e1liba"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Lucy<\/a>

Lucy Yarawanga – ‘Bawaliba and Ngalyod (Spirit Woman and Rainbow Serpent \/ Esprits Femme et Serpent arc-en-ciel)’ – Etching on paper \/ Eau-forte sur papier – Courtesy of Babbarra Women’s Centre<\/p><\/div>\n

Baw\u00e1liba are spirits associated with a sacred site near Djinkarr in the Maningrida region of Arnhem Land.<\/p>\n

The Bawaliba lived a long time in peace. They were the only spirits on their country and so they were never disturbed. They loved to dance by the firelight, keeping rhythm with a stick. They had lots of hair, they were really tall and skinny, with spots on their bodies. They used to go out hunting with dilly bags and digging sticks. They used to collect a lot of bush foods, and sleep together under one bark shelter.<\/p>\n

One day, a long time ago, the Bawaliba were out hunting and they saw a large snake – they didn\u2019t know then but she was the Rainbow Serpent. They were really scared, they had never seen that creature before. She was really beautiful – like a normal king brown snake but with a rainbow from the sky on her back. The rainbow serpent was really hungry, and she could smell the Bawaliba from a long way away. She was out looking for food.<\/p>\n

The Bawaliba tried to stop Ngalyod coming for them but she was just too quick. She snuck up behind the Bawaliba and before they could get away, she ate them up. When she was really full and couldn\u2019t eat anymore Bawaliba, she changed the rest of them into stone.<\/p>\n

Today the sacred green rock near Djinkarr, is where the Baw\u00e1liba rest during the day.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Sometimes Bawaliba still come alive when we sleep, they come into our houses or secretly peep through the windows. They might be painted in white clay and have red cloth tied around their waist. If we get up to look, they have already disappeared.<\/p>\n

They are really tall. They are like human beings, like us. They dance in the middle of the night, and have a lot of hair. Sometimes the carry fish traps, dilly bags and digging sticks. They are good spirits, they protect us and they recognise families. They might knock on the window to remind us they are there looking out for us.<\/p>\n

You can hear them whisper, sometimes they talk about us and might say, \u2018why are they making a house here?\u2019 Then they say to each other, \u2018This family are from here, it\u2019s ok, they are sleeping here for the night\u2019.”<\/p>\n

– explains artist Lucy Yarawanga who knows this djang<\/em> (dreaming or creation story) from her mother and her uncles.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SOURCES: Maningrida Arts & Culture and B\u00e1bbarra Women\u2019s Centre.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Baw\u00e1liba are spirits associated with a sacred site near Djinkarr in the Maningrida region of Arnhem Land. The Bawaliba lived a long time in peace. They were the only spirits on their country and so they were never disturbed. They loved to dance by the firelight, keeping rhythm with a stick. They had lots of hair, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":10633,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-11178","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.idaia.com.au\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.idaia.com.au\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.idaia.com.au\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idaia.com.au\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idaia.com.au\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11178"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.idaia.com.au\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11178\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11190,"href":"https:\/\/www.idaia.com.au\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11178\/revisions\/11190"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idaia.com.au\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.idaia.com.au\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}