Karora

Karora

In the mythology of the Aboriginal people of northern Australia (specifically the Arrernte people), Karora is a bandicoot ancestral deity. According to one legend, during the Dreamtime Karora lay sleeping in the earth when from his head rose a tall pole called a tnatantja. It was a living creature, its bottom resting on his head and its top reaching up into the sky. From his armpits and navel emerged bandicoots, who dug their way out of the earth just as the first sun rose into the sky. Karora followed them, seized two of the animals, then cooked and ate them. His hunger sated, he lay down to sleep again and a bullroarer emerged from under his armpit. It took on human form and grew into a young man, and when Karora woke his son danced around him. It was the very first ceremony.

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