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Native Folklore and the Star People
zorgon:
Native Folklore and the Star People
All around the world Native Folklore talks of Visitors from the Stars. Let's have a look at some of those. There are also many works of ancient art and petroglyphs dating back thousands of years with depictions of strange visitors, gateways or doorways to the Gods and strange craft. The Serpent always appears in these stories as well...
This thread will be a mixture of stories and artifacts found around the world that illustrate the idea of Alien contact in the past, the idea of Gateways to the Gods (Stargates) and the Serpent as a symbol of good, not evil... the Serpent is often shown in pairs and often intertwined. As such the thread will likely be all over the place as I add items from my library... though I will attempt to point out the connections
Sego Canyon, Utah
Sego Canyon , Utah. Estimated up to 5,500 BC. Are the figures of some petroglyphs pictures of "strange visitors"?
--- Quote ---Sego Canyon
Rock Art & Ghost Town
Sego Canyon is a great adventure the entire family will enjoy. The canyon contains rock art from three different Native American cultures and a very well preserved ghost town. The company store and a boarding house still partially stand in the center of town. There are ruins to many houses scattered through out the canyon along with remnants of the coal mine.
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Sego Canyon, Utah
Map of Sego Canyon
Here we have a 'praying mantis' type figure holding a serpents, and another that looks like the Wandjina from Australia also holding a serpent.
Barrier Style Panel: In addition to many smaller figures, the panel contains about ten life size human shapes, most have a strange mummy-like appearance. They lack arms or legs, and often have huge insect-like eyes and skull-shaped heads. This panel is similar to the famous Grand Gallery found in Horseshoe Canyon.
This panel is from a different time period... I added it because of the large round disc.
zorgon:
Wandjina - The Kimberly - Land of the Wandjina - Wodjin & the Crocodile
--- Quote ---The Wandjina dreaming tradition dominates the art of the Australian Aboriginal groups of the North-Western section of the Kimberly region in Western Australia. The movement of many of these people southward from around the Prince Regent River to reside eventually at Mowanjum near Derby has spread the Wandjina tradition to a much wider area.
There are many myths recalling the activities of the Wandjina and their creation of the world. The Wandjina are said to have come out of the sky to live on the land; fishing, hunting and engaging in other activities similar to those subsequently carried out by the Aboriginal inhabitants of the area. While some of the myths indicate that Wandjina behaved in socially disruprive ways in the creative era of the Dreaming, these stories enshrine elements of cause and effect; disruptive behaviour usually resulting in disaster or severe punishment.
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The Kimberly - Land of the Wandjina
Painted by the Aboriginal peoples from Kimberley, Australia
Circa 5,000 years old
--- Quote ---On the whole, the activities of Wandjina are believed to set the prototypes for each district's religion, law, customs, rites, songs and dances.
When the Wandjina completed the creation of the earth and their allotted time on the land, they painted their images on the surfaces of rock shelters and caves and then entered into the rocks themselves. They are often claimed to have been there since mythological times; a mythical being may have 'become a painting', settling down in the cave while perhaps his spirit travelled to some other site, or into the sky. But the paintings are said to have been there 'always' as part of the mythological era, part of the Dreaming, and the spirit of the Wandjina remains to watch over the forthcoming generations of people. Many of these paintings are ancient, created as they were before living memory, and their origins are said to be non-human. Their meanings are not always known or, if they are, they are shrouded in mystery.
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The Kimberly - Land of the Wandjina
--- Quote ---Wandjina are believed to be responsible for bringing the rain in the monsoon season that controls the fertility of the land. To ensure the arrival of the rains each year, the Wandjina decreed that their paintings should be regularly retouched or renewed by ritual leaders. If this was not done, the result would be drought and hunger. If a painting should become dim, the Wandjina would vanish as would the rain and the fertility of the countryside.
The Wandjina figures are strange, majestic creatures; usually painted against a white background. An oval band encircles the face, except for a break at the chin, and from the outer edge of the head, lines radiate out. They are often shown wearing a headband; eyes and nose form one unit; with lashes encircling both eyes, and they are rarely given a mouth. The body, when there is one, id filled with parallel stripes down the arms and legs. But they are more than pictures; they represent the very essence or spirit of the beings and creatures depicted. In the cave are pieces of rock symbolizing parts of their bodies, and the ritual act of painting or retouching them releases energy or power, bringing on the wet season and sending out spirit children or spirits of edible plants and natural species.
The figures are generally drawn surrounded by the totemic beings and creatures associated with them, on which they depend for sustenance, and these caves and rock shelters become a focus of tribal religion and ritual action.
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The Kimberly - Land of the Wandjina
The Kimberley Region of North West Australia
Exploring the Australian Kimberley - The Bradshaw Foundation
Skulls at Wandjina Site - Credit: The Bradshaw Foundation
zorgon:
The Story of Wodjin and the Wandjina
--- Quote ---The most widely known Aboriginal story from the Kimberly refers to a mythical being. In this legend, Wandjina collaborated to fight against human Aboriginal groups and, in the process, kill many of them. The story is one of cause and effect and is told here in an abridged version.
Two children were playing with the bird, Tumbi, who they thought was a honeysucker. However, it was really an owl. They did not see the difference in the eyes and thought the bird was unimportant. The children maimed and blinded the bird. They mocked him by throwing him into the air and telling him to fly, but he could not and fell back to earth.
Tumbi was not just an ordinary bird, he was the owl, the son of a Wandjina. This is why he was able to disappear and go up to Inanunga, the Wandjina in the sky, to complain. The news flew to all the Wandjina who determined to punish the people. A Wandjina named Wodjin called all the Wandjina from throughout the country together, and the owl who had been maimed incited them to revenge.
However, they did not know where to find the people, and the lizards and animals which they sent to scout around for them refused to tell where the people were. The animals were sorry for the people, and tried to hide them, knowing that the Wandjina would kill them in revenge for the bad deeds.
But the Wandjina saw the people on a wide flat near the spring at Tunbai. They moved to the top of one of the hills which surround this flat and Wodjin, by stroking his beard, was able to bring heavy rain and floods.
The Wandjina divided into two parties and attacked in a pincer movement from the top of the hill. Meanwhile, the Brolgas (birds) had been dancing on the wet ground and had turned it into a bog. The Wandjina drove the people into the boggy water, where they drowned. The people tried to fight back, but they were unable to harm the Wandjina.
The boys who had injured the bird were very frightened by the fight, the rain and lightning, and escaped to a large boab tree with a split in it, where they decided to hide. But the tree was really a Wandjina and no sooner were the boys inside than it closed on them and crushed them. The Wandjina, having achieved their aim and revenged the injuries done to the owl, were now able to disperse around the country.
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The Story of Wodjin and the Wandjina
zorgon:
Wandjina
Mowanjum community outside Derby, Western Australia
Wandjina Cave
--- Quote ---As with most complex cultures, opinions about creation can differ. According to David Mowaljarlai (dec), a highly respected Mowanjum elder, the Worora, Ngarinyin and Wunumbul people are the three Wandjina tribes. Only these three tribes see the Wandjinas as the true creators of the land. Many other Australian Aboriginal tribes believe that the Dreamtime snake or Rainbow Serpent was the main creative force.
According to Mowanjum artist Mabel King, during Lai Lai (the creation time), Wallungunder, the "big boss" Wandjina, came from the Milky Way to create the earth and all the people. These first people were the Gyorn Gyorn – what some gudiya (white) people call Bradshaw figures, named after the gudiya to first see them in 1891. The Gyorn Gyorn had no laws or kinship and wandered around lost.
Wallungunder saw that he could do good with these people, so he went back to the Milky Way and brought many other Wandjinas with the power of the Dreamtime snake to help him bring laws and kinship to the Gyorn Gyorn people. The Dreamtime snake represents Mother Earth and is called ungud. Each of the artists has his or her own ungud birthplace or dreaming place.
The Wandjinas created the animals and the baby spirits that reside in the rock pools or sacred ungud places throughout the Kimberley, and continue to control everything that happens on the land and in the sky and sea.
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Mowanjum community outside Derby, Western Australia
Credit: Grant Dixon - Western Australia, West Kimberley. Wandjina (creator beings), rock art style painted during last 4000 years.
Credit: Grant Dixon - Western Australia, West Kimberley. Bachsten Creek. Wandjina (creator beings), rock art style painted during last 4000 years.
Wandjina (creator beings) rock art, Bachsten Creek, West Kimberley. Credit: Grant Dixon
zorgon:
Horseshoe Canyon, Utah
--- Quote ---Horseshoe Canyon, formerly known as Barrier Canyon, is in a remote area west of the Green River and north of the Canyonlands National Park Maze District in Utah, USA. It is known for its collection of Barrier Canyon Style (BCS) rock art, including both pictographs and petroglyphs, which was first recognized as a unique style here. A portion of Horseshoe Canyon containing The Great Gallery is part of a detached unit of Canyonlands National Park. The Horseshoe Canyon Unit was added to the park in 1971 in an attempt to preserve and protect the rock art found along much of its length.
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Source
Holy Ghost Panel, Great Gallery, Canyonlands National Park. This family is on the south (left) side of the main Great Gallery and is commonly called the Holy Ghost family.
--- Quote ---Horseshoe Canyon (originally Barrier Canyon) is a detached unit of Canyonlands National Park that was added in 1971. Its intriguing rock art is often considered to be the most significant in North America.
Horseshoe Canyon contains one of the finest displays of prehistoric Indian rock art in the United States. The famous Great Gallery, largest of several Horseshoe Canyon sites, is 200 feet long, 15 feet high, and contains dozens of fascinating red, brown, and white pictographs. The barrier canyon style paintings are at least 2,000 years old, and possibly as old as 8,000 years. The work was done by the Archaic People who lived in the area before the arrival of the Anasazi and Fremont Indian cultures.
Archaeologists have struggled to interpret the strange figures that are depicted on the Great Gallery. In addition to many smaller figures, the huge panel contains about twenty life size human shapes, all of which have a strange mummy-like appearance. They lack arms or legs, and often have huge insect-like eyes and skull-shaped heads. Most interesting of all is the figures known as the "Great Ghost and Attendants". This seven-foot-high painting stands out among the others because of its size and its alien appearance.
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Horseshoe Canyon - Canyonlands National Park - Utah
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