WAWALAG

[Aboriginal] A pair of fertility goddess of Arnhemland in north Australia. These two sisters are the daughters of Djanngawul, the Aboriginal founder deities. The sisters live at a waterpool--a sacred place--where they anger the giant rainbow-snake Yurlungur so that the creature continually swallows and disgorges them. This myth forms the base of the widely spread initiation rites where 'disgorged' youths assume their rightful place in the tribes as men.