YURLUNGUR

[Aboriginal] The great copper python of the Murngin in northern Australia. Yulungur was roused from his great sleep by the odor of the menstrual blood of one of the women who took refuge in his cave, the Wawalag sisters. The great snake rose and drowned the land, and devoured the two women. However, later at a conference of snakes, Yulungur, accused of eating his kin, admitted that he had, and was told to regurgitate the two women. In the initiation rites, this theme of 'disgorging' symbolizes the passage from boy to man. He is the center of the fertility cult. Yulungur, called 'Great Father', is the rainbow serpent, for the water of the well in which he lives shines like the rainbow. His voice is thunder.