Rainbow & Flying Fox
Yidumduma shares more Creation Story about the major Ancestor Rainbow Gorrondolmi who is both male and female, made the floodwater and gave it to the termites to make the didgeridoo. All the water birds came together to sing and dance the Wangga ceremony and pass it onto the generations. The children of Rainbow are the large bats, the Flying Fox, one brown called Ganben, another is a black one called Mun.gen. Every morning Rainbow blows his didgeridoo and they return from feeding in a big loop, come up through the didgeridoo into his dilly bag and climb into the tree to rest all day. In the evening Rainbow blows his didgerdioo and they leave in a big loop to go out and feed all night again.
Directors Notes:
There are two other bats who live in land in the cave. They are the one's who invented the firestick and are connected to fire. In Bill's words edited from the original clip,
"…the other two little one again…the brown one called Ngalamiynmiyn,
…the little bat, the little one in the rock.
Another little black one called Warlang.
…that’s the four, 2 little one and 2 big one.
And that’s the two (bats) the one’s were there,
and they said, “Alright, we got to go…live in the bush in the cave.
If any Flying Fox slept in, in the field where the flowering place
was where they’ve been eating, he not allowed to leave there.
He have to wait there till next day. He’s not allowed to fly during the day,
only…early in the morning he got to come back.
Not to be seen by everyone…going into the dilly bag…
That’s what he was told…Flying Fox…
…with the Flying Fox and Rainbow said to them,
“Look, you mob can stay here for the river, the bigger one.
You…smaller one, can go ahead in the bush.” Yidumduma
Related Links:
Creation Story 1 & 2 & 3
Burning Off: Fire Law
Knowing Water: World Water Day 2015
Sacred Waters: Messages from Two Indigenous Wisdom Keepers
Aloha 'Aina - Calling the Rain Water Ceremony: Sacred Land Film Project
Gender Issues: Rainbow is both Male & Female.
Kapaemahu
An insight into indigenous understandings of gender[ and healing,
Return to Rainbow & Flying Fox
Transcript:
Now with that, with ol’ Rainbow…
the female one and the male one.
Those two the one that make the sound on the floodwater,
like the didgeridoo sound.
And he gave them the sound to the little ants (termites)
And the little ants went along and start drilling holes in the wood,
but they couldn’t blow the didgeridoo.
The Long Tail Pheasant (coucal), the one that made it happen,
that part of the didgeridoo he got it in his tail now.
He started cleaning it up and he was blowing it.
When he blew that, he said “This is ideal.”
And then the Butcher Bird People were there,
and he made the clapstick.
When he made the clapstick, he’s singing.
And the Piwi was the dancer, many of them,
Little Ibis, Jabiru and everyone, all dancing.
They were…all People. They were all dancer,
every water bird you see.
They all been a dancer with the didgeridoo.
Anyway, when they were doing that, they said,
“ Oh, we left all this, we can trade all this from our time to the generations now.”
That’s what they said, the Bird People.
But ol’ Rainbow, he make the dilly bag also, the female one.
And the male…Rainbow there too, husband.
And with them all the little Flying Fox, one brown Flying Fox called Ganben,
another Flying Fox is a black one called Mun.gen,
and that’s the two children of the Rainbow.
And…all the Flying Fox, black one and brown one, they were all in the inside
of this dilly bag. …and after that he’ll wind the dilly bag up,
and he tells all the Flying Fox, in afternoon,
“You can all go out and crawl up the tree,
and fly out, look for your food inland.”
They all went out, all looking for food,
they were eating all the flowers…off the tree.
And just before breaking dawn,
he start blowing the didgeridoo for them.
…Rainbow was blowing the didgeridoo sound and
all the Flying Fox could hear it coming, the sound.
And they all come back.
They was doing like a big loop, like a big ring.
They start off from there, come round like this in a queue.
And they go all the way down to didgeridoo back to the dilly bag,
the whole lot of them…all the way.
And the didgeridoo will still be there making sound for them.
They go into the dilly bag…and the next thing
they crawl up to the tree and…they hanging down everywhere…
during the day, till afternoon, they go again…
When it gets sunset, they go out again.
