Warlpiri Cosmos

Religion:

The Warlpiri people believe that "the vocabulary of a language reflects the way of life of the people who speak it." This belief exactly mirrors the concept of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis of linguistic relativity.  The Warlpiri word "tjukurrpa" means dream, eternity, and the eternal spirit world. From this word, the word for their god is created by adding the suffix -warnu. The Almighty being they worship is called Tjukurrpawarnu. The Warlpiri believe Tjukurrpawarnu created all other tjukurrpa to create everything in the world such as all animals and birds and physical features of the land. For an example of this concept, Wawirritjukurrpa was responsible for creating all Kangaroo life in the world. Everything in the world was created in some way through Tjukurrpawarnu. When talking about creation and when the world came to be, the Warlpiri people use the phrase "Nyuruwi" which means "at the first" and/or "In the Beginning." To emphasize how long ago the world was first created, the vowels in the word "Nyuruwi" are stretched out just as in our language we would say the phrase "long ago" in an emphatic way. It is stressed that the Warlpiri absolutely do not believe in evolution.

Rituals:

A major ritual in the Warlpiri community is the "kurdiji." This ritual involves young boys just reaching puberty and serves as the first step to usher them into manhood. This ritual symbolizes the start of the "education to become a man." This ritual may also double as a marital negotiation. During, the arrangements for a wife for the young boy is made and may be a girl in the village or even a baby. This ritual does not double as wedding though, but only as a matchmaking of sorts for a future marriage. During the ceremony there is lots of singing, dancing and body painting. Male and females both participate in various stages of the ritual.

Warlpiri boys during the Kurdiji ceremony.