(Frilled-lizard totem) holds that reptile as sacred, and he would not only not kill it, but would protect it by preventing another person doing so in his presence. Similarly a man of the Screech-owl totem would call it "father," and likewise hold it sacred and protect it. So far does the feeling go, that when a man could not get satisfaction for an injurious action by another, he has been known to kill that beast, bird, or reptile which that man called "father," and thus obtain revenge, and perhaps cause the other to do the same, if he knew of it. A man who was lax as to his totem was not thought well of, and was never allowed to take any important part in the ceremonies.[1]
Sex Totems
There are two birds which the Kurnai reverence: the Emu-wren and the Superb Warbler, which, are the sex totems, and no man would think under any circumstances of injuring his "elder brother," Yiirung, or any woman her "elder sister," Djiitgun. Thus, as to these sex totems, the usual totemic taboo exists. The totem is the protector of the individual, and the individual protects his totem.
The sex totems were first observed and reported by me among the Kurnai, where Yiirung, the Emu-wren, is the elder brother of the men, and Djiitgun the elder sister of the women. The sex totems, when first seen, presented a novel but a perplexing problem, because they merely divide the tribe into two moieties, one including all the males and the other all the females.
The true character of the sex totem is shown by the Wotjobaluk expression, "The life of a bat is the life of a man," meaning that to injure a bat is to injure some man, while to kill one is to cause some man to die. The same saying applies to the Owlet-nightjar with respect to women.
There is a very peculiar custom connected with these totems, namely, that they are the cause of fighting between the sexes, not only in the Kurnai tribe but also in all the tribes in which I have found them.
- ↑ J. C. Muirhead.
