Yeperenye caterpillar ancestors

The Yeperenye (Ayepe-arenye, 'tar-vine') caterpillar beings are the principal creative ancestors of Mparntwe, the Arrernte country on which Alice Springs stands, and are counted among the most sacred of all Arrernte Dreamings. Together with the Ntyarlke and Utnerrengatye caterpillars they converged on Mparntwe from the surrounding country in the Dreaming; their travels, ceremonies, and great battle with their enemies the stink bugs shaped the MacDonnell Ranges and the gaps of Anthwerrke (Emily Gap) and Ntaripe (Heavitree Gap), where caterpillar Dreaming paintings remain on the rock. Many Arrernte people conceived at Mparntwe regard themselves as direct descendants of the caterpillar ancestors, and the caterpillar (witchetty grub) totem of the Alice Springs region was already described in detail by Spencer and Gillen in 1899. The name survives prominently in the Yipirinya School and the Yeperenye Federation Festival of 2001.

Domains

• land formation
• totemic ancestry

Powers

• to form the MacDonnell Ranges and their gaps through their travels, battles, and bodies
• to engender the Arrernte people conceived at Mparntwe as their direct descendants

Sources

• David Brooks, A Town Like Mparntwe: A Guide to the Dreaming Tracks and Sites of Alice Springs, IAD Press, 1991
• David Wilkins, Mparntwe Arrernte (Aranda): Studies in the Structure and Semantics of Grammar, PhD thesis, Australian National University, 1989
• Baldwin Spencer and F. J. Gillen, The Native Tribes of Central Australia, Macmillan, 1899