Gidegal, the Moon Man
Lardil · deity · Lardil traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Gidegal the Moon Man is a Lardil ancestral being associated with the moon, initiation and death. In the Dreaming he served as the principal authority over the first male initiation ceremony, and Lardil tradition holds that initiation has continued since his time. He is further said to stand watch over the path that the spirits of the dead must travel, guarding the passage to the afterlife. His stories were recorded and illustrated by the Lardil artist Goobalathaldin (Dick Roughsey).
Domains
- initiation ritual
- the moon
- afterlife
Powers
- to preside over the first initiation ceremony
- to guard the passage to the afterlife
Sources
- Gidegal is the Lardil Moon Man who established and presided over the first initiation ceremony in the Dreaming and who now guards the passage of the dead to the afterlife.: Roughsey, Dick (Goobalathaldin). Moon and Rainbow: The Autobiography of an Aboriginal. Sydney: Reed, 1971. (secondary); McKnight, David. People, Countries, and the Rainbow Serpent: Systems of Classification among the Lardil of Mornington Island. Oxford University Press, 1999. (secondary)