Wodoi
Ngarinyin · numen · Ngarinyin traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Wodoi, who bears the name of the spotted nightjar, is one of the two Gwion ancestral heroes at the heart of Ngarinyin social law. In the founding narrative he and his companion Jungun quest for wisdom and win the sacred object manjilarri, the inescapable power of justice, from the one man who had kept it to himself. Freed, its power draws the wandering clans to a great council at a stone table, where they agree the Wunan, the law of sharing that ties together people, land and goods. By exchanging their own children in marriage, Wodoi and Jungun also establish the two moieties named for their nightjar totems, so that no one may marry within their own division.
Domains
- law wunan
- moiety kinship
Powers
- establish the Wunan sharing law
- institute the marriage moieties
Epithets
- Spotted NightjarCultural Survival Quarterly, 'Teachings from Ancient Gwion Art' (secondary)
Relations
- companion: JungunThe two Gwion heroes who together founded the Wunan and the moiety system.Ngarjno, Ungudman, Banggal, Nyawarra & Doring, J. (2000) Gwion Gwion. Könemann (secondary)
Sources
- Wodoi, named for the spotted nightjar, is one of the two Gwion culture-heroes who founded the Wunan sharing law and the intermarrying moiety system.: Doring, J. (2014) 'Gwion Artists and Wunan Law', Rock Art Research 31(1): 3-13 (secondary); Ngarjno, Ungudman, Banggal, Nyawarra & Doring, J. (2000) Gwion Gwion. Könemann (secondary)