Napaljarri-warnu

The Napaljarri-warnu are the seven ancestral sisters of the Napaljarri subsection, remembered today in the cluster of the Pleiades. An ancestral Jakamarra man fell in love with them and pursued them across the country, though under subsection law he was of the wrong skin to take a Napaljarri wife. Fleeing him without rest, the sisters at last turned themselves into fire and ascended into the night sky to become the seven stars. Their Dreaming is anchored at Yanjirlpiri, a low hill and water soakage whose name means 'star', and it is one of the great sky narratives painted at Yuendumu, where the sisters are sometimes shown carrying a Jampijinpa suitor named Wardilyka.

Domains

• stars sky
• flight pursuit

Powers

• turn into fire and ascend to become the Pleiades

Epithets

• Napaljarri-warnu — the Napaljarri womenWarlukurlangu Artists, Seven Sisters Dreaming documentation, Yuendumu (secondary)

Relations

• enemy: Jukurra-jukurraThey flee across the country and into the sky from the amorous Jakamarra man who pursues them.Warlukurlangu Artists, Star or Seven Sisters Dreaming documentation, Yuendumu (secondary)

Sources

• The Napaljarri-warnu are seven ancestral sisters of the Napaljarri subsection, pursued across the land by an amorous Jakamarra man; to escape they became fire and rose into the sky as the Pleiades. The Dreaming centres on the site Yanjirlpiri.: Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, 'Yanjirlpiri or Napaljarri-warnu Jukurrpa (Star or Seven Sisters Dreaming)', Yuendumu (secondary); Aboriginal Art Directory, 'Yanjirlpiri or Napaljarri-Warnu Jukurrpa (Star or Seven Sisters Dreaming)' (secondary)