Kapa is the Moon, counted among the Wik-Mungkan pulwaiya, the ancestral totemic forebears of western Cape York. In the story recorded by Ursula McConnel from the narrator Bambeigan, the Moon-ancestor's monthly waning and return furnishes an explanation of mortality and renewal, a widespread theme in Cape York cosmology. Like other pulwaiya, Kapa is tied to a place of origin that serves as a totemic ritual site.
Domains
moon and night
death and renewal
Powers
to wane and be reborn each month
Epithets
pulwaiya
Sources
McConnel, Ursula H. Myths of the Munkan. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1957.
South Australian Museum, AA 191 Ursula Hope McConnel Collection, Series AA 191/16 'Texts, mainly in Wik-Mungkan', item AA 191/16/29, 'Story of the Moon (Kapa)', recorded from Bambeigan.