Kapa (the Moon Ancestor)
Wik Mungkan · deity · Wik Mungkan traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
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
- pulwaiyaMcConnel, Ursula H. 'The Wik-Munkan Tribe of Cape York Peninsula.' Oceania 1, no. 1 (1930): 97-104; no. 2 (1930): 181-205. (secondary)
Sources
- Kapa is the Moon-ancestor (pulwaiya) of the Wik-Mungkan, whose monthly death and return is told in a totemic myth recorded by Ursula McConnel.: McConnel, Ursula H. Myths of the Munkan. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1957. (secondary); 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. (primary)