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Aboriginal Astronomy

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In most Aboriginal cultures, the Moon is male and the Sun is female. For example, the Yolngu people of Arnhem Land in the far north of Australia, tell  how Walu, the Sun-woman, lights a small fire each morning, which we see as the dawn (Wells, 1964). She decorates herself with red ochre, some of which spills onto the clouds, creating the red sunrise. She then lights her torch, made from a stringy-bark tree, and travels across the sky from east to west carrying her blazing torch, creating daylight. As she descends at the end of her journey, again some of the red ochre dusts the clouds to give the red sunset. On reaching the western horizon, she puts out her torch, and starts the long journey underground back to the morning camp in the east. Thus the Yolngu people explained the daily motion of the Sun across the sky and back again under the ground. The Yolngu people call the Moon Ngalindi  and he too travels across the sky.Originally, he was a fat lazy man (corresponding to the full Moon

Aboriginal Astronomy Sun, Moon, and eclipses In most Aboriginal cultures, the Moon is male and the Sun is female. For example, the Yolngu people of Arnhem Land in the far north of Australia, tell how Walu, the Sun-woman, lights a small fire each morning, which we see as the dawn (Wells, 1964). She decorates herself with red ochre, some of which spills onto the clouds, creating the red sunrise. She then lights her torch, made from a stringy-bark tree, and travels across the sky from east to west carrying her blazing torch, creating daylight. As she descends at the end of her journey, again some

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