Mina Mina Jukurrpa (Mina Mina Dreaming) 4639/22 (M)

Mina Mina is an extremely important ceremonial site for
Napangardi and Napanangka women that is located
approximately 600kms west of Yuendumu, just east of Lake
Mackay and the WA border. The area has a ‘marluri’ (salt
lake or claypan) that is usually dry, without water. There
are also a number of ‘mulju’ (soakages), sandhills, and a
large stand of ‘kurrkara’ (desert oaks [Allocasuarina
decaisneana]). The Mina Mina Jukurrpa is an important
source of Warlpiri ritual knowledge and social organisation,
particularly relating to the different roles performed by men
and women.
The ‘kirda’ (owners) of this country are
Napangardi/Napanangka women anti
Japangardi/Japanangka men, who can depict portions of the
Mina Mina Jukurrpa in their paintings. There are a number
of different components of the Mina Mina Jukurrpa; artists
usually choose to depict one particular aspect. These can
include ‘karnta’ (women), ‘karlangu’ (digging sticks),
‘majardi’ (hairstring skirts/tassels), ‘ngalyipi’ (snakevine
[Tinospora smilacina]), ‘jintiparnta’ (desert truffle [Elderia
arenivaga]), and ‘kurrkara’ (desert oak [Allocasuarina
decaisneana]).
The Mina Mina Jukurrpa tells the story of a group of
ancestral ‘karnta’ (women) who traveled from west to east.
In the Dreamtime, these ancestral women danced at Mina
Mina and ‘karlangu’ (digging sticks) rose up out of the
ground. They collected these digging sticks and started
travelling to the east. They carried their digging sticks over
their shoulders and they were adorned with ‘majardi’
(hairstring belts), white feathers, and necklaces made from
‘yinirnti’ (bean tree [Erythrina vespertilio]) seeds. They
continuously anointed themselves with ‘minyira’ (shiny fat)
to increase their ritual powers as they went along. As the
women travelled, they were followed by a ‘yinkardakurdaku’
(spotted nightjar [Eurostopodus argus]) from the Jakamarra
subsection. The bird would call out and then hide in the
bushes behind them as they travelled.
When the women danced at Mina Mina, they created a large
dust cloud that swept up the ‘walyankarna’ (snake
ancestors). The ‘walyankarna’ had previously transformed
themselves from witchetty grubs into snakes at Kunajarrayi
(Mount Nicker, 200km southwest of Yuendumu), and they
had stopped at Mina Mina to watch the women dance. This
dust cloud blew the ‘walyankarna’ further north to
Yaturluyaturlu (near the Granites gold mine). In this way,
the ‘karnta Jukurrpa’ (women’s Dreaming) and ‘ngarlkirdi
Jukurrpa’ (witchetty grub Dreaming) intersect. This allowed
the ancestral women to observe the witchetty grubs and
learn how to best locate and cook them, which are skills
that Warlpiri women still use today.
The women went east from Mina Mina, dancing, digging for
bush tucker, and creating many places as they went. As they
went east, they passed through Kimayi (a stand of ‘kurrkara’
(desert oak)). They passed through sandhill country where
the ‘yarla’ (bush potato or ‘big yam’ [Ipomea costata])
ancestors from Yumurrpa and the ‘ngarlajiyi’ (pencil yam or
‘small yam’ [Vigna lanceolata]) ancestors from Yumurrpa
were engaged in a huge battle over women. This battle is
also a very important Warlpiri Jukurrpa narraƟve. The
women went on to Janyinki and stopped at Wakakurrku
(Mala Bore), where they stuck their digging sticks in the
ground. These digging sticks turned into mulga trees, which
still grow at Wakakurrku today. The women then went on to
Lungkardajarra (Rich Bore), where they looked back towards
their country in the west and started to feel homesick for
what they’d left behind.
The women split up at Lungkardajarra. Some of them
travelled eastwards to Yarungkanyi (Mount Doreen), and
kept going east. They passed through Coniston in
Anmatyerre country, and then went on to Alcoota and
Aileron and beyond. The other group of women travelled
travelled northwards from Lungkardajarra to
Karntakurlangu. These women stopped at Karntakurlangu to
dig for ‘wardapi’ (sand monitor/goanna [Varanus gouldii])
and ‘jintiparnta’ (desert truffle) before going further north.
Both groups eventually got so homesick for their desert oak
country in the west that they went all the way back to Mina
Mina, where they stayed for good.
This Jukurrpa contains important information about the
different roles that men and women play in Warlpiri
culture, particularly in the context of ritual performance. It
alludes to an earlier time in which their ritual and social
roles were reversed, in which women controlled the sacred
objects and weapons that are now exclusively “owned” by
men.
In contemporary Warlpiri paintings, traditional iconography
can be used to represent Jukurrpa, particular sites, and
other elements. In paintings of the Mina Mina Jukurrpa,
sinuous lines are often used to represent ‘ngalyipi’
(snakevine). Circles and roundels can represent the
‘jintiparnta’ (desert truffle) that the women collected as
they travelled, and straight lines are used to represent the
‘karlangu’ (digging sticks). ‘Majardi’ (hairstring skirts) are
represented by wavy lines suspended from a single curved

Follow

Saraeva Napaljarri Marshall was born on the 24 December, 1996 to Julie Nangala Robertson (a Warlukurlangu Artist) and Nigel Japanangka Marshall. She is the grand-daughter of the well-known Telstra Award winning artist, Dorothy Napangardi (Dec 2013). Although born in Adelaide Hospital, Saraeva has spent her whole life in Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community 290 kms north-west of Alice Springs, in the Northern Territory of Australia. Saraeva attends the local school and hopes to complete her secondary school studies in 2014. Once completed she would like to continue her studies in the visual arts and become a well known artist like her Mother and Grandmother. Although Saraeva has been painting from an early age with her mother and grandmother, she has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu, since 2013. She paints her Grandmother’s Mina Mina Jukurrpa (Mina Mina Dreaming). Her grandmother would paint and tell her about the important women’s dreaming site, about the ancestral women travelling and dancing and performing ceremonies and creating the country as they travelled. These stories have been passed down through the generations for millennia. To depict her traditional Jukurrpa, Saraeva uses a wide range of colours and traditional iconography while developing a contemporary style. When Saraeva is not studying or painting she likes to go hunting with her family for goanna and bush tucker.