The Rainbow Serpent
The Rainbow Serpent, an important figure in the mythology of the Aboriginal peoples, is said to have emerged from a waterhole (in a manner similar to Lumaluma) during the Dreamtime, the moment of creation, which can still be accessed during religious ceremonies. As it moved across the land, its movements created the hills and valleys, and above all the rivers of the ancestral landscape, which are the most sacred places in Aboriginal culture. The great serpent forms an arc over the earth, the rainbow, and can also be seen in the reflection of light on water—on the sea at night, in waterholes, or in the droplets of water in a waterfall—and in substances such as crystal and quartz and in mother-of-pearl.
It is from the Rainbow Serpent that shamans or “men of high degree” obtain their powers, which they manipulate by means of quartz crystals. The Rainbow Serpent is known by various names. To the Gunwinggu people it is Ngalyod, and it has a multiple character.