Tjurunga

A tjurunga, also spelt churinga and tjuringa, is an object considered to be of religious significance by Central Australian Aboriginal people of the Arrernte (Aranda, Arunta) groups.

[1] Generally speaking, tjurunga are sacred stone or wooden objects possessed by private or group owners together with the legends, chants, and ceremonies associated with them.

The ownership of sacred tjurunga amongst the Arrernte groups was determined largely by "the conception site" of every individual member of a patrilineal totemic clan.

"[3] In recent decades there have been moves to repatriate these sacred objects from museum collections back to their traditional owners.

The acquisition of sufficient knowledge leading to possession of personal tjurunga was long, difficult and sometimes extremely painful.

Ted Strehlow describes how the men from the Northern, Southern and Western Arrernte groups were put on probation for several years after their last initiations.

Eventually he may become a member of the assembly of senior Lawmen who are honoured trustees for the ancient traditions of the whole clan.

In many cases, unless the young men were outstandingly generous in their gifts towards their elders, no ceremonies or chants of power and importance were handed on to this unworthy younger generation.

Early Papunya artists like Kaapa Mbitjana Tjampitjinpa and Anatjari Tjakamarra show tjurunga in their paintings.

[5][6] Other early Papunya artists transferred the same symbols and designs found on tjurunga onto painted canvas and board.

These early paintings contained the same secret sacred knowledge as found on tjurunga incised boards and stones.

This practice only lasted a short time before these secret sacred symbols were hidden by artist like Clifford Possum behind veils of dots.

[7] Most of the symbols people associate with aboriginal art from this region like concentric circles, U shapes and wavy lines all come from earlier designs on tjurunga.

Durkheim discusses the nature of tjurunga throughout his seminal work The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1912).

[citation needed] Aboriginal readers from Central and Western Desert regions are respectfully advised that viewing or displaying images of sacred objects may be considered inappropriate by their communities.