Kurdaitcha in Magic — AusFigures public-text record

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Kurdaitcha in Magic

YEAR
1899
PLACE
Northern Territory
SOURCE
Internet Sacred Text Archive
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PUBLIC-TEXT RECORD

Kurdaitcha in Magic

When it is known who the culprit is a Kurdaitcha party may be arranged to avenge the death. This custom is, so the natives say, much less frequently carried out at the present day than in former years, and in the southern parts of the tribe seems to have died out altogether. 1 When it is decided wh…

Record ID
1,332
Year
1,899
Source
Internet Sacred Text Archive
Index status
Archive detail (not indexed)

This reviewed public record supports the curated archive pages but intentionally remains outside the search sitemap.

Record context

Record ID
1332
Source
Internet Sacred Text Archive
Publication
Native Tribes of Central Australia; Baldwin Spencer and F. J. Gillen
Published
1899
Narrative type
Spirit-Person Narratives
Public-text label
Kurdaitcha
Archive period
Federation Era
Location
Central Australia, NT (NT): B
State or territory
NT
Source voice
Source Grounded Section Record
Publicness
Public Domain Public Web

Source-grounded excerpt

When it is known who the culprit is a Kurdaitcha party may be arranged to avenge the death. This custom is, so the natives say, much less frequently carried out at the present day than in former years, and in the southern parts of the tribe seems to have died out altogether. 1 When it is decided who is guilty, a council of the old men of the group to which the dead man belonged is held and, if it be decided that vengeance is to be exacted by means of a Kurdaitcha party, then the man who is to play this part is chosen. The name Kurdaitcha is applied to the latter 2 and he wears the shoes to which by white men the name of Kurdaitcha.

The excerpt is presented as public-source context. Terminology belongs to the cited source and may be historical, contested, culturally specific, or outdated.

Browse this record

Narrative type: Spirit-Person NarrativesEncyclopedia profile: KurdaitchaSource: Internet Sacred Text ArchiveOpen original public source

Related public records

  1. Kurdaitcha in Magic#12761899 / Internet Sacred Text Archive / NT / Descriptive Belief RecordsNo idea of natural death—Death of one individual must be avenged in the normal condition of the tribe by the death of another—Organisation of a Kurdaitcha party—The ceremony of dislocating a toe before a man becomes ent…
  2. Kurdaitcha in Magic#12781899 / Internet Sacred Text Archive / NT / Spirit-Person NarrativesWhen it is known who the culprit is a Kurdaitcha party may be arranged to avenge the death. This custom is, so the natives say, much less frequently carried out at the present day than in former years, and in the southe…
  3. Kurdaitcha in Magic#12791899 / Internet Sacred Text Archive / NT / Spirit-Person NarrativesBefore a man may wear the shoes he has to submit to a most painful ordeal. A stone is heated to redness and then applied to the ball of the small toe of either foot, it does not matter which, until, as the natives say,…
  4. Kurdaitcha in Totemic Ceremonies#13301899 / Internet Sacred Text Archive / NT / Spirit-Person Narrativesny, what he describes as the first initiation ceremony of women being that of introcision, the equivalent of the Ariltha kuma ceremony amongst the central tribes, op. cil., p. 174. 467:1 Expedition in North West and Wes…
  5. Kurdaitcha in Magic#41851899 / Internet Sacred Text Archive / NT / Spirit-Person NarrativesLike the man who is on any particular occasion acting as a Kurdaitcha, the doctor himself must be an Ertwa Kurdaitcha who has qualified by passing through the ordeal by fire in which the toe is dislocated. Both men carr…
  6. Kurdaitcha in Magic#41861899 / Internet Sacred Text Archive / NT / Descriptive Belief RecordsBoth medicine man and Kurdaitcha have meanwhile put the sacred Churinga between their teeth and when they are thus armed the spear cannot fail to strike the victim.
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