P is for the Pleiades (Women's Epics A to Z)

This year my theme for the A to Z Blogging Challenge is Women's Epics. My goal was to read 26 traditional epics from around the world that have women as their heroes. Because epics like this do exist, and they are fascinating! Read the intoduction post here.

The story of the Mungingee
Ngarrindjeri

This story is a Ngarrindjeri Aboriginal songline, as recorded by David Unaipon and published in 1933. Mungingee (manjingki, muntjingga) is the word they use for the constellation we call the Pleiades. Songlines, or Dreaming tracks, are sacred narratives that trace a route across the land or across the sky, deeply connected to landscape, constellations, and natural phenomena. Songlines carry traditions, such as this story, which is connected to the initiation of adolescent girls. This particular story of the Seven Sisters became especially well known and researched because of its connection of the Hindmarsh Island bridge controversy, where the Ngarrindjeri community was accused by authorities of inventing traditions (which turned out to be a false and deeply offensive accusation). Stories like this were often passed down in secret not only within the community, but also often only by the women. Interestingly, in the 19th century researchers assumed that the "warrior in the sky" called Mungingee was a man - only later on was it revealed that it is a group of warrior women, the Pleiades.

There are also different songlines associated with the Seven Sisters and feminine initiation. You can read more about Seven Sisters songlines here and here. You can read more about Ngarrindjeri tradition and the fight for recognition (including details about the bridge controversy, and Unaipon's account) in this book and this one.

What is it about?

TL;DR: A group of young girls undergo initiation through a series of trials, proving that they can withstand any suffering through willpower and they can conquer their fears.

A group of seven young girls (yartooka) present themselves to the Elders to take a trial by ordeal and prove that they can submit their own bodies to their will. The Elders put them through a series of tests and trials.

First, the girls live apart from others for three years, only receiving small portions of food in the morning and in the evening. The the Elders take them on a long and harrowing journey through hard terrain and in scorching heat. For three days they travel without any food, controlling their appetite; then they are given meat to see if they can still take an ordinary portion instead of gorging themselves. They succeed. Another series of tests follows, including one tooth knocked out of the mouth of each girl, and their chests being cut with flint knives and the wounds rubbed with stinging ash. At night they are made to sleep alone in the dark in a bed of ants. Their noses are pierced, they are made to lie in a bed of burning cinders.

Once the girls prove that they can withstand any sort of pain, the Elders test them to see if they can control their fear. In the evening around the campire they tell the girls terrifying stories and then leave them alone to sleep, telling them the camping place is over a burial ground. At night, the Elders creep around, making scary noises, but the girls hold out and control their fear.

Once they passed all the tests, the girls are celeberated. People gather, and other young girls also express the desire to be initiated and go through the tests. The Great Spirit lifts the Seven Sisters to the sky and turns them into stars, to guide their people from there.

(Side note: According to the book I read, since the Seven Sisters story was carried by women, it is likely that Unaipon had not heard the full extent of it. It is also likely that the story did not fully reflect the realities of the initiation rites, but rather a mythical narrative that highlighted trials and ordeals.)

The highlights

Image from here

It is hard to find just one highlight in this fascinating story; it was intriguing to follow the repetitions of the girls confirming that they would continue the trials, and that they could control their pain and fear. 

My personal favorite part, as a storyteller, was the trial where they were told scary stories by the Elders, mentioning various terrifying creatures of folklore, and then left alone at night. Using storytelling to make people face their fears is an old tradition. I also liked the statement that the girls made each other brave, going through the hardships together rather than on their own.

COUNTLESS CULTURES HAVE SEEN THE PLEIADES AS A GROUP OF WOMEN.

Have you encountered others that are similar?