112-628: The Rainbow Serpent or Rainbow Snake is a common deity often seen as the creator God , known by numerous names in different Australian Aboriginal languages by the many different Aboriginal peoples . It is a common motif in the art and religion of many Aboriginal Australian peoples. Much like the archetypal mother goddess, the Rainbow Serpent creates land and diversity for the Aboriginal people, but when disturbed can bring great chaos. There are many names and stories associated with
224-654: A god or goddess , or anything revered as divine . C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greater than those of ordinary humans, but who interacts with humans, positively or negatively, in ways that carry humans to new levels of consciousness , beyond the grounded preoccupations of ordinary life". Religions can be categorized by how many deities they worship. Monotheistic religions accept only one deity (predominantly referred to as " God "), whereas polytheistic religions accept multiple deities. Henotheistic religions accept one supreme deity without denying other deities, considering them as aspects of
336-619: A "deity" and various cultures have conceptualized their deities differently. Monotheistic religions typically refer to their god in masculine terms, while other religions refer to their deities in a variety of ways—male, female, hermaphroditic , or genderless. Many cultures—including the ancient Mesopotamians , Egyptians , Greeks , Romans , and Germanic peoples —have personified natural phenomena , variously as either deliberate causes or effects. Some Avestan and Vedic deities were viewed as ethical concepts. In Indian religions , deities have been envisioned as manifesting within
448-553: A bird, crocodile, dingo, or lizard, as taking the role of the Serpent in stories. In all cases, these animals are also associated with water. The Rainbow Serpent has also been identified with, or considered to be related to, the bunyip , a fearful, water-hole dwelling creature in Australian mythology. Unlike many other deities, the Rainbow Serpent does not have a human form and remains in the form of animal. While each culture has
560-440: A bit from one Aboriginal culture to another, and should be properly called the Rainbow Serpent myth s of Australia. It has also been suggested that the Serpent's position as the most prominent creator God in the Australian tradition has largely been the creation of non-Aboriginal anthropologists. Another error of the same kind is the way in which Western-educated people, with a cultural stereotype of Greco-Roman or Norse myths, tell
672-422: A creator God or transcendental absolute principle ( monistic theologies), which manifests immanently in nature. Henotheism accepts the existence of more than one deity, but considers all deities as equivalent representations or aspects of the same divine principle, the highest. Monolatry is the belief that many deities exist, but that only one of these deities may be validly worshipped. Monotheism
784-473: A different interpretation on gender and which animal the deity is, it is nonetheless, always an animal.> The sometimes unpredictable Rainbow Serpent (in contrast to the unyielding sun) replenishes the stores of water, forming gullies and deep channels as the Rainbow Serpent slithers across the landscape. In this belief system, without the Serpent, no rain would fall and the Earth would dry up. In other cultures,
896-574: A few of them, particularly Dumuzid , Geshtinanna , and Gugalanna were said to have either died or visited the underworld. Both male and female deities were widely venerated. In the Sumerian pantheon, deities had multiple functions, which included presiding over procreation, rains, irrigation, agriculture, destiny, and justice. The gods were fed, clothed, entertained, and worshipped to prevent natural catastrophes as well as to prevent social chaos such as pillaging, rape, or atrocities. Many of
1008-655: A pantheon of deities, the chief of whom was the god El , who ruled alongside his consort Asherah and their seventy sons . Baal was the god of storm, rain, vegetation and fertility, while his consort Anat was the goddess of war and Astarte , the West Semitic equivalent to Ishtar , was the goddess of love. The people of the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah originally believed in these deities, alongside their own national god Yahweh. El later became syncretized with Yahweh , who took over El's role as
1120-465: A part of boundary of the set of all real colors. When considering a three- dimensional color space (which includes luminance ), the spectral colors form a surface . When excluding luminance and considering a two-dimensional color space ( chromaticity diagram ), the spectral colors form a curve known as the spectral locus . For example, the spectral locus of the CIEXYZ chromaticity diagram contains all
1232-496: A prehistoric female deity. A number of probable representations of deities have been discovered at 'Ain Ghazal and the works of art uncovered at Çatalhöyük reveal references to what is probably a complex mythology. Diverse African cultures developed theology and concepts of deities over their history. In Nigeria and neighboring West African countries , for example, two prominent deities (locally called Òrìṣà ) are found in
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#17327572104841344-613: A presiding deity, who inspired social rituals, special trading markets and community festivals. A deity with aspects similar to Kulkulkan in the Aztec culture has been called Quetzalcoatl . However, states Timothy Insoll, the Aztec ideas of deity remain poorly understood. What has been assumed is based on what was constructed by Christian missionaries . The deity concept was likely more complex than these historical records. In Aztec culture , there were hundred of deities, but many were henotheistic incarnations of one another (similar to
1456-407: A specific and flawed personality. They were not omnipotent and could be injured in some circumstances. Greek deities led to cults, were used politically and inspired votive offerings for favors such as bountiful crops, healthy family, victory in war, or peace for a loved one recently deceased. The Roman pantheon had numerous deities, both Greek and non-Greek. The more famed deities, found in
1568-571: A women's menstrual blood, letting them flow together in a ceremonial unification of the sexes. The Rainbow Serpent is also identified as a healer and can pass on its properties as a healer to humans through a ritual. The Rainbow Serpent, in addition to the continuation of traditional beliefs is often referenced in modern culture by providing inspiration for art, film, literature, music, religion, and social movements. For example, The Rainbow Serpent Festival , an annual music festival in Australia, and
1680-470: Is also representative of Yams and water-lilies. Heavy rainfall brought an abundance of both to the land and there is rock art depicting the serpent as a "Yam Serpent". Other rock art depicts the Rainbow Serpent with a flying fox head or like attributes. On the Arnhem Plateau in Australia, there is also early art depicting the serpent as an urchin or "seaweed like." It is believed that early painting of
1792-484: Is also representative of fertility. Thunder and lightning are said to stem from when the Rainbow Serpent is angry, causing powerful storms and cyclones that will drown those who have upset her. Other punishments carried out by the Rainbow Serpent included being turned into either a human or to stone. Stories about the Rainbow Serpent have been passed down from generation to generation. The serpent story may vary however, according to environmental differences. Peoples of
1904-526: Is an annual festival of music, arts and culture in Victoria . The Rainbow Serpent is known by different names by the many different Aboriginal cultures . Yurlunggur is the name of the "rainbow serpent" according to the Murngin ( Yolngu ) in north-eastern Arnhemland, also styled Yurlungur , Yulunggur , Jurlungur , Julunggur or Julunggul . The Yurlunggur was considered "the great father". The serpent
2016-743: Is called Witij / Wititj by the Galpu clan of the Dhangu people , one of Yolngu peoples. Kanmare is the name of the great water serpent in Queensland among the Pitapita people of the Boulia District ; it is apparently a giant carpet snake , and recorded under the name Cunmurra further south. The same snake is called Tulloun among the Mitakoodi (Maithakari). Two mythical Kooremah of
2128-722: Is called nawaran in the native Kunwinjku language, according to whose lore grew into the Ngalyod serpent. This snake is also brown with darker blotches with iridescent scales. Another candidate is the water python ( Liasis fuscus ), which is a particularly colourful snake. The carpet snake ( Morelia spilota variegata ) is considered a form that the Rainbow Serpent can take by the Walmadjari people in northern Western Australia. The Kanmare or Kooremah of Queensland are also considered enormous carpet snakes, as already mentioned. There are also some geologist that study and look at
2240-587: Is deemed to be a full deity with the Christian cross as his icon. The theological examination of Jesus Christ, of divine grace in incarnation, his non-transferability and completeness has been a historic topic. For example, the Council of Chalcedon in 451 CE declared that in "one person Jesus Christ, fullness of deity and fullness of humanity are united, the union of the natures being such that they can neither be divided nor confused". Jesus Christ, according to
2352-455: Is derived from Proto-Germanic *guthan , from PIE *ghut- , which means "that which is invoked". Guth in the Irish language means "voice". The term *ghut- is also the source of Old Church Slavonic zovo ("to call"), Sanskrit huta- ("invoked", an epithet of Indra ), from the root *gheu(e)- ("to call, invoke."), An alternate etymology for the term "god" comes from
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#17327572104842464-473: Is impossible to conclusively identify any prehistoric figurines as representations of any kind of deities, let alone goddesses. Nonetheless, it is possible to evaluate ancient representations on a case-by-case basis and rate them on how likely they are to represent deities. The Venus of Willendorf , a female figurine found in Europe and dated to about 25,000 BCE has been interpreted by some as an exemplar of
2576-509: Is masculine, and the related feminine equivalent is devi . Etymologically, the cognates of Devi are Latin dea and Greek thea . In Old Persian , daiva- means " demon , evil god", while in Sanskrit it means the opposite, referring to the "heavenly, divine, terrestrial things of high excellence, exalted, shining ones". The closely linked term " god " refers to "supreme being, deity", according to Douglas Harper, and
2688-714: Is now known as the mother of life. Another tale is told in Dick Roughsey 's children's book, which tells how the Rainbow Serpent creates the landscape of Australia by thrashing about and, by tricking and swallowing two boys, ends up creating the population of Australia by various animal, insect, and plant species. The Serpent has been depicted in rock art in various forms, generally snake-like but sometimes with heads resembling various marsupials ( macropods ), flying foxes, or in some cases birds. Unlike an ordinary snake, it may be depicted with appendages such as animal legs and feet or an unusual tail in rock art. The Rainbow Serpent
2800-549: Is often divided into color terms or names, but aligning boundaries between color terms to a specific wavelength is very subjective. The first person to decompose white light and name the spectral colors was Isaac Newton . Early in the study of radiometry, Newton was not able to measure the wavelength of the light, but his experiments were repeated contemporarily to estimate wavelengths where his color term boundaries probably lay. Newton's color terms included red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet; this color sequence
2912-411: Is still used to describe spectral colors colloquially and a mnemonic for it is commonly known as " Roy G. Biv ". In modern divisions of the spectrum, indigo is often omitted and a blue-green color is sometimes included. Some have argued that Newton's indigo would be equivalent to our modern blue, and his blue equivalent to our blue-green. However, his nonintuitive choices can be better explained. In
3024-400: Is strictly monotheistic and the first statement of the shahada , or Muslim confession of faith, is that "there is no ʾilāh (deity) but Allah (God)", who is perfectly unified and utterly indivisible. Spectral colors A spectral color is a color that is evoked by monochromatic light , i.e. either a spectral line with a single wavelength or frequency of light in
3136-510: Is the Serpent as creator, with the Serpent often bringing life to an empty space. One prominent Rainbow Serpent myth is the story of the Wawalag or Wagilag sisters, from the Yolngu people of Arnhem Land . According to legend, the sisters are travelling together when the older sister gives birth, and her blood flows to a waterhole where the Rainbow Serpent lives. In another version of the tale,
3248-494: Is the Serpent which falls from heaven and creates the crater. The story sometimes continues telling of how an old hunter chased a dingo into the crater and got lost in a tunnel created by the Serpent, never to be found again, with the dingo being eaten and spat out by the Serpent. The Noongar people of south-western Western Australia tell of how Rainbow Serpents, or Wagyls , smashed and pushed boulders around to form trails on Mount Matilda, along with creating waterways such as
3360-414: Is the belief that divinity pervades the universe, but that it also transcends the universe. Agnosticism is the position that it is impossible to know for certain whether a deity of any kind exists. Atheism is the non-belief in the existence of any deity. Scholars infer the probable existence of deities in the prehistoric period from inscriptions and prehistoric arts such as cave drawings , but it
3472-429: Is the belief that only one deity exists. A monotheistic deity, known as "God", is usually described as omnipotent , omnipresent , omniscient , omnibenevolent and eternal . However, not all deities have been regarded this way and an entity does not need to be almighty, omnipresent, omniscient, omnibenevolent or eternal to qualify as a deity. Deism is the belief that only one deity exists, who created
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3584-460: Is the superstitious man who fears the gods, while the truly religious person venerates them as parents. Cicero, in his Academica , praised Varro for this and other insights. According to Varro, there have been three accounts of deities in the Roman society: the mythical account created by poets for theatre and entertainment, the civil account used by people for veneration as well as by the city, and
3696-489: Is typically seen as male . In contrast, all ancient Indo-European cultures and mythologies recognized both masculine and feminine deities. There is no universally accepted consensus on what a deity is, and concepts of deities vary considerably across cultures. Huw Owen states that the term "deity or god or its equivalent in other languages" has a bewildering range of meanings and significance. It has ranged from "infinite transcendent being who created and lords over
3808-504: Is unclear what these sketches and paintings are and why they were made. Some engravings or sketches show animals, hunters or rituals. It was once common for archaeologists to interpret virtually every prehistoric female figurine as a representation of a single, primordial goddess, the ancestor of historically attested goddesses such as Inanna , Ishtar , Astarte , Cybele , and Aphrodite ; this approach has now generally been discredited. Modern archaeologists now generally recognize that it
3920-544: Is zoomorphic and is most often found in Middle Eastern archaeological remains depicted as a "snake-dragon" or a "human-animal hybrid". In Germanic languages , the terms cognate with ' god ' such as Old English : god and Old Norse : guð were originally neuter but became masculine, as in modern Germanic languages, after Christianisation due their use in referring to the Christian god . In Norse mythology , Æsir (singular áss or ǫ́ss ) are
4032-609: The Avon River . Some Aboriginal peoples in the Kimberley region believe that it was the Rainbow Serpent who deposited spirit-children throughout pools in which women become impregnated when they wade in the water. This process is sometimes referred to as "netting a fish". A more child-friendly version of the Rainbow Serpent myth tells of how a serpent rose through the Earth to the surface, where she summoned frogs, tickled their bellies to release water to create pools and rivers, and
4144-800: The First Council of Nicaea in the fourth century, which declared that all three persons of the Trinity are equal. Christians regard the universe as an element in God's actualization and the Holy Spirit is seen as the divine essence that is "the unity and relation of the Father and the Son". According to George Hunsinger, the doctrine of the Trinity justifies worship in a Church, wherein Jesus Christ
4256-488: The Latin deitatem (nominative deitas ) or "divine nature", coined by Augustine of Hippo from deus ("god"). Deus is related through a common Proto-Indo-European (PIE) origin to *deiwos . This root yields the ancient Indian word Deva meaning "to gleam, a shining one", from *div- "to shine", as well as Greek dios " divine " and Zeus ; and Latin deus "god" ( Old Latin deivos ). Deva
4368-598: The New Testament , is the self-disclosure of the one, true God, both in his teaching and in his person; Christ, in Christian faith, is considered the incarnation of God. Ilah , ʾIlāh ( Arabic : إله ; plural: آلهة ʾālihah ), is an Arabic word meaning "god". It appears in the name of the monotheistic god of Islam as Allah ( al-Lāh ). which literally means "the god" in Arabic. Islam
4480-689: The Northern Territory marks the importance of the female menstruation process and led to the establishment of the Kunapipi blood ritual of the goddess, in which the Indigenous Australians allegorically recreate the Rainbow Serpent eating the Wawalag sisters through dance and pantomime, and can be regarded as a fertility ritual . Female menstruation is sacred to many Indigenous Australian cultures because it distinguishes
4592-495: The ProPhoto RGB color space which use imaginary colors as primaries. In color models capable of representing spectral colors, such as CIELUV , a spectral color has the maximal saturation. In Helmholtz coordinates , this is described as 100% purity . In dichromatic color vision there is no distinction between spectral and non-spectral colors. Their entire gamut can be represented by spectral colors. The spectrum
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4704-559: The Vanir went to war , according to the Nordic sources. The account in Ynglinga saga describes the Æsir–Vanir War ending in truce and ultimate reconciliation of the two into a single group of gods, after both sides chose peace, exchanged ambassadors (hostages), and intermarried. The Norse mythology describes the cooperation after the war, as well as differences between the Æsir and
4816-584: The Vanir which were considered scandalous by the other side. The goddess Freyja of the Vanir taught magic to the Æsir , while the two sides discover that while Æsir forbid mating between siblings , Vanir accepted such mating. Temples hosting images of Germanic gods (such as Thor , Odin and Freyr ), as well as pagan worship rituals, continued in Scandinavia into the 12th century, according to historical records. It has been proposed that over time, Christian equivalents were substituted for
4928-528: The Yoruba religion , namely the god Ogun and the goddess Osun . Ogun is the primordial masculine deity as well as the archdivinity and guardian of occupations such as tools making and use, metal working, hunting, war, protection and ascertaining equity and justice. Osun is an equally powerful primordial feminine deity and a multidimensional guardian of fertility, water, maternal, health, social relations, love and peace. Ogun and Osun traditions were brought into
5040-442: The avatar concept of Hinduism). Unlike Hinduism and other cultures, Aztec deities were usually not anthropomorphic, and were instead zoomorphic or hybrid icons associated with spirits, natural phenomena or forces. The Aztec deities were often represented through ceramic figurines, revered in home shrines. The Polynesian people developed a theology centered on numerous deities, with clusters of islands having different names for
5152-659: The monsoonal areas depict an epic interaction of the sun, Serpent, and wind in their Dreamtime stories, whereas those of the central desert experience less drastic seasonal shifts and their stories reflect this. It is known both as a benevolent protector of its people (the groups from the country around) and as a malevolent punisher of law breakers. The Rainbow Serpent's mythology is closely linked to land , water, life, social relationships, and fertility . The Rainbow Serpent often takes part in transitions from adolescence to adulthood for young men and swallows them to vomit them up later. The most common motif in Rainbow Serpent stories
5264-403: The visible spectrum , or a relatively narrow spectral band (e.g. lasers ). Every wave of visible light is perceived as a spectral color; when viewed as a continuous spectrum , these colors are seen as the familiar rainbow . Non-spectral colors (or extra-spectral colors ) are evoked by a combination of spectral colors. In color spaces which include all, or most spectral colors, they form
5376-484: The Aboriginal stories in the past tense. For the Indigenous people of Australia, the stories are everywhen – past, present and future. Robert Blust has documented beliefs about the rainbow in tribal societies around the world that closely resemble the Rainbow Serpent myth of Australia. Rather than supporting the long-standing academic supposition that this belief complex is peculiar to one continent,
5488-711: The Americas on slave ships . They were preserved by the Africans in their plantation communities, and their festivals continue to be observed. In Southern African cultures , a similar masculine-feminine deity combination has appeared in other forms, particularly as the Moon and Sun deities. One Southern African cosmology consists of Hieseba or Xuba (deity, god), Gaune (evil spirits) and Khuene (people). The Hieseba includes Nladiba (male, creator sky god) and Nladisara (females, Nladiba's two wives). The Sun (female) and
5600-744: The East Semitic Ishtar, became popular, with temples across Mesopotamia. The Mesopotamian mythology of the first millennium BCE treated Anšar (later Aššur ) and Kišar as primordial deities. Marduk was a significant god among the Babylonians. He rose from an obscure deity of the third millennium BCE to become one of the most important deities in the Mesopotamian pantheon of the first millennium BCE. The Babylonians worshipped Marduk as creator of heaven, earth and humankind, and as their national god . Marduk's iconography
5712-611: The Father , God the Son , and the Holy Spirit . The first person to describe the persons of the Trinity as homooúsios ( ὁμοούσιος ; "of the same substance") was the Church Father Origen. Although most early Christian theologians (including Origen ) were Subordinationists , who believed that the Father was superior to the Son and the Son superior to the Holy Spirit, this belief was condemned as heretical by
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#17327572104845824-668: The Germanic deities to help suppress paganism as part of the Christianisation of the Germanic peoples . Worship of the Germanic gods has been revived in the modern period as part of the new religious movement of Heathenry . The ancient Greeks revered both gods and goddesses. These continued to be revered through the early centuries of the common era, and many of the Greek deities inspired and were adopted as part of much larger pantheon of Roman deities. The Greek religion
5936-660: The Greek pantheon were the Twelve Olympians : Zeus, Hera , Poseidon , Athena , Apollo , Artemis , Aphrodite, Hermes , Demeter , Dionysus , Hephaestus , and Ares . Other important Greek deities included Hestia , Hades and Heracles . These deities later inspired the Dii Consentes galaxy of Roman deities. Besides the Olympians, the Greeks also worshipped various local deities. Among these were
6048-547: The Inca people have corresponded to elements of nature. Of these, the most important ones have been Inti ( sun deity ) responsible for agricultural prosperity and as the father of the first Inca king, and Mama Qucha the goddess of the sea, lakes, rivers and waters. Inti in some mythologies is the son of Viracocha and Mama Qucha . Inca Sun deity festival Oh creator and Sun and Thunder, be forever copious, do not make us old, let all things be at peace, multiply
6160-485: The Moon (male) deities are viewed as offspring of Nladiba and two Nladisara . The Sun and Moon are viewed as manifestations of the supreme deity, and worship is timed and directed to them. In other African cultures the Sun is seen as male, while the Moon is female, both symbols of the godhead. In Zimbabwe , the supreme deity is androgynous with male-female aspects, envisioned as the giver of rain, treated simultaneously as
6272-559: The Mycoolon ( Maikulan ) tribe of Queensland, are cosmic carpet snakes 40 miles long, residing in watery realm of the dead, or on the pathway leading to it; this is probably equivalent to the rainbow snake also. Other names include: Though the concept of the Rainbow Serpent has existed for a very long time in Aboriginal Australian cultures, it was introduced to the wider world through the work of anthropologists. In fact,
6384-521: The Proto-Germanic Gaut , which traces it to the PIE root *ghu-to- ("poured"), derived from the root *gheu- ("to pour, pour a libation "). The term *gheu- is also the source of the Greek khein "to pour". Originally the word "god" and its other Germanic cognates were neuter nouns but shifted to being generally masculine under the influence of Christianity in which the god
6496-491: The Rainbow Serpent Project, a series of films which document the filmmaker's journey to various sacred sites around the Earth, are both inspired and named after the creature. Many Aboriginal Australian artists continue to be inspired by the Rainbow Serpent and use it as a subject in their art. An artist by the name of Belle Parker created a painted in the year 2000 called 'The Journey'. This painting combined
6608-541: The Rainbow Serpent art in Australia who see many similarities between the Serpent and seahorses or pipefish. It's also been described as looking like a sea urchin or seaweed. Considering that the Aborigines are in Australia and surrounded by lush rainforest, tropical ocean, and great diversity, the origins of the Serpents form are varied. In Queensland , a fossil of a snake was found, and they believe that it came from
6720-461: The Rainbow Serpent was adopted as the symbol of an anti-uranium mining campaign in Australia, using the notion that the mining would disturb the Serpent and cause it to seek revenge as a metaphor for environmental destruction. Deity A deity or god is a supernatural being considered to be sacred and worthy of worship due to having authority over the universe, nature or human life. The Oxford Dictionary of English defines deity as
6832-486: The Rainbow Serpent with the Christian cross. She even won the Blake prize for this piece. The Rainbow Serpent has also appeared as a character in literature. The Lardil people 's Dreaming story of the Rainbow Serpent was retold in Dick Roughsey 's award-winning Australian children's book The Rainbow Serpent ; the Rainbow Serpent has also appeared as a character in comic books such as Hellblazer . The Rainbow Serpent, under
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#17327572104846944-573: The Serpent has no particular gender. The serpent is sometimes ascribed with a having crest or a mane or on its head, or being bearded as well. While it is single-headed, the Yurlunggur of Arnhem land may possess a double-body. In some stories, the Serpent is associated with a large fruit bat, sometimes called a "flying fox" in Australian English, engaged in a rivalry over a woman. Some scholars have identified other creatures, such as
7056-557: The Serpent speaks in their voices and teaches sacred rituals to the people living there. Wollunqua is the Warumungu people 's version of the Rainbow Serpent, telling of an enormous snake which emerged from a watering hole called Kadjinara in the Murchison Ranges , Northern Territory. Another story from the Northern Territory tells of how a great mother arrives from the sea, travelling across Australia and giving birth to
7168-483: The Sumerian deities were patron guardians of city-states . The most important deities in the Sumerian pantheon were known as the Anunnaki , and included deities known as the "seven gods who decree": An , Enlil , Enki , Ninhursag , Nanna , Utu and Inanna . After the conquest of Sumer by Sargon of Akkad , many Sumerian deities were syncretized with East Semitic ones. The goddess Inanna, syncretized with
7280-402: The actual distance between RGB pure color wheel colors and spectral colors shows a complicated dependence on the hue . Due to the location of R and G primaries near the 'almost flat' spectral segment, RGB color space is reasonably good with approximating spectral orange, yellow, and bright (yellowish) green , but is especially poor in reproducing the visual appearance of spectral colors in
7392-480: The banded rock python ( aka Children's python ; Liasis childreni <sc>syn.</sc> Antaresia childreni ) has been identified with the Yurlunggur by one researcher. This species is of brown colour (cf. Yurlunggur described as "giant copper snake") flecked with darker patches and having a ventral side that is opalescent white. Another suggestion is the Oenpelli rock python ( aka Oenpelli python ), which
7504-582: The dawn, for instance, is cognate to Indic Ushas , Roman Aurora and Latvian Auseklis . Zeus , the Greek king of gods, is cognate to Latin Iūpiter , Old German Ziu , and Indic Dyaus , with whom he shares similar mythologies. Other deities, such as Aphrodite , originated from the Near East . Greek deities varied locally, but many shared panhellenic themes, celebrated similar festivals, rites, and ritual grammar. The most important deities in
7616-399: The deity is a principle or reality such as the idea of "soul". The Upanishads of Hinduism, for example, characterize Atman (soul, self) as deva (deity), thereby asserting that the deva and eternal supreme principle ( Brahman ) is part of every living creature, that this soul is spiritual and divine, and that to realize self-knowledge is to know the supreme. Theism is the belief in
7728-440: The ethnographic record shows that it is a culture universal. The rainbow serpent is in the first instance, the rainbow itself. It is said to inhabit particular waterholes, springs etc., because such bodies of water can exhibit spectral colors by diffracting light , according to one explanation. Likewise, the rainbow quartz crystal and certain seashells are also associated with the Rainbow Serpent, and are used in rituals involving
7840-408: The existence of one or more deities. Polytheism is the belief in and worship of multiple deities, which are usually assembled into a pantheon of gods and goddesses , with accompanying rituals . In most polytheistic religions, the different gods and goddesses are representations of forces of nature or ancestral principles , and can be viewed either as autonomous or as aspects or emanations of
7952-464: The formation of an Egyptian state under the Pharaohs and their treatment as sacred kings who had exclusive rights to interact with the gods, in the later part of the 3rd millennium BCE. Through the early centuries of the common era, as Egyptians interacted and traded with neighboring cultures, foreign deities were adopted and venerated. The ancient Canaanites were polytheists who believed in
8064-463: The gender is ambiguous or the Rainbow Serpent is hermaphroditic or bigender , thus an androgynous entity. Some commentators have suggested that the Rainbow Serpent is a phallic symbol , which fits its connection with fertility myths and rituals. When the Serpent is characterized as female or bigender, it is sometimes depicted with breasts, as in the case of the Kunmanggur serpent. Other times,
8176-796: The goat-legged god Pan (the guardian of shepherds and their flocks), Nymphs ( nature spirits associated with particular landforms), Naiads (who dwelled in springs), Dryads (who were spirits of the trees), Nereids (who inhabited the sea), river gods, satyrs (a class of lustful male nature spirits), and others. The dark powers of the underworld were represented by the Erinyes (or Furies), said to pursue those guilty of crimes against blood-relatives. The Greek deities, like those in many other Indo-European traditions, were anthropomorphic. Walter Burkert describes them as "persons, not abstractions, ideas or concepts". They had fantastic abilities and powers; each had some unique expertise and, in some aspects,
8288-870: The god of darkness and light and is called Mwari Shona . In the Lake Victoria region, the term for a deity is Lubaale , or alternatively Jok . Ancient Egyptian culture revered numerous deities. Egyptian records and inscriptions list the names of many whose nature is unknown and make vague references to other unnamed deities. Egyptologist James P. Allen estimates that more than 1,400 deities are named in Egyptian texts, whereas Christian Leitz offers an estimate of "thousands upon thousands" of Egyptian deities. Their terms for deities were nṯr (god), and feminine nṯrt (goddess); however, these terms may also have applied to any being – spirits and deceased human beings, but not demons – who in some way were outside
8400-501: The goddess Meretseger represented parts of the earth, and the god Sia represented the abstract powers of perception. Deities such as Ra and Osiris were associated with the judgement of the dead and their care during the afterlife. Major gods often had multiple roles and were involved in multiple phenomena. The first written evidence of deities are from early 3rd millennium BCE, likely emerging from prehistoric beliefs. However, deities became systematized and sophisticated after
8512-436: The ground and created huge ridges, mountains, and gorges as it pushed upward. The Rainbow Serpent is understood to be of immense proportions and inhabits deep permanent waterholes and is in control of life's most precious resource , water. In some cultures, the Rainbow Serpent is considered to be the ultimate creator of everything in the universe. In some cultures, the Rainbow Serpent is male; in others, female; in yet others,
8624-1047: The head of the pantheon, with Asherah as his divine consort and the "sons of El" as his offspring. During the later years of the Kingdom of Judah , a monolatristic faction rose to power insisting that only Yahweh was fit to be worshipped by the people of Judah. Monolatry became enforced during the reforms of King Josiah in 621 BCE. Finally, during the national crisis of the Babylonian captivity , some Judahites began to teach that deities aside from Yahweh were not just unfit to be worshipped, but did not exist. The "sons of El" were demoted from deities to angels . Ancient Mesopotamian culture in southern Iraq had numerous dingir (deities, gods and goddesses). Mesopotamian deities were almost exclusively anthropomorphic. They were thought to possess extraordinary powers and were often envisioned as being of tremendous physical size. They were generally immortal, but
8736-515: The imposition of Christianity during Spanish colonialism , the Inca people retained their original beliefs in deities through syncretism , where they overlay the Christian God and teachings over their original beliefs and practices. The male deity Inti became accepted as the Christian God, but the Andean rituals centered around Inca deities have been retained and continued thereafter into
8848-643: The modern era by the Inca people. In Maya culture , Kukulkan has been the supreme creator deity , also revered as the god of reincarnation , water, fertility and wind. The Maya people built step pyramid temples to honor Kukulkan , aligning them to the Sun 's position on the spring equinox . Other deities found at Maya archaeological sites include Xib Chac —the benevolent male rain deity, and Ixchel —the benevolent female earth, weaving and pregnancy goddess. The Maya calendar had 18 months, each with 20 days (and five unlucky days of Uayeb ); each month had
8960-452: The mythologies and the 2nd millennium CE European arts, have been the anthropomorphic deities syncretized with the Greek deities. These include the six gods and six goddesses: Venus, Apollo, Mars, Diana, Minerva, Ceres, Vulcan, Juno, Mercury, Vesta, Neptune, Jupiter (Jove, Zeus); as well Bacchus, Pluto and Hercules. The non-Greek major deities include Janus, Fortuna, Vesta, Quirinus and Tellus (mother goddess, probably most ancient). Some of
9072-416: The myths in this family describe the ancestral being as a snake. Of those that do, not all of them draw a connection with a rainbow. However, a link with water or rain is typical. When the rainbow is seen in the sky, it is said to be the Rainbow Serpent moving from one waterhole to another, and this divine concept explained why some waterholes never dried up when drought struck. The Rainbow Serpent Festival
9184-468: The name Rainbow Serpent or Rainbow Snake appears to have been coined in English by Alfred Radcliffe-Brown , an anthropologist who noticed the same concept going under different names among various Aboriginal Australian cultures, and called it "the rainbow-serpent myth of Australia." It has been suggested that this name implies that there is only one Rainbow Serpent, when the concept actually varies quite
9296-466: The name Yurlungur, has featured as a demon or persona in several titles of the Megami Tensei series of Japanese role-playing games . The Rainbow Serpent has also appeared as an antagonistic character in the novel Eyes of the Rainbow Serpent. The Rainbow Serpent can still serve a cultural role today, particularly for Aboriginal Australians. Some New Age religions and spirituality movements around
9408-650: The natural account created by the philosophers. The best state is, adds Varro, where the civil theology combines the poetic mythical account with the philosopher's. The Roman deities continued to be revered in Europe through the era of Constantine, and past 313 CE when he issued the Edict of Toleration. The Inca culture has believed in Viracocha (also called Pachacutec ) as the creator deity . Viracocha has been an abstract deity to Inca culture, one who existed before he created space and time. All other deities of
9520-570: The natural world have been proposed as the model for the rainbow serpent. One suggestion is that it is modeled on the "rock python", regarding the rainbow serpent in the myth of the Wawilak sisters among the Yonglu people. In some tellings of the sisters myth, the encounter with the Yurlunggur serpent occurs in its water-hole called the Mirrimina well, glossed as 'rock python's back'. Specifically,
9632-508: The nature of existence, guardians in daily lives as well as during wars, natural phenomena, good and evil spirits, priestly rituals, as well as linked to the journey of the souls of the dead. Christianity is a monotheistic religion in which most mainstream congregations and denominations accept the concept of the Holy Trinity . Modern orthodox Christians believe that the Trinity is composed of three equal, cosubstantial persons: God
9744-578: The non-Greek deities had likely origins in more ancient European culture such as the ancient Germanic religion, while others may have been borrowed, for political reasons, from neighboring trade centers such as those in the Minoan or ancient Egyptian civilization. The Roman deities, in a manner similar to the ancient Greeks, inspired community festivals, rituals and sacrifices led by flamines (priests, pontifs), but priestesses (Vestal Virgins) were also held in high esteem for maintaining sacred fire used in
9856-505: The original uncreated creator, with power of life, with nothing outside or beyond him. Other deities in the Polynesian pantheon include Tangaloa (god who created men), La'a Maomao (god of winds), Tu-Matauenga or Ku (god of war), Tu-Metua (mother goddess), Kane (god of procreation) and Rangi (sky god father). The Polynesian deities have been part of a sophisticated theology, addressing questions of creation,
9968-424: The past. In addition to stories about the Rainbow Serpent being passed down from generation to generation, the Rainbow Serpent has been worshipped through rituals and has also inspired cultural artifacts such as artwork and songs, a tradition which continues today. There are many ancient rituals associated with the Rainbow Serpent that are still practiced today. The myth of the Wawalag sisters of Arnhem Land in
10080-434: The people, and let there be food, and let all things be fruitful. —Inti Raymi prayers Inca people have revered many male and female deities. Among the feminine deities have been Mama Kuka (goddess of joy), Mama Ch'aska (goddess of dawn), Mama Allpa (goddess of harvest and earth, sometimes called Mama Pacha or Pachamama ), Mama Killa ( moon goddess ) and Mama Sara (goddess of grain). During and after
10192-400: The prehistoric family of large snakes that may have inspired the original Rainbow Serpent. Wonambi is a genus that consisted of two species of very large snakes. These species were not pythons , like Australia's other large constrictors of the genus Morelia , and are currently classified in the extinct family Madtsoiidae that became extinct elsewhere in the world 55 million years in
10304-580: The principal group of gods, while the term ásynjur (singular ásynja ) refers specifically to the female Æsir . These terms, states John Lindow, may be ultimately rooted in the Indo-European root for "breath" (as in "life giving force"), and are cognate with Old English : os (a heathen god) and Gothic : anses . Another group of deities found in Norse mythology are termed as Vanir , and are associated with fertility. The Æsir and
10416-437: The rainbow serpent. The underlying reasons are likewise explainable, since quartz acts as a prism to diffract light into different colours, while the mother of pearl exhibits an iridescence of colours. The Dreaming (or Dreamtime or Tjukurrpa or Jukurrpa) stories tell of the great spirits and totems during creation, in animal and human form that moulded the barren and featureless earth. The Rainbow Serpent came from beneath
10528-407: The same divine principle. Nontheistic religions deny any supreme eternal creator deity , but may accept a pantheon of deities which live, die and may be reborn like any other being. Although most monotheistic religions traditionally envision their god as omnipotent , omnipresent , omniscient , omnibenevolent , and eternal , none of these qualities are essential to the definition of
10640-545: The same idea. There are great deities found across the Pacific Ocean. Some deities are found widely, and there are many local deities whose worship is limited to one or a few islands or sometimes to isolated villages on the same island. The Māori people , of what is now New Zealand, called the supreme being as Io , who is also referred elsewhere as Iho-Iho , Io-Mataaho , Io Nui , Te Io Ora , Io Matua Te Kora among other names. The Io deity has been revered as
10752-498: The sections were divided without influence of his own perception, and each section was then given a name that best suited its average color. In contrast, the sections in the ISCC-NBS spectrum vary greatly in wavelength range, but are more consistent in the hue degree range. Both instances deviate from the basic color terms used in English, only some of which are spectral colors. The table below includes several definitions where
10864-427: The serpent had similar characteristics to that of a seahorse, for example, a curved body, long nose, and curved tail. All depictions of the Rainbow Serpent in rock art are very detailed and similar across Australia. The main regional differences found between the serpent rock art are in the tail of the serpent and the head of the serpent; some have 3 tails and others, a crocodile's tail. Various species/taxa of snakes in
10976-515: The serpent stops rainfall: the Numereji serpent's iwaiyu (its soul or shadow) cast upon the sky becomes the rainbow, and the serpent ascends to stop the rain, the Andrénjinyi is said to halt the rain caused by enemies. The Rainbow Serpent is sometimes associated with human blood, especially circulation and the menstrual cycle, and is considered a healer, because of this the Rainbow Serpent
11088-501: The serpent, all of which communicate the significance and power of this being within Aboriginal mythology , which includes the worldview commonly referred to as The Dreaming . The serpent is viewed as a giver of life through its association with water, but can be a destructive force if angry. The Rainbow Serpent is one of the most common and well-known Aboriginal stories and is of great importance to Aboriginal society . Not all of
11200-502: The sisters are travelling with their mother, Kunapipi , all of whom know ancient secrets, and the Serpent is merely angered by their presence in its area. The Rainbow Serpent then traces the scent back to the sisters sleeping in their hut, a metaphor for the uterus. The Rainbow Serpent enters, a symbolic representation of a snake entering a hole, and eats them and their children. However, the Rainbow Serpent regurgitates them after being bitten by an ant, and this act creates Arnhem Land . Now,
11312-467: The spectral colors (to the eye of the standard observer). A trichromatic color space is defined by three primary colors , which can theoretically be spectral colors. In this case, all other colors are inherently non-spectral. In reality, the spectral bandwidth of most primaries means that most color spaces are entirely non-spectral. Due to different chromaticity properties of different spectral segments, and also due to practical limitations of light sources,
11424-639: The sphere of everyday life. Egyptian deities typically had an associated cult, role and mythologies. Around 200 deities are prominent in the Pyramid texts and ancient temples of Egypt, many zoomorphic . Among these, were Min (fertility god), Neith (creator goddess), Anubis , Atum , Bes , Horus , Isis , Ra , Meretseger , Nut , Osiris , Shu , Sia and Thoth . Most Egyptian deities represented natural phenomenon, physical objects or social aspects of life, as hidden immanent forces within these phenomena. The deity Shu , for example represented air;
11536-406: The table below, note how wavelength is not proportional to hue (which is approximately perceptually uniform). Color systems such as ISCC-NBS attempt to divide the spectrum into sections that appear perceptually uniform. On the other hand, Newton's sections are approximately uniform in size as they would have physically appeared in the diffracted spectrum, i.e. each about 40nm "wide". In this theory,
11648-407: The temple of every living being's body, as sensory organs and mind. Deities are envisioned as a form of existence ( Saṃsāra ) after rebirth , for human beings who gain merit through an ethical life, where they become guardian deities and live blissfully in heaven , but are also subject to death when their merit is lost. The English language word deity derives from Old French deité ,
11760-400: The time when a female is capable of bringing life into the world, putting a woman on the same level of creative abilities as the Rainbow Serpent. It is for this reason that men will attempt to mimic this holy process by cutting their arms and/or penises and letting their blood run over their own bodies, each other's bodies, and even into a woman's uterus. Men will sometimes mix their blood with
11872-591: The universe" (God), to a "finite entity or experience, with special significance or which evokes a special feeling" (god), to "a concept in religious or philosophical context that relates to nature or magnified beings or a supra-mundane realm", to "numerous other usages". A deity is typically conceptualized as a supernatural or divine concept, manifesting in ideas and knowledge, in a form that combines excellence in some or all aspects, wrestling with weakness and questions in other aspects, heroic in outlook and actions, yet tied up with emotions and desires. In other cases,
11984-434: The universe, but does not usually intervene in the resulting world. Deism was particularly popular among western intellectuals during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Pantheism is the belief that the universe itself is God or that everything composes an all-encompassing, immanent deity. Pandeism is an intermediate position between these, proposing that the creator became a pantheistic universe. Panentheism
12096-597: The various Aboriginal peoples. In some versions, the great mother is accompanied by the Rainbow Serpent (or Lightning Snake), who brings the wet season of rains and floods. From the Great Sandy Desert area in the northern part of Western Australia comes a story that explains how the Wolfe Creek Crater , or Kandimalal, was created by a star falling from heaven, creating a crater in which a Rainbow Serpent took up residence, though in some versions it
12208-503: The vicinity of central green, and between green and blue, as well as extreme spectral colors approaching IR or UV . Spectral colors are universally included in scientific color models such as CIE 1931, but industrial and consumer color spaces such as sRGB, CMYK, and Pantone , do not typically include any spectral colors. Exceptions include Rec. 2020 , which uses three spectral colors as primaries (and therefore only includes precisely those three spectral colors), and color spaces such as
12320-543: The votive rituals for deities. Deities were also maintained in home shrines ( lararium ), such as Hestia honored in homes as the goddess of fire hearth. This Roman religion held reverence for sacred fire, and this is also found in Hebrew culture (Leviticus 6), Vedic culture's Homa, ancient Greeks and other cultures. Ancient Roman scholars such as Varro and Cicero wrote treatises on the nature of gods of their times. Varro stated, in his Antiquitates Rerum Divinarum , that it
12432-443: The world have now also adopted the Rainbow Serpent as an icon. Similarly, the Rainbow Serpent can inspire social movements. Art historian Georges Petitjean has suggested that the identification of the Rainbow Serpent with various genders and sexualities helps to explain why the rainbow flag has been adopted as the symbol of lesbian, gay, bisexual, (although this is just speculation and quite possibly untrue). Politically, for example,
12544-414: Was polytheistic, but had no centralized church, nor any sacred texts. The deities were largely associated with myths and they represented natural phenomena or aspects of human behavior. Several Greek deities probably trace back to more ancient Indo-European traditions, since the gods and goddesses found in distant cultures are mythologically comparable and are cognates . Eos , the Greek goddess of
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