September 23 - Vernal (Spring!) Equinox in Australia

nPosted on September 23, 2019

Key Points

nYou probably know that the start of spring in the Southern Hemisphere is the start of fall in the Northern Hemisphere. I have written about the latter (see links below, including the Mabon and Alban Elved links, below) – but let’s give a shout out to everyone who lives south of the equator:

nHappy Spring to you!

nI wondered how the original inhabitants of Australia celebrated the equinox – the 24-hour period when day and night are the same length – and the solstices – the 24-hour periods when the day is shortest (winter) or longest (summer). And I wondered how – or if – these groups connected the equinoxes and solstices to the seasons. So I began to dig into the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures…

“Shared Sky,” by Barbara Merritt
Merritt was born in Carnarvon, Western Australia,
and is from the Badimaya language group.

n…I discovered that, like many (or all?) other peoples around the world, the various peoples who first settled Australia and the Torres Strait Islands studied the stars and marked the equinoxes and the solstices. The Wathaurong people may have a ceremonial site for people to gather on those special dates. Wurdi Youang is an egg-shaped ring made of about 100 basalt stones. The alignment of the stones suggests that the builders intended it to point to the setting Sun during on those dates. It is a bit like Stonehenge and other circular or near-circular arrangements of stones found elsewhere in the world.

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Wathaurong kids in traditional clothes
(and in the background, in modern clothes).

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nActually, I couldn’t find anything about the connection of the equinox to seasons, but I did find some info on ancient Australian views on seasons. The Yolngu people of the north-east coast identify six seasons. What we now call September is the beginning of the hot, dry season, called Rarranhdharr. (Remember, northern Australia is closer to the equator than southern Australia!) The stringybark is in flower. In the olden days, during Rarranhdharr the people started settling down after months of nomadic hunting. They fished using spears rather than nets, as they did during wet and flooding seasons. This was an important time for ceremonies.

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Yolngu people in traditional clothes, above,
and in modern clothes, below.

nThe Anangu Pitjantjajara people, who live in central Australia, recognized many seasons; one of them is Piriyakutul Piriya-Piriya, around August and September, when warm, steady winds come from the north and west. It was considered a good time for hunting kangaroo.

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Anangu Pitjantjajara people in traditional clothes, above,
and modern clothes, below.

nThe Noongar people, from the southwest, recognized August and September as the time of warming, called Djilba. It was the best time to collect roots and tubers and to hunt emus, bandicoot, kangaroos, and possums.