@article{474f308d-6384-4270-9d5e-07615a51cf51,
author = {Andrzej Szyjewski},
title = {The Issue of Sex Relations in Australian Myths – the “Matryoshka Principle”},
journal = {Studia Religiologica},
volume = {2012},
number = {Volume 45, Issue 2},
year = {2012},
issn = {0137-2432},
pages = {117-124},keywords = {Australian Aborigines; mythology; Fertility Mother; Rainbow Serpent; gender relations; bull-roarer; initiation; gender symbols},
abstract = {This paper discusses the ambiguity of sex identity within Aboriginal mythology. Male/female relations are the main point of the well-known Wawilag Sisters myth from Arnhem Land, based on a series of equivalent mythical unions: the penis in the vagina (male in female) ≡the serpent in the hut (male in female) ≡Wawilag sisters pregnancy (male in female) ≡Wawilag sisters devoured by the serpent (female in male) ≡subincised penis (female in male). The effect of such equivalencies may be compared to a “matryoshka”doll: the male (child) is in the female (sisters) which is in the male (serpent), which in a way also renders the male symbols female (this is why the serpent is called “pregnant”). The basis of such a construction may be understood as the creation of a series of transformations male>female>male>female etc., which eventually leads to realisation of the exchange of female with male blood; their equipoise is necessary for initiation ceremonies.},
doi = {10.4467/20844077SR.12.009.0825},
url = {https://ejournals.eu/en/journal/studia-religiologica/article/problem-relacji-plciowych-w-mitach-australijskich-zasada-matrioszki}
}