tjurunga, in Australian Aboriginal religion, a mythical being and a ritual object, usually made of wood or stone, that is a representation or manifestation of such a being. An Aranda word, tjurunga traditionally referred to sacred or secret–sacred things set apart, or taboo; for example, certain rites, stone, and wooden slab objects, bull-roarers, ground paintings and earth mounds, ritual poles and emblems, headgear, and sacred songs. More popularly, the term is applied to flat, oval, worked stones, normally incised with sacred designs, and to wooden boards ranging in length from about 2 inches (5 centimetres) to 10 feet (3 metres) or so and bearing intricate patterns of mythological significance. Most tjurunga were used in men’s secret–sacred rituals; some small objects figured in women’s rituals and still smaller objects in men’s love magic.
Each person has a personal bond with a tjurunga. At initiation, a youth (not a girl) is introduced to the rituals and tjurunga of his local descent group and to those of others. Later he receives his own tjurunga object and the knowledge that goes with it (or them). At death, the tjurunga might be buried with the corpse, or the dead person’s spirit might seek the place where its tjurunga “body” (that is, the mythic being itself) rested.
Tjurunga represent in essence the indestructible personalities of members of the local descent groups connected with them; they assert the continuity of all life and human immortality. They are a symbol and an expression of communication between man and the mythological time called the Dreaming, between man and the great mythic beings, and between the material aspects of ordinary living and the spiritual heritage of man.