churinga

[ choo-ring-guh ]

noun

, plural chu·rin·ga, chu·rin·gas.

1. an object carved from wood or stone by Aboriginal tribes in central Australia and held by them to be sacred.

churinga

/ tʃəˈrɪŋɡə /

noun

1. a sacred amulet of the native Australians

Word History and Origins

Origin of churinga¹

First recorded in 1895–1900, churinga is from the Aranda word jwerreŋe

Word History and Origins

Origin of churinga¹

from a native Australian language

Example Sentences

The artefacts range from traditional body ornaments and slippers to a churinga, a wood or stone item believed to embody the spiritual double of a relative or ancestor, and clapsticks, the musical instrument used in Aboriginal ceremonies.

From The Guardian

The Arunta nation, however, cultivates an additional myth, namely that the primal ancestors, when they sank into the ground, left behind them certain oval stone slabs, with archaic markings, called churinga nanja, or “sacred things of the nanja.”

From Project Gutenberg

The souls of these ancestors haunt such spots, especially they haunt the nanja tree or rock, and the stone churinga nanja.

From Project Gutenberg

This licence is absolutely confined to the limited region in which stone churinga nanja occur.

From Project Gutenberg

The whole system is impossible except where descent is reckoned in the male line, for there alone is local totemism possible, and the Arunta system is based on local totemism, plus the churinga nanja and reincarnation beliefs.

From Project Gutenberg