The Rainbow Snake and the Wawilak Sisters An Aboriginal Australian sacred story 27/01/2026

Chris Knight will recount and interpret the intensely dramatic story of The Wawilak Sisters and the Rainbow Snake, told by the Yolngu people of North-East Arnhem Land, explaining why it is the most widely discussed myth in all of social anthropology. Chris will compare different recorded versions of the story, connecting them with the male initiation rituals during which the events described in the myth were traditionally re-enacted. He will argue that this and related stories about an immense rainbow which was also a snake hark back to a time when women across Australia engaged in rituals designed to synchronise their menstrual cycles with one another and with the moon.