Larakitj (CEREMONY POLES)- Buku larrngGay mulka (East arnhem land)
What are larrakitj? Simply, they are memorial poles. In time past they held the bones of the dead and formed an important part of funeral rites. Today the Yolngu continue their cultural tradition without the human remains, selling their art and reviving the life and disseminating the beliefs of their ancestors. Painted (and sometimes carved) hollow stringy-bark branches, they depict the geological origins of different clans and within complex geometric and latterly more organic designs, they speak of their system of community.
