CHURINGA. Ritual instruments used by the tribes of Central Australia, especially the Arunta, the Loritja, the Kaitish, the Un?atjera, and the Ilpirra. "They are pieces of wood or bits of polished stone, of a great variety of forms, but generally ova] or oblong. Each totemic group has a more or less important collection of these. Upon each of these is engraved a design repre senting the totem of this same group " (Emile Durk beim). Some of them have a hole at one end, through which a thread is passed. These serve as real bull roarers. " By means of the thread by which they are suspended, they are whirled rapidly in the air in such a way as to produce a sort of humming identical with that made by the toys of this name still used by our children; this deafening noise has a ritual significance and accom panies all ceremonies of any importance." But not all churinga are bull-roarers. In any case, they are eminently sacred. They may not be touched or even seen at close quarters by women or by young men who have not been initiated into the religious life. They are kept in a special place, a kind of cave, called by the Arunta ertnatulunga, which they render so sacred that it is regarded as a sanctuary of the totemic group and as a place of asylum. Their properties are such that they
can heal wounds, make the beard grow, and give men force, courage, and perseverance. They may be lent to another group, but when this happens, the original possessors weep and lament for two weeks. " They are taken care of, they are greased. rubbed, polished, and when they are moved from one locality to another, it is in the midst of ceremonies which bear witness to the fact that this displacement is regarded as an act of the highest importance." According to Spencer and Gillen, the churinga owe their power and sanctity to the fact that they serve as the residence of an ancestor's soul: according to Strehlow, to the fact that they are re garded as the image of the ancestor's body or as the body itself. Durkheim holds that their religious nature is due to the totemic stamp which they bear. It is the emblem that ds sacred. See Emile Durkheim.