Seven Sisters (Dreamtime)

This article deals with an Aboriginal creation myth. Further names can be found under the definition of Seven Sisters .

The Seven Sisters (also known as Makara ) is a story from the dream time of the Australian Aborigines , which is about water nymphs . It's a creation story myth .

In the dreamtime there were seven water nymphs who were lonely because they could only live in water. Since they were cursed to live in the water forever, they only had friends who lived in the water, such as fish, leeches, and crocodiles. They had slippery skin and nobody could get hold of them. A hunter saw one of the seven sisters with her long hair; he dove, grabbed her hair, and brought her ashore. On land he kindled a fire, and when he held the nymph over the smoke of the fire, he freed her from her curse and she became a being that could also live on land. They married and lived happily together, were both highly recognized hunters and had the approval of the hunter's parents who lived on a banyan fig tree .

The dreamtime story of the Seven Sisters has references to the star cluster of the Pleiades and to the Pleiades mythology, also known as the seven stars , and to the seven nymphs in Greek mythology. There is also an Indian myth with seven Indian girls at Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming , USA.

literature

R. Lewis: The Beginner's Guide to Australian Aboriginal Art. The symbols, their meanings and some Dreamtime stories . 3. Edition. Fountainhead Press, Canning Vale DC 2004.