Aboriginal Australian TraditionsScholarly Umbrella Term
Rainbow Serpent (an umbrella term)
Also known as Wagyl or Waugal (Noongar), Ngalyod (Kunwinjku, western Arnhem Land), many other names in other languages
- water, rain, and waterholes
- the shaping of the land
An English umbrella term, introduced by the anthropologist A. R. Radcliffe-Brown in 1926, for the many great serpent beings associated with water and rain in the traditions of different Aboriginal peoples; each has its own name, Country, and story.
About Rainbow Serpent (an umbrella term)
A scholar's category
"Rainbow Serpent" is not an Aboriginal name. The anthropologist A. R. Radcliffe-Brown used it in a 1926 paper, "The Rainbow-Serpent Myth of Australia", to group together serpent beings he found in the traditions of many peoples across the continent, associated with water, rain, and the rainbow. The term stuck, and it is now used widely, including by some Aboriginal people speaking in English, but it can hide the differences between distinct beings with their own names, Countries, and laws.
Some named beings
Among publicly known serpent beings associated with water are the Wagyl (or Waugal) of the Noongar people of south-western Western Australia, who shaped the rivers and waterways, including the Derbarl Yerrigan (Swan River); and Ngalyod of the Kunwinjku people of western Arnhem Land, who appears in publicly exhibited bark paintings. These are not simply local names for one being, and this site gives the Wagyl its own entry. Not every great snake in Aboriginal story is a "Rainbow Serpent": Kuniya at Uluṟu, for instance, is a woma python woman with her own story, and should not be folded into this category.
Water, law, and care
In many traditions serpent beings are associated with permanent water, and with the law governing how people approach it; stories warn against disturbing certain waterholes. Some stories associated with serpent beings are restricted, and this site includes only those shared publicly.
In wider culture
Popular books and artworks have made the "Rainbow Serpent" one of the best-known images of Aboriginal Australia worldwide. Readers who want to know more should look for stories told by the particular people concerned, under their own names for the being.
Worship and cult
Temples, festivals, and practices recorded for Rainbow Serpent (an umbrella term)
This site does not describe ceremonies, sacred sites, or practices associated with this figure. Only the publicly shared story is summarised here; custodianship of the story belongs to the people named, and their own tellings take precedence.
In the atlas
Where Rainbow Serpent (an umbrella term) appears
Sources and further reading
Source notes
These references are recorded in the catalog. Their passage wording and translation have not been checked, so quotations are not displayed here.
- A. R. Radcliffe-Brown, 'The Rainbow-Serpent Myth of Australia', Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 56
About this entry
By Elizabeth Stein for Mythos Atlas. About the author. Editorial notes are grounded in the site's cited sources and can be challenged through the contact page.
Parallels are editorial comparisons across traditions: a shared role does not, by itself, establish a shared origin.