For my 31st birthday I returned to the ongoing funeral. This funeral business has occupied most of our weekends since Dhalinybuy in one way or another, most often in transporting family and supplies to Dhanaya.

This is the first Bapurru (funeral) I have participated in. Randy participated in another while I was away, and various early stages of this one which is for his adopted brother. Eric and Laurie arrived just in time to participate in the arrival of the body to the hospital by helicoptor when they visited in June. They were painted, so I heard, with white bands on their foreheads. Randy was painted too with a white band on his forehead and a white stripe over the top of his head. That's what the Gumatj do.

This was the second weekend we've spent at the burial site. I don't have a picture of it here, because I'm not sure if its appropriate but I can tell you it is something special. Almost oriental in its design, a veranda is constructed around the vault, with stairs leading up to the body north and south. Aboriginal flags and flags specific to Dhanaya lead away from each ramp. The body itself has been present on the site for weeks now, kept "fresh" inside a refridgerator. The vault is decorated with tons of artificial flowers, and photos not of the deceased but of the father Mungurrawuy Yunupingu, the man that ties this branch of Gumatj together.

At night, the body was moved from the refrigerator to the vault. All the power was cut, and we hid in our tents waiting for this most sacred men's business to take place. Will said it best the next day when we were discussing the experience. He said, "It probably isn't appropriate for the ngapaki to be discussing the aesthetic merits of a yolngu ceremony." So I'll keep it short and say for me it was mystical and beautiful. There were moments when I felt I was "put to sleep" so as not to hear anything I shouldn't. There were sounds and sensations I best not (can not?) describe.

   
     
    24 July
     
     
   

I'm wearing red ochre on my face, arms and legs to protect me while I am near the body. It looks a little weird on white skin, but it makes the Yolngu shimmer. When you wash it off, the water runs as if bleeding.