Bila (sun)

Bila is the personification of the sun among the Adnyamathanha people. She is a solar goddess, as befitting the general trends among Australian aboriginal peoples, which largely perceive the sun as female.^[1]

Bila is said to be a cannibal, roasting her victims over a fire, the origin of sunlight. In a myth the Lizard Man was appalled by these acts and attacked, prompting her to flee and cast the world in darkness. He then used a boomerang, catching her and making her move in a slow arc across the sky as it returned, this illuminating the world. For this act of heroism lizards like goannas and geckos are respected by the Adnyamathanha.^[2]^[3]

References

^ Jennifer Isaacs (2005). Australian Dreaming: 40,000 Years of Aboriginal History. New South Wales: New Holland. p. 142. ISBN 1-74110-258-8.
^ Patricia Montley, In Nature's Honor: Myths and Rituals Celebrating the Earth, Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations, 2005
^ Patricia Monaghan, Encyclopedia of Goddesses and Heroines, New World Library, 01/04/2014

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[1] Jennifer Isaacs (2005). Australian Dreaming: 40,000 Years of Aboriginal History. New South Wales: New Holland. p. 142. ISBN 1-74110-258-8.

[2] Patricia Montley, In Nature's Honor: Myths and Rituals Celebrating the Earth, Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations, 2005

[3] Patricia Monaghan, Encyclopedia of Goddesses and Heroines, New World Library, 01/04/2014

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