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Djomi
This design depicts the story of Joy’s ancestral dreaming, the Djomi fresh water spirit mermaid.
‘Here we have two Djomi, one pregnant one and the other still young. In the middle we have the djomi swamp with all the eggs. There are eggs in djomi swap and inside eggs, outside eggs and flowers. We have salt water and fresh water mixed together. Salt water comes in and fresh water goes out wiith the tide and the full moon. There are seaweed in the water and dead seaweed on the side. There is green colour, brown colour and black colour dead sea grasses.
I feel good seeing this drawing and I’ve drawn my sacred site. There is white sand on the side. There are also waterlillies inside. THe waterlily has long roots which we break to drink the water.
The Djomi figure is a mermaid like spirit with fish tail that lives in the fresh water stream that flows out to the sea cliff near Maningrida. Djomi is a known to be a very powerful fertility symbol.
‘If you go there you can get pregnant easily. Djomi has babies, and they can give others babies too. The Djomi spirit is so powerful, that women can end up with multiple babies at once, twins or sometimes even more. The Djomi spirits lay eggs near the sacred freshwater stream in Maningrida. Inside the eggs are human babies as well as young Djomi.
Men do not go near that swamp, because Djomi is so powerful that men might get pregnant there too. So men, they are too scared of that Djomi. When we visit the Djomi freshwater spring, we can hear young Djomi crying. They sound like normal babies crying, those Djomi spirits. They are looking for a mother.
This Djomi is my dreaming, I got permission from my djunguys to paint this Djomi design. For me I always ask my djunguy permission to paint, because that is our cultural way.This design also depicts the fresh water lily leaves, and seaweed from the base of the sea floor.
