Rainbow Serpent Cupcake
Saturday, March 13, 2010 at 1:47PM 
I love Aboriginal Dreamtime stories, with my favourite being the 'Rainbow Serpent'
The Rainbow Serpent is a common theme in Aboriginal mythology. The story shifts and alters depending on where the tribe is located, tribes living in monsoonal areas depict epic interaction between the sun, serpent and the wind, whereas tribes living in the central desert areas have a less dramatic retelling.
The Rainbow Serpent story can be as simple as the serpent moving from water hole to water hole in control of the most valuable life giving resource 'water'. Or it can be more dramatic like my step-sons and husbands favourite version of the story....
Far off in Dreamtime, there were only people, no animals or birds, no trees or bushes, no hills or mountains.
The country was flat. Goorialla, the great Rainbow Serpent, stirred and set off to look for his own tribe. He travelled across Australia from South to North. He reached Cape York where he stopped and made a big red mountain called Naralullgan. He listened to the wind and heard only voices speaking strange languages.
This is not my country, the people here speak a different tongue. I must look for my own people. Goorialla left Naralullgan and his huge body made a deep gorge where he came down. He travelled North for many days and his tracks made the creeks and rivers as he journeyed North. Goorialla made two more mountains, one of the Naradunga was long made of granite, the other had sharp peaks and five caves and was called, Minalinha. One day Goorialla heard singing and said, "Those are my people, they are holding a big Bora." At the meeting place of the two rivers, Goorialla found his own people singing and dancing. He watched for a long time, then he came out and was welcomed by his people. He showed the men how to dress properly and taught them to dance. A big storm was gathering, so all the people built humpies for shelter.
Two young men, the bil-bil or Rainbow Lorikeet brothers came looking for shelter but no one had any room. They asked their grandmother, the Star Woman but she had too many dogs and couldn't help them. the Bil-bil brothers went to Goorialla who was snoring in his humpy but he had no room. The rain got heavier and the boys went back to Goorialla and called out that the rain was heavy. Goorialla said, "All right come in now." The Bil-bil bothers ran into Goorialla's mouth and he swallowed them. Then he began to worry about what the people would say when they found the boys missing. He decided to travel North to Bora-bunaru, the only great natural mountain in the land. Next morning the people found that the boys were gone and saw the tracks of Goorialla and knew that he had swallowed them.
You may never see these lakes or mountains, but after the rain you will see his spirit in the sky , which is the rainbow. This is the reason why he is called Goorialla the Rainbow Serpent.
Sources: Aboriginal art online rainbow serpent story from Didjshop your one stop shop for didgeridoos.
Flecked fondant topped chocolate wattle-seed cupcake with the serpent being made from the leftover starburst fruit chews from the fruit chew post.
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Reader Comments (3)
Aww how fantastic! I saw the opening pic and giggled at how cute it was straight away! :D
You are so creative with your cupcakes. I thought the topper was made of fondant and yet you surprised me with creative use of fruit chews.Thank you for sharing the story.
Lol, glad you liked it... thank you for taking the time to leave a comment Lorraine... I adore you blog!!
Thanks Haniela, good luck with your blog... but I'm sure you won't need it with your fabulous work!