In the Great Sandy Desert of Western Australia, senior Martu women share their knowledge of plant and bush medicine with younger Martu women.
Fiona Walsh from CSIRO, an ethnobotanist who has worked with Martu people for over 20 years, facilitated the camp. Senior women shared information about a variety of plants and guided the younger women through winnowing, yandying, and grinding different types of seed.
The training included information about how to look after plants and animals and how to improve biodiversity through cultural and natural resource management on Martu lands.
Martu, spelled more often as Amurru, has always been a favorite.
Most of the Google search articles covering him will tell that he was a god of the Amorites, a group of Semitic people who came to settle in many parts of southern Mesopotamia. This isn’t exactly true, the perception now is that he is meant to be a sort of “divine stereotype” of the Amorites, rather than a god originating from their religion. (Fortunately the top google search for him now is @yamayuandadu ‘s wiki article, so hopefully there is more clarity now!)
Foremost he was a god of the steppe, though later he took on other functions. In depictions on cylinder seals he holds a Sheppards cane, and was associated with goats (steppe animal) and mice (probably a dig on the Amorites).
The myth of The Marrige of Martu recalls his want for a spouse and then his subsequent engagement to Adjar-kidug, the daughter of the city god of Inab. (She isn’t his normally attested spouse tbf) Near the end of the myth, his bride to be is having a conversation with her friend, where the friend describes all the downsides of marrying Martu, including that he:
Does not give respect to Nanna / does not know how to worship
Eats raw meat
Wears sack leather
Sleeps in a tent
And Roams around the mountainside digging for truffles
Adjar-kidug subsequently dismissed the complaints, declaring that she will marry him.
-Yo sé que no puedo darte
algo más que un par de promesas… ¡no!
tics de la revolución
implacable rocanrol
y un par de sienes ardientes
que son todo el tesoro.
42. favourite book(s): The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupéry, Call Me by Your Name by André Aciman, Humor & Satire by Edgar Allan Poe, El Cuaderno de Maya by Isabel Allende and Historias de Cronopios y Famas by Julio Cortázar.
48. turn offs: filthy people, liars, manipulative and toxic people, selfishness, lack of empathy, homophobia, racism and i could carry on(?
50. favourite picture of your idol: this is the toughest one damn it. THIS IS ME NOT BEING ABLE TO CHOOSE OK
