Bluetongue Lizard is an old man in Australian Aboriginal

Australian Aborigines

Australian Aborigines , also called Aboriginal Australians, from the latin ab originem , are people who are indigenous to most of the Australian continentthat is, to mainland Australia and the island of Tasmania...

 mythology. He is a trickster

Trickster

In mythology, and in the study of folklore and religion, a trickster is a god, goddess, spirit, man, woman, or anthropomorphic animal who plays tricks or otherwise disobeys normal rules and conventional behavior. It is suggested by Hansen that the term "Trickster" was probably first used in this...

 and a powerful sorcerer

Sorcerer

-Gaming:* Sorcerer , a 2002 tabletop role playing game made by Ron Edwards* Sorcerer , a 1984 interactive fiction computer game made by Infocom...

 as well. He is responsible for the Warlpiri fire ceremonies because of a myth involving him. He is often regarded as a deity, but this notion is not exactly true.

Story

Bluetongue Lizard had two sons, and the three of them camped in the Place of Fire, which was known as Warlukurlangu. He pretended that he was blind

Blind

Blind may refer to:* The state of blindness, being unable to see* A window blind, a covering for a windowBlind may also refer to:-Electronics, engineering, and science:...

 so that his sons could go out and hunt

Hunt

Hunt may refer to:* Hunting* Hunt * Hunt * Hunt, Idaho* Hunt, Texas* Hunt, California, former name of McFarland, California*Hunt v. Cromartie, 1999 U.S...

 for him. However, once they were gone, he would leave to hunt his own food, which he ate on the spot. The place he went hunting was Ngama, also known as the Cave of the Rainbow Snake

Snake

Snakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales...

. It was there he gained his sorcery skills. One day the two sons went hunting and killed a kangaroo

Kangaroo

A kangaroo is a marsupial from the family Macropodidae . In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, especially those of the genus Macropus, Red Kangaroo, Antilopine Kangaroo, Eastern Grey Kangaroo and Western Grey Kangaroo. Kangaroos are endemic to the country...

, which they presented to their father to eat. The two sons did not know that this kangaroo was sacred and used to speak to Bluetongue Lizard, telling him secrets. Upon learning of the kangaroo, Bluetongue Lizard was filled with rage and summoned a magic fire

Bushfires in Australia

Bushfires in Australia are frequently occurring events during the hotter months of the year due to Australia's mostly hot, dry climate. Large areas of land are ravaged every year by bushfires, which also cause property damage and loss of life....

, sending it after his sons. The fire followed them wherever they went. It would die down at night but start up again in the morning, driving Bluetongue Lizard's sons around all of the Jukurrpa. Finally the sons stopped at the Ngarra salt lake

Salt lake

A salt lake or saline lake is a landlocked body of water which has a concentration of salts and other dissolved minerals significantly higher than most lakes . In some cases, salt lakes have a higher concentration of salt than sea water, but such lakes would also be termed hypersaline lakes...

 and drowned, too full of fatigue to go on.

Effect

The Warlpiri

Warlpiri

The Warlpiri are a group of Indigenous Australians, many of whom speak the Warlpiri language. There are 5,000–6,000 Warlpiri, living mostly in a few towns and settlements scattered through their traditional land in Australia's Northern Territory, north and west of Alice Springs...

 people recapture the spirit of Bluetongue Lizard with dramatic fire ceremonies that involve a young male

Male

Male refers to the biological sex of an organism, or part of an organism, which produces small mobile gametes, called spermatozoa. Each spermatozoon can fuse with a larger female gamete or ovum, in the process of fertilization...

 dancer emerging from total darkness into the glow of a ceremonial fire. He moves carefully and willingly and then kneels by the fire, shaking his shoulders. He takes brushes from the fire and proceeds to scatter the embers

Embers

Embers is a radio play by Samuel Beckett. It was written in English in 1957 and first broadcast on the BBC Third Programme on 24 June 1959. Donald McWhinnie directed Jack MacGowran – for whom the play was specially written – as “Henry”, Kathleen Michael as “Ada” and Patrick Magee as “Riding Master”...

 all over his back. The Warlpiri elders will walk by the youth to coach him in the correct procedure of the dance. In addition, the Ngarra is one of the most sacred

Sacred

Holiness, or sanctity, is in general the state of being holy or sacred...

sites of the Warlpiri— so sacred that only men are permitted to go there.