Gigorou by Sasha Kutabah Sarago

Author:Sasha Kutabah Sarago [Sarago, Sasha Kutabah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pantera Press
Published: 2023-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

14

Yarrabah

I could taste the sea breeze sweeping in, the morning light drifting before the sun opened its eyes. Today marked a celebration of love. A young couple was getting married. Mum and I, the faithful servants, were there to adorn the bridal party with make-up. The modern-day tradition we adopted.

I wonder what our traditional bridal ceremonies were like before they took them away. Did we paint up in gaba, magirra or gunggu ochre?

Sitting around the patio one afternoon, my Aunty Bella told her daughters and me that she had been promised to an older man when she was 15.

‘Really? Back then?’ I asked. ‘Do you know who it was you were promised to?’

‘No, I never found out. Good go, I’m not marrying no old man.’ Aunty Bella chuckled.

I loved the softness that blossomed on Aunty’s face; her natural blush whenever she shared her stories.

She said the Old People chose a husband for you by looking at the bloodlines to see if you were connected. They considered if he was a good hunter and if he could look after you. If he was older, it wasn’t all about passion like when young people get together. He taught you the right way when it came to intimacy and how to be a bride.

Young girls from the age of 10 went to live with their promised husband at his camp. Learning her role in the tribe from his family.

Across the paddock from where we sat with Aunty Bella was a bevy of wild horses. What a spinout, I thought, as I recalled Aunty Kym’s tales of the cattle stations and travelling far and wide to attend rodeos. That’s so country, I mused. I wasn’t about that life. I didn’t inherit a penchant for saddles, stirrups and an Akubra. Not after getting on a horse at 14 without knowing how to trot. That horse nearly ripped my susu’s clean off my chest. I swear my pelvic bone almost smashed like glass.

Once, Aunty Kym asked me to go to the rodeo with her, but it was too hick for me. So, Aunty Kym, the Carefree Blak Girl, hopped in her aqua green Mazda, and burned rubber – kitted out in her peasant top, jeans, hiking boots and a flannie to block out the cold. Destination the Mt Isa Rodeo.

She liked knocking back cold ones, snacking on treats and perusing the festivities: barrel races and the women on horses were her favourites. When she’d return, she’d tell me about the cowboys she met, and the buckles strangers gave her. That’s what I admired about Aunty Kym. She could talk to anyone. She had an air of familiarity as if you’d known her your whole life.

I’d worry about Aunty Kym way out in woop woop travelling alone. She told me that out bush she occasionally saw hairy men and strange lights, and heard noises along the highways. Some of the spots she passed were no-good places. But Aunty Kym had a friend – a little man, her protector – who followed her from our Country on the Tablelands.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.