Kalseru

Also known as Kaleru, Rainbow Serpent

• #1780
•  Aboriginal (culture)
•  Celestial (attribute)
•  Reptilian (attribute)
•  Aquatic (attribute)
•  Friendly (behaviour)
•  Sea Serpents (common type)

A Rainbow Serpent from north-western Australia. These were magical beings of great power that feature in many tales of the native tribes. It is a cosmic multi-coloured python that lives in deep waters. The ancient spirit summoned it from the deep to carve out the landscape. Kalseru thus created the formation for gullies, rivers and billabongs. He is known to sleep in the mud during the dry season and flies to the sky as a rainbow sending down rain to help life re-grow during the wet season. He has a fascination for anything that is iridescent. Kalseru protects its people but it does punish those that break the law. Kalseru is closely link in with the land, weather, society and fertility.

The stories associated with the different types of Rainbow serpents across Australia depend on the tribe and what part of Australia they come from. Those tribes that experience monsoons depict the Rainbow serpent as interacting with the sun and the wind to create them in their Dreamtime stories. Those tribes that are more central in Australia and do not experience such turbulent weather tell their tales of a Rainbow serpent that reflect their own environmental condition.

Some believe that belief in the Rainbow Serpent is closely linked to the Wonambi naracoortensis which is an extinct ancient snake of gigantic proportions.

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