# Riji

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{{Short description|Pubic coverings made of pearl shells}}
{{about||the village in Iran|Riji, Iran|the reef in [South China Sea](/source/South_China_Sea)|Ladd Reef}}

{{Use Australian English|date=July 2018}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2018}}
thumb|A Riji from the Kimberley, WA
A '''Riji''' are the [pearl shells](/source/nacre) traditionally worn by [Aboriginal](/source/Aboriginal_Australians) men in Northwest Australia. They are worn as pubic coverings, like a loin cloth, and attached with [hairstring](/source/Australian_Aboriginal_fibrecraft) from a belt or band around the waist. Only men [initiated](/source/initiation) to the highest degree could traditionally wear them.<ref>[http://www.shortstgallery.com.au/artwork.php?catno=11405 Short St Gallery<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927174235/http://www.shortstgallery.com.au/artwork.php?catno=11405|date=27 Sep 2007}}</ref> Today [special ceremonies](/source/Aboriginal_Australian_ceremony) mark the occasion when boys are given riji to mark their transition to adulthood, a time of great joy for families.<ref name="wam">{{cite web |date=2016 |title=Guwan |url=http://museum.wa.gov.au/explore/lustre-online-text-panels/guwan |access-date=4 December 2020 |website=[Western Australian Museum](/source/Western_Australian_Museum)}}</ref>

Before being decorated, the pearl shell is known as ''guwan''. Lines known as ''ramu'', often in a sacred pattern or depicting a traditional story, are carved onto the guwan, at which point it becomes a riji. One of the unique patterns used in the [Kimberley region of Western Australia](/source/Kimberley_region_of_Western_Australia) is a pattern of interlocking designs. The incised designs are highlighted with a mixture of [ochre](/source/ochre_pits) and [Spinifex resin](/source/Spinifex_resin), which is rubbed into the grooves. They carry deep cultural significance among Aboriginals.

The word ''riji'' is from the [Bardi language](/source/Bardi_language) and means "shell".<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Trade + Influence |url=https://nga.gov.au/learn/learning-resources/ever-present-first-peoples-art-of-australia/trade-and-influence/ |access-date=2024-09-20 |website=National Gallery of Australia |language=en}}</ref> Another word for it is ''jakuli''.

== Description ==
Coastal Aboriginal tribes along the Northwest coast would collected, cleaned and shaped ''guwan''s (undecorated pearl shells).<ref name="wam" /> Shells were normally from [gold-lipped pearl oysters](/source/Pinctada_maxima), and harvested when tides were at very low equinox.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Engraved pearl shell and hair-string belt (riji, or jakoli, longkalongka) {{!}} Western Kimberley |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/313729 |access-date=2024-09-20 |website=The Metropolitan Museum of Art |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Aboriginal shell trade {{!}} article for mature groups - Odyssey Traveller |url=https://www.odysseytraveller.com/articles/aboriginal-shell-trade/ |access-date=2024-09-20 |website=www.odysseytraveller.com |language=en}}</ref> They would then incise onto them ''ramu'' (lines that form a design or pattern).<ref name="wam" /> Sometimes, colour is added by rubbing pigment mixtures of ochre and spinifex resin into the shell's grooves.<ref name=":0" /> Other ingredients included [animal fat](/source/animal_fat), or powdered [charcoal](/source/charcoal) in order to highlight ''ramu'' designs. The shell's band is created from [hair](/source/hair), including human hair.<ref name=":1" />

The ''guwan'' are sometimes made into either a ''binji binji'' (smaller carved shell worn as a headpiece) or as shell clusters worn as a hairpiece. However, they are normally worn with a belt or band around the wearer's waist, with the shell covering the [male genitalia](/source/Male_genitalia_of_humans). All the shells are worn by only men, while ''riji'' making was done by both men and women.<ref name="wam" />

== History ==
[[File:Bardi-Jawi people on Jackson Island, WA 1917.jpg|thumb|Bardi-Jawi people wearing ''rijis'' on Jackson Island in [King Sound](/source/King_Sound), WA in 1917]]

=== Pearls among Aboriginals ===
{{See also|Pearling in Western Australia}}
The coastal area of the Kimberley and the surrounding region is home to pearl-producing organisms.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2023-12-18 |title=The lure and lustre of Western Australian pearls |url=https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/06e2f1fdfe734a31b8f5c6cf298fd8d9 |access-date=2024-09-20 |website=ArcGIS StoryMaps |language=en-au}}</ref> Pearls have been valued by Aboriginal tribes of the Kimberley region for a long time, with a pearl found in Widgingarri dating back 22,000 years ago and being located {{Convert|200|km|mi}} from where the shoreline would've been. Alongside this, evidence of shell movement from the region goes back 32,000 years ago.<ref name="wam" /> However, pearl shells were more highly prized than pearls.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news |date=2019-03-22 |title=When pearls were rubbish and shells were the prize |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-22/pearls-and-pear-shell-in-indigenous-culture/10772586 |access-date=2024-09-20 |work=ABC News |language=en-AU}}</ref>

Both ''riji''s and ''guwan''s were objects of great value and were traded with inland Aboriginal people along ancient trade routes over vast areas of the continent.<ref name="wam" /> Pearl shells originating from Kimberley region have been discovered in [Central Australia](/source/Central_Australia), southern Western Australia, [South Australia](/source/South_Australia), and western [Queensland](/source/Queensland).<ref name=":2" />

Often plain pearl shells were decorated further along trade routes, far from their place of origin.thumb|A variety Rijis|221x221px

=== Modern history ===
The first European to identify ''rijis'' was French explorer [Louis de Freycinet](/source/Louis_de_Freycinet) in 1818 at [Shark Bay](/source/Shark_Bay), where he later wrote that he saw “an old man painted with stripes of various colors and distinguished from the rest by a shell hanging from his girdle”.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Aboriginal Pearl Shell adornments {{!}} lonka lonka {{!}} riji {{!}} aboriginal pearlshell |url=https://www.aboriginal-bark-paintings.com/aboriginal-pearl-shell/ |access-date=2024-09-20 |website=Aboriginal Bark Paintings |language=en-US}}</ref>

Aboriginal artists Aubrey Tigan and [Butcher Joe Nangan](/source/Butcher_Joe_Nangan) created ''riji'' out of mother-of-pearl buttons and cloth.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lawrence |first1=K. |url=http://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1132&context=creartspapers |title="Cloth and shell: revealing the luminous": SASA Gallery, Adelaide Bank Festival of Arts, 28 February - 28 March: This Everything Water |last2=Kean |first2=J. |last3=Wood Conroy |first3=D. |last4=Tigan |first4=Aubrey |last5=Nangan |first5=Butcher Joe |date=2008 |publisher=South Australian School of Art Gallery, University of South Australia |location=Adelaide, South Australia |access-date=31 July 2016}}</ref>

Artists still make Riji today in the Broome area. Some use the older, sacred patterns, while others choose to use more modern designs.<ref name="wam" /> Modern production of ''rijis'' for traditional and tourist use now normally incorporates modern tools into the creation stage.<ref name=":3" />

== Significance ==
Among the Aboriginal tribes of the Northwest, ''rijis'' carry special significance to them. Religiously, they are associated with water, as well as spiritual or healing powers, and life.<ref name="wam" /> When used by the ''maban'' (powerful spiritual men), ''rijis'' were believed to have the ability to bring rainfall, heal the sick, determine the guilty, and attract women.<ref name="wam" /> [Bardi people](/source/Bardi_people) equate the light reflecting off the shells to [lightning](/source/lightning) flashes, which are prominent during the [monsoon](/source/monsoon), and to lights flashing off the cheeks of the [Rainbow Serpent](/source/Rainbow_Serpent), who is closely linked to water and rain.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ancestor 'Riji' [pearl shell ornament] c.1900 |url=https://nga.gov.au/on-demand/ancestor-riji-pearl-shell-ornament-c1900/ |access-date=2024-09-20 |website=National Gallery of Australia |language=en}}</ref>

Rijis were also given to boys in [coming of age](/source/coming_of_age) and initiation ceremonies.<ref name="wam" />

==References==
{{reflist}}
*http://www.nga.gov.au/Exhibition/Tactility/Detail.cfm?IRN=83544
{{Indigenous Australians}}

Category:Australian Aboriginal clothing
Category:History of Western Australia

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Riji](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riji) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riji?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.