Riji
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A Riji are the pearl shells traditionally worn by Aboriginal men in Northwest Australia. They are worn as pubic coverings, like a loin cloth, and attached with hairstring from a belt or band around the waist. Only men initiated to the highest degree could traditionally wear them.[1] Today special ceremonies mark the occasion when boys are given riji to mark their transition to adulthood, a time of great joy for families.[2]
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 is a pattern of interlocking designs. The incised designs are highlighted with a mixture of ochre and Spinifex resin, which is rubbed into the grooves. They carry deep cultural significance among Aboriginals.
The word riji is from the Bardi language and means "shell".[3] Another word for it is jakuli.
Coastal Aboriginal tribes along the Northwest coast would collected, cleaned and shaped guwans (undecorated pearl shells).[2] Shells were normally from gold-lipped pearl oysters, and harvested when tides were at very low equinox.[4][5] They would then incise onto them ramu (lines that form a design or pattern).[2] Sometimes, colour is added by rubbing pigment mixtures of ochre and spinifex resin into the shell's grooves.[3] Other ingredients included animal fat, or powdered charcoal in order to highlight ramu designs. The shell's band is created from hair, including human hair.[4]
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. All the shells are worn by only men, while riji making was done by both men and women.[2]
