Tradition / Region: Papua New Guinea Mythology
Alternate Names: —
Category: Spirit
The Myth
In the beliefs of the Kiwai Papuans, the sky is not empty. High above the earth live the Aromo-rubi, strange anthropomorphic beings with small bodies and great, powerful limbs. No other spirits dwell in the sky with them; the heights belong to the Aromo-rubi alone.
From their place above the world, they throw down long ropes. When they descend along these ropes and climb back up again, flashes of lightning tear across the sky. Their movement between sky and earth splits the darkness with sudden fire.
Thunder is made in another way. The Aromo-rubi roll massive tree trunks across the heavens. As the wood grinds and crashes through the sky, the sound echoes across the land as thunder, shaking forests and villages below.
Through these acts, the Aromo-rubi command the storm. Lightning and thunder are not signs of distant forces, but the visible and audible traces of their work in the sky.
Gallery
Sources
Bestiary.us contributors. (n.d.). Aromo-rubi. In Bestiary.us, from https://www.bestiary.us/aromo-rubi/
Interpretive Lenses
Religious Readings
- Christian Ascetic Deep Dive
Philosophical Readings
- Nietzschean Deep Dive
Psychological Readings
- Jungian Deep Dive
Esoteric Deep Dive
- Hermetic Deep Dive
Political / Social Readings
- Marxist Deep Dive
Other
- How to Invite The Aromo-rubi