Song search: the emu egg explodes

Subject: Song search: the emu egg explodes
From:
Date: 07 Jun 00 - 02:06 PM

My brother in law raises emu birds in NY state. For publicity to push emu products (oils, meat) he's looking for the story of the emu egg which exploded and became the sun. Any help?

Subject: RE: Song search: the emu egg explodes
From: Sorcha
Date: 07 Jun 00 - 02:24 PM

Sounds maybe Incan? or some South American? Maybe Andres can help. CREEP ALERT--I had a friend who was trying to hatch an emu egg, and it did explode. Not a pretty smell at all.

Subject: RE: Song search: the emu egg explodes
From: MMario
Date: 07 Jun 00 - 02:45 PM

incan emu's?? hmmmmm, via easter island?

found on the web under creation myths....

In the beginning, when the world was new, there was no sun and the humans and animals had to hunt and gather by the light of the dim moon. One day the brolga and the emu had a huge argument over whose babies were best. The brolga got so furious that she stole one of the emu's eggs which she threw into the sky. As she threw it into the air it smashed on a few sticks. The yellow yolk burst into flames and lit up the earth. The beauty of the land could be seen for the first time by the people of the sky. They thought the land was so beautiful that they decided to light a giant fire as soon as the morning star appeared. This didn't work all the time because on an overcast day the star couldn't be seen. The star people decided to ask the Kookaburra to help because of his loud, striking call. He was asked to call every morning so that they knew when to light the sun.

That's why the kookaburra can be heard first thing every morning before the fire starts to burn. The fire only lets a small amount of light and heat, and gradually it gets hotter and brighter. During the day, after it brightens, the fire begins to burn out, so the light dims again.

Subject: RE: Song search: the emu egg explodes
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 08 Jun 00 - 12:28 AM

G'day all,

I'm glad to see that MMario came up with the Deaming story of the emu egg.

Sorcha: As MMario hinted at the start of the posting, emus are from Australia, not South America ... but, it isn't widely known that we sort of pinched the name from South America's Rhea, which was also referred to by the Portugese name for a crane emas. Quite a lot of the English military types in the early settlement had spent time in assorted South American wars and a few of their terms were naturalised in Australia.

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Song search: the emu egg explodes
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 08 Jun 00 - 12:30 AM

G'day again,

And I should have put a 'r' into Dreaming, the Aboriginal term for their body of creation stories, as well as for their whole concept of personal belief and belonging.

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Song search: the emu egg explodes
From: Sorcha
Date: 08 Jun 00 - 08:56 AM

Thanks, Bob, for trying to save me a little face, but I think the egg exploded all over my face. Don't we all just love those Senior Moments..........(I wish I could say "I knew that", but I didn't, Oh well)

Subject: RE: Song search: the emu egg explodes
From: GUEST,Mrr
Date: 08 Jun 00 - 01:02 PM

Way cool, guys. I love creation myths.

Subject: RE: Song search: the emu egg explodes
From: John in Brisbane
Date: 09 Jun 00 - 12:30 AM

I'm a bit hesitant about making any suggestions on this subject because I tend to treat these legends and songs with a lot more respect than I did a number of years ago. If you have heard a song about this, is it possible that it was a Rolf Harris creation? He was (probably) one of the first non-indigenous people to popularise songs of this type. While this is a pure guess, is it possible that 'Sun Arise' deals with this subject?

The first phrase - with a didgeradoo style monochord backing goes "Sun arise early in the morning".

Regards, John