Australian Aboriginal astronomy
In most Aboriginal cultures, the Sun is regarded as a woman, and the Moon is a man. Tradition in Arnhem Land says that each morning, the Sun wakes up and lights a fire at her camp in the east. She then gets up and carries a torch across the sky from east to west, creating daylight. The Yolngu call her Walu, and believe that at sunrise and sunset her ochre body paint is brushed onto the clouds. At night, she is said to travel under ground back to her camp in the east. Similar stories are used to explain the phases of the Moon. For example, the Kuwema people say that at each full moon, he grows fat by eating the spirits of those who disobey tribal law. Some coastal peoples, such as the Yolngu, clearly saw the connection between the Moon and the tides. In other groups, the Moon is linked with fertility due to the similar pattern of the lunar cycle and the female menstrual cycle.