Maŋgalili country is the site of one of the ceremonial burial ground called the Yiŋapuŋapu. The Yiŋapuŋapu is a low relief sand sculpture designed to keep any contamination of death at bay as traditionally the body of the deceased was placed within it for initial mortuary rites, to cleanse the bones of dangerous spirits held within the body tissue. A metaphor for this action of cleansing is utilized by the Maŋgalili in their sacred paintings by way of depicting sand or ghost crabs picking the bones of a fish carcass on the beach. Contemporary Maŋgalili on the beaches of Djarrakpi put their food scraps in one place when at camp–the secular yiŋupuŋapu. This painting shows the totemic mirriya (crabs) which feeds on the ancestral remains of the parrot fish Yambirrku. The miny’tji or sacred clan design for the sand-scapes of Djarrakpi both adorn and surround the crabs. The smaller crabs are soldier crabs or muṯimuṯi. In traditional mortuary ceremony for this clan the last act is to catch and eat Yambirrku and dispose of the bones in the ceremonial sand sculpture for the crabs to pick clean overnight.

– Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre