The deeds of the Heavenly Ancestors are the models for correct behavior, the perfect expression of traditional law, the wisdom bequeathed to the Earth by the Primordial Beings. Such deeds have been recounted since the beginning of time in the rituals of the magico-religious festivals of Wanwanna, which are celebrated to inaugurate new gardens or communal houses.

At these ceremonies, the laws of the people are sung in the form of narratives. Only the elders completely know the secrets of the ademi sacred songs, whose meanings they have discovered, little by little, through contact with the sadashe over a lifetime of participation in Wanwanna. They have gained the wisdom and power that the Watunna has opened to them.

In addition to the ancient preserved songs, the Watunna narratives also exist in a secular format, told daily, outside of ritual performance. These variations—⁠—though altered, abbreviated, and lacking the phonetic games and mental associations key to understanding the symbolic structure of the ademi—⁠—still fulfill the essential role of the Watunna, teaching history and ethics. It is the popular Watunna here presented, pieced together from fragments and episodes told across many years and refined to print through community participation.