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BULLROARER
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BULLROARER , the See also:English name for an See also:instrument made of a small See also:flat slip of See also:wood, through a hole in one end of which a See also:string is passed; swung See also:round rapidly it makes a booming, humming See also:noise. Though treated as a See also:toy by Europeans, the bullroarer has had the highest mystic significance and sanctity among See also:primitive See also:people. This is notably the See also:case in See also:Australia, where it figures in the See also:initiation ceremonies and is regarded with the utmost See also:awe by the " blackfellows." Their bullroarers, or sacred " tunduns," are of two types, the " grandfather " or " See also:man tundun," distinguished by its deep See also:tone, and the " woman tundun," which, being smaller, gives forth a weaker, shriller See also:note. See also:Women or girls, and boys before initiation, are never allowed to see the tundun. At the See also:Bora, or initiation ceremonies, the bullroarer's hum is believed to be the See also:voice of the " See also:Great Spirit," and on See also:hearing it the women hide in terror. A See also:Maori bullroarer is preserved in the See also:British Museum, and travellers in See also:Africa See also:state that it is known and held sacred there. Thus among the Egba tribe of the Yoruba See also:race the supposed " Voice of Oro," their See also:god of vengeance, is produced by a bullroarer, which isactually worshipped as the god himself. The sanctity of the bullroarer has been shown to be very widespread. There is no doubt that the rhombus (Gr. poµ/3os) which was whirled at the See also:Greek mysteries was one. Among See also:North See also:American See also:Indians it was See also:common. At certain Moqui ceremonies the procession of dancers was led by a See also:priest who whirled a bullroarer. The instrument has been traced among the Tusayan, See also:Apache and See also:Navaho Indians (J. G. See also:Bourke, Ninth See also:Annual See also:Report of See also:Bureau of Amer. Ethnol., 1892), among the Koskimo of British See also:Columbia (Fr. Boas, " Social Organization, &c., of the See also:Kwakiutl Indians," Report of the U.S. See also:National Museum for 1895), and in Central See also:Brazil. In New See also:Guinea, in some of the islands of the Torres Straits (where it is swung as a fishing-See also:charm), in See also:Ceylon (where it is used as a toy and figures as a sacred instrument at Buddhist festivals), and in See also:Sumatra (where it is used to induce the demons to carry off the soul of a woman, and so drive her mad), the bullroarer is also found. Sometimes, as among the Minangkabos of Sumatra, it is made of the frontal See also:bone of a man-renowned for his bravery. See A. See also:Lang, See also:Custom and Myth (1884) ; J. D. E. Schmeltz, Das Schwirrholz (See also:Hamburg, 1896) ; A. C. Haddon, The Study of Man, and in the Journ. Anthrop. Instil. xix., 189o; G. M. C. Theal, Kaffir Folk-See also:Lore; A. B. See also:Ellis, Yoruba-Speaking Peoples (1894); R. C. See also:Codrington, The Melanesians (1891). Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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