{"id":"BOULTON1969-001","label":"Ovimbundu spirit voices on the hunt","people_or_site":"Ovimbundu, boys' initiation","country_current":"Angola","historic_region":"Central highlands (Planalto), Angola","macroregion":"Africa / Southern Africa","local_name":"","source_term":"bull-roarer","source_language":"English","object_description":"A thin oval piece of wood on the end of a string, whirled to a whistling roar.","function_summary":"Sounded as the voices of the spirits when the secluded initiation boys, ash-covered and accompanied by masked spirit-men, raced out to hunt and bring a wild animal back to their camp.","attestation_type":"ethnographic_attestation","source_key":"boulton1969_music_hunter","source_type":"historical_memoir","source_url":"https://archive.org/details/musichunterautob0000boul","page_or_plate":"p. 73","map_confidence":"low","plot_status":"plot","coordinate_basis":"Huambo plateau, heart of the Ovimbundu central highlands, as a regional anchor; Boulton names no village or camp for the sortie. Kept apart from MUS2026-021's Elende-area centroid (-12.5, 16.3).","jade_complex_role":"","blurb":"The Ovimbundu boys vanished into an initiation camp in the bush that no woman could approach, sworn on pain of death never to reveal what was done there. Only once in all that time were they seen: when, as part of their training, they raced across the countryside to hunt, kill and carry a wild animal back to camp. They came covered in white ash, wearing only loincloths, and the men running with them wore the costumes and masks of the spirits. Above their cries rose the wild sound of the bullroarer, a thin oval of wood whirled on a string: the voices of the spirits.","pull_quote":"Above their cries came the wild sound of the bull-roarer, a thin, oval piece of wood attached to the end of a string and whirled to produce a whistling sound, thought to be the voices of the spirits.","pull_quote_translation":"","pull_quote_cite":"Laura Boulton, The Music Hunter (1969), p. 73","term_gloss":"","cls":"restricted","class_label":"Restricted","color":"#A43C2F","is_candidate":false,"flags":["spirit_voice","initiation"],"f_jade_complex":false,"f_women_taboo":false,"f_women_special":false,"f_snake":false,"sources":[{"citation":"Laura Boulton, The Music Hunter: The Autobiography of a Career (Doubleday, 1969), p. 73","url":"https://archive.org/details/musichunterautob0000boul"}],"source_citations":"Laura Boulton, The Music Hunter: The Autobiography of a Career (Doubleday, 1969), p. 73","source_display":"Laura Boulton, The Music Hunter: The Autobiography of a Career (Doubleday, 1969), p. 73","date_citation_display":"","object_display":"A thin oval piece of wood on the end of a string, whirled to a whistling roar.","function_display":"Sounded as the voices of the spirits when the secluded initiation boys, ash-covered and accompanied by masked spirit-men, raced out to hunt and bring a wild animal back to their camp.","confidence_display":"low","attestation_label":"ethnographic attestation","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"ovimbundu","display_name":"Ovimbundu spirit voices on the hunt","image":{"full":"assets/objects/SUBSAH-033_subsah-033-kk052-bleek-lloyd1911.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/SUBSAH-033_subsah-033-kk052-bleek-lloyd1911_thumb.jpg","credit":"H. Werdelmann, drawing in W. H. I. Bleek and Lucy C. Lloyd, Specimens of Bushman Folklore (1911), illustration 19; Kirby Collection KK052","license":"Public domain (1911 publication)","source_page":"https://archive.org/details/cu31924029904830/page/n454/mode/1up","rehosted":true,"representative":true,"caption":"A San !goin!goin blade drawn for Bleek and Lloyd’s Bushman Folklore (1911)","pool_id":"auto-SUBSAH-033_subsah-033-kk052-bleek-lloyd1911","auto_assigned":true,"last_modified":"2026-10-17"},"slug":"boulton1969-001-ovimbundu-boys-initiation"}