{"id":"DAZEVEDO1986-001","label":"Washoe Thunder-stick","people_or_site":"Washoe","country_current":"United States","historic_region":"Lake Tahoe - western Nevada","macroregion":"North America / Great Basin","local_name":"Thunder-stick","source_term":"","source_language":"","object_description":"A painted stick on a thong, twirled rapidly through the air.","function_summary":"Shaman's ceremonial instrument; its whirring, low roar sounded like thunder.","attestation_type":"ethnographic_attestation","source_key":"review2026","source_type":"academic_article","source_url":"https://books.google.com/books?id=Cq3UC1ytmKwC&pg=PA490","page_or_plate":"d'Azevedo 1986, p. 490; Parkman 1993, p. 94","map_confidence":"high","plot_status":"plot","coordinate_basis":"Washoe heartland anchor, Lake Tahoe-Carson Valley.","jade_complex_role":"","blurb":"Among the Washoe of Lake Tahoe and the valleys under the eastern Sierra, the bullroarer was the Thunder-stick, and it belonged to the shaman. He caught the thong in his hand and twirled the painted stick hard through the air until it gave out a whirring, low roar that sounded like thunder — a storm's voice raised in ceremony at arm's length.","pull_quote":"The stick is painted in a zigzag or lightning design, in red and yellow native paints, the yellow made from cattail pollen.","pull_quote_translation":"","pull_quote_cite":"Warren L. d'Azevedo, 'Washoe', Handbook of North American Indians 11 (1986), p. 490","term_gloss":"Washoe name recorded in English as 'Thunder-stick' (d'Azevedo 1986:490; Parkman 1993:94).","cls":"sacred","class_label":"Sacred / spirit","color":"#8A5A2B","is_candidate":false,"flags":[],"f_jade_complex":false,"f_women_taboo":false,"f_women_special":false,"f_snake":false,"sources":[{"citation":"Warren L. d'Azevedo, 'Washoe,' Handbook of North American Indians, vol. 11: Great Basin (1986), p. 490; quoted in Parkman, Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 15 (1993), p. 94","url":"https://books.google.com/books?id=Cq3UC1ytmKwC&pg=PA490","archive":"https://web.archive.org/web/20261013003902/https://books.google.com/books?id=Cq3UC1ytmKwC&pg=PA490"}],"source_citations":"Warren L. d'Azevedo, 'Washoe,' Handbook of North American Indians, vol. 11: Great Basin (1986), p. 490; quoted in Parkman, Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 15 (1993), p. 94","source_display":"Warren L. d'Azevedo, 'Washoe,' Handbook of North American Indians, vol. 11: Great Basin (1986), p. 490; quoted in Parkman, Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 15 (1993), p. 94","date_citation_display":"","object_display":"A painted stick on a thong, twirled rapidly through the air.","function_display":"Shaman's ceremonial instrument; its whirring, low roar sounded like thunder.","confidence_display":"high","attestation_label":"ethnographic attestation","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"washoe","display_name":"Washoe Thunder-stick","image":{"full":"assets/objects/BOURKE1892-001.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/BOURKE1892-001_thumb.jpg","alt":"Mishongnovi Hopi bullroarer: a white-painted wooden blade with a yellow-green zigzag snake outlined in black running along its length, and a hole near one rounded end.","credit":"© The Trustees of the British Museum, Am1891,0612.21","license":"CC BY-NC-SA 4.0","source_page":"https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Am1891-0612-21","rehosted":true,"representative":true,"caption":"Painted Hopi snake-lightning bullroarer from Mishongnovi, British Museum.","pool_id":"american-west-hopi-snake-lightning","last_modified":"2026-08-11"},"slug":"dazevedo1986-001-washoe"}