{"id":"GIFFORDKROEBER1937-002","label":"Kalekau thunder, seen by old women","people_or_site":"Northern Pomo of Kalekau (Kulakai), Sherwood Valley","country_current":"United States","historic_region":"California, Mendocino County, Sherwood Valley","macroregion":"North America / California","local_name":"","source_term":"bull-roarer","source_language":"English","object_description":"A wooden bullroarer whirled by a shaman in Kalekau's assembly house; it made a noise like thunder.","function_summary":"Whirled by a shaman in the assembly house and used at the boys' school; old women might see it, but not younger women and children.","attestation_type":"ethnographic_attestation","source_key":"giffordkroeber1937_pomo_ced","source_type":"culture_element_distribution","source_url":"https://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/anthpubs/ucb/text/ucp037-005.pdf","page_or_plate":"Gifford and Kroeber 1937 pp. 120, 123, 145, 186 n. 543; Essene 1942 p. 24","map_confidence":"medium","plot_status":"plot","coordinate_basis":"Main Kalekau village by a wet-weather pond in Sherwood Valley, at the east edge of the redwood belt, about 2 mi south of Sherwood (Gifford and Kroeber p. 120); estimated from the Sherwood Valley position.","jade_complex_role":"","blurb":"In the assembly house at Kalekau, in Sherwood Valley, a shaman whirled a wooden bullroarer that made a noise like thunder. Only men worked it, and it belonged to the schooling of the boys. Younger women and children were forbidden to see it, but the old women might watch. Kalekau's main village stood by a wet-weather pond at the edge of the redwoods, two miles south of Sherwood; its people were friends with Little Lake and Willits, who let them gather acorns, and at war with the Kato and the Coast Yuki.","pull_quote":"Made noise like thunder. Whirled by shaman in assembly house.","pull_quote_translation":"","pull_quote_cite":"Gifford and Kroeber, \"Culture Element Distributions: IV—Pomo\" (1937), p. 186, n. 543.","term_gloss":"Kalekau, also Kulakai: a Northern Pomo community of Sherwood Valley, Mendocino County.","cls":"restricted","class_label":"Restricted","color":"#A43C2F","is_candidate":false,"flags":["initiation","women_taboo"],"f_jade_complex":false,"f_women_taboo":true,"f_women_special":false,"f_snake":false,"sources":[{"citation":"E. W. Gifford and A. L. Kroeber, 'Culture Element Distributions: IV—Pomo', University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology 37(4) (1937): 117–254, pp. 120, 123, 145, 186","url":"https://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/anthpubs/ucb/text/ucp037-005.pdf"},{"citation":"Frank Essene, 'Culture Element Distributions: XXI—Round Valley', Anthropological Records 8(1) (1942): 1–97, p. 24","url":"https://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/anthpubs/ucb/text/ucar008-002.pdf"}],"source_citations":"E. W. Gifford and A. L. Kroeber, 'Culture Element Distributions: IV—Pomo', University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology 37(4) (1937): 117–254, pp. 120, 123, 145, 186; Frank Essene, 'Culture Element Distributions: XXI—Round Valley', Anthropological Records 8(1) (1942): 1–97, p. 24","source_display":"E. W. Gifford and A. L. Kroeber, 'Culture Element Distributions: IV—Pomo', University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology 37(4) (1937): 117–254, pp. 120, 123, 145, 186; Frank Essene, 'Culture Element Distributions: XXI—Round Valley', Anthropological Records 8(1) (1942): 1–97, p. 24","date_citation_display":"","object_display":"A wooden bullroarer whirled by a shaman in Kalekau's assembly house; it made a noise like thunder.","function_display":"","confidence_display":"medium","attestation_label":"ethnographic attestation","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"northern pomo","display_name":"Kalekau thunder, seen by old women","image":{"full":"assets/objects/pd_plates/fewkes1898_plate175_fig_s_sikyatki_paho.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/pd_plates/fewkes1898_plate175_fig_s_sikyatki_paho_thumb.jpg","credit":"J. W. Fewkes, Archeological Expedition to Arizona in 1895 (17th Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, pt. 2, 1898), plate CLXXV, fig. s","license":"Public domain (US government publication, 1898)","source_page":"https://archive.org/details/annualreportofbu1721smit","rehosted":true,"representative":true,"caption":"The Sikyatki grave paho: a flat","pool_id":"auto-pd_plates--fewkes1898_plate175_fig_s_sikyatki_paho","auto_assigned":true,"last_modified":"2026-10-19"},"slug":"giffordkroeber1937-002-northern-pomo-of-kalekau-kulakai-sherwood-valley"}