{"id":"MINE2026-086","label":"Ndumba mwila, the fish-shaped monster","people_or_site":"Ndembu / Wukengi Farm / Nyaluhana vicinage","country_current":"Zambia","historic_region":"Wukengi Farm / Nyaluhana vicinage, Mwinilunga District, North-Western Province","macroregion":"Africa / South-Central Africa","local_name":"ndumba mwila","source_term":"bull-roarer","source_language":"English","object_description":"A fish-shaped piece of carved mukula wood, whirled behind a Mukanda lodge.","function_summary":"Used behind the Mukanda lodge to frighten novices and their mothers; the old explanation was that a monster had come to swallow the boys.","attestation_type":"ethnographic_attestation","source_key":"TURNER1967_NDEMBU_NDUMBA_MWILA","source_type":"ethnographic_monograph","source_url":"https://archive.org/details/forestofsymbolsa0000turn","page_or_plate":"pp. 188-189","map_confidence":"high","plot_status":"plot_with_caveat","coordinate_basis":"Kanongesha chiefdom proxy within Mwinilunga District; no recoverable coordinate for the mobile Wukengi Farm / Nyaluhana lodge setting.","jade_complex_role":"","blurb":"Behind the Ndembu Mukanda lodge at Wukengi, a junior guardian whirled ndumba mwila, a fish-shaped bullroarer carved from red mukula wood. Its growl terrified the novices and their mothers. The old explanation was worse: a monster had come to swallow the boys.","pull_quote":"a 'bull-roarer,' a fish-shaped piece of carved mukula wood","pull_quote_translation":"","pull_quote_cite":"Victor Turner, The Forest of Symbols (1967), pp. 188-189.","term_gloss":"ndumba mwila: ndumba means 'lion'; of mwila Turner could learn only that it was a word 'from long, long ago.'","cls":"restricted","class_label":"Restricted","color":"#A43C2F","is_candidate":false,"flags":["spirit_voice","initiation","death_rebirth"],"f_jade_complex":false,"f_women_taboo":false,"f_women_special":false,"f_snake":false,"sources":[{"citation":"Victor Turner, The Forest of Symbols: Aspects of Ndembu Ritual (1967), Mukanda chapter, pp. 188-189","url":"https://archive.org/details/forestofsymbolsa0000turn"}],"source_citations":"Victor Turner, The Forest of Symbols: Aspects of Ndembu Ritual (1967), Mukanda chapter, pp. 188-189","source_display":"Victor Turner, The Forest of Symbols: Aspects of Ndembu Ritual (1967), Mukanda chapter, pp. 188-189","date_citation_display":"","object_display":"A fish-shaped piece of carved mukula wood, whirled behind a Mukanda lodge.","function_display":"","confidence_display":"high","attestation_label":"ethnographic attestation","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"ndembu","display_name":"Ndumba mwila, the fish-shaped monster","image":{"full":"assets/objects/shared/kmma_congo_snorhout_mr1973_14_1.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/shared/kmma_congo_snorhout_mr1973_14_1_thumb.jpg","alt":"A long, narrow Congo Basin bullroarer blade with dark triangular and crossbar designs, attached to a pale cord.","credit":"© KMMA / Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren","license":"© KMMA","source_page":"https://music.africamuseum.be/instruments/english/congo%20drc/nara_kwei.html","rehosted":true,"representative":true,"caption":"A carved Leele bullroarer from the Kasai (Tervuren)","pool_id":"auto-shared--kmma_congo_snorhout_mr1973_14_1"},"slug":"mine2026-086-ndembu-wukengi-farm-nyaluhana-vicinage"}