{"id":"MUS2026-029","label":"Rung rung's evening circuit against sorcerers","people_or_site":"Pipil (Nahua-Pipil)","country_current":"El Salvador","historic_region":"Nahuizalco, Sonsonate","macroregion":"Mesoamerica / Central America","local_name":"rung rung","source_term":"bull-roarer","source_language":"English","object_description":"Three Pipil rung rung from Nahuizalco (SMVK 1900.03.0493-.0495): each has a terminal-holed sounding slat on a single cord and long reed handle.","function_summary":"Swung in the evening as the householder circled his home three times, to scare away evil spirits and sorcerers.","attestation_type":"museum_specimen","source_key":"smvk_etnografiska","source_type":"museum_collection","source_url":"https://www.europeana.eu/en/item/91619/SMVK_EM_objekt_1019244","page_or_plate":"SMVK 1900.03.0493-.0495 / objects 1019244-1019246","map_confidence":"high","plot_status":"plot","coordinate_basis":"approximate culture/locality centroid","jade_complex_role":"","blurb":"Among the Pipil of Nahuizalco, in southwestern El Salvador, a householder would step outside in the evening and walk three times around his house, swinging a bull-roarer, to drive off evil spirits and sorcerers. This instrument was collected among the Pipil — whom he called \"the Aztecs of El Salvador\" — by the Swedish ethnographer Carl Vilhelm Hartman, who made Nahuizalco his base during his Central American fieldwork of the late 1890s; his own field note records the apotropaic circuit directly. Three of Hartman's specimens survive together, preserving the local name rung rung: a slat corded at one end to a long reed handle.","pull_quote":"Denna vinare användes för att skrämma bort onda andar och häxkarlar. Ägaren till huset går på kvällen tre varv omkring detta svängande sin vinare. Hartman anteckningar.","pull_quote_translation":"This bull-roarer was used to scare away evil spirits and sorcerers. The owner of the house walks three times around the house in the evening, swinging his bull-roarer. Hartman's notes.","pull_quote_cite":"Carl Vilhelm Hartman, field note, Museum of Ethnography (SMVK), Stockholm","term_gloss":"rung rung: Nawat/Pipil name for the bullroarer, echoing its sound.","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":"Museum of Ethnography (SMVK), Stockholm, 1900.03.0493-0495 (objects 1019244-1019246)","url":"https://www.europeana.eu/en/item/91619/SMVK_EM_objekt_1019244"}],"source_citations":"Museum of Ethnography (SMVK), Stockholm, 1900.03.0493-0495 (objects 1019244-1019246)","source_display":"Museum of Ethnography (SMVK), Stockholm, 1900.03.0493-0495 (objects 1019244-1019246)","date_citation_display":"","object_display":"Three Pipil rung rung from Nahuizalco (SMVK 1900.03.0493-.0495): each has a terminal-holed sounding slat on a single cord and long reed handle.","function_display":"Swung in the evening as the householder circled his home three times, to scare away evil spirits and sorcerers.","confidence_display":"high","attestation_label":"museum specimen","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"pipil","display_name":"Rung rung's evening circuit against sorcerers","image":{"full":"assets/objects/MUS2026-029.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/MUS2026-029_thumb.jpg","credit":"Statens museer for varldskultur / Etnografiska museet (1900.03.0493)","license":"CC BY 4.0","source_page":"https://collections.smvk.se/carlotta-em/web/object/1019244","rehosted":true,"representative":false,"caption":"Pipil rung rung from Nahuizalco, with a sounding slat, cord, and reed handle.","also":[{"label":"Sibling Pipil rung rung 1900.03.0494","page":"assets/objects/expansion_2026_07/MUS2026-029_smvk_1900-03-0494.jpg","credit":"Statens museer for varldskultur / Etnografiska museet (1900.03.0494)","license":"CC BY 4.0"},{"label":"Sibling Pipil rung rung 1900.03.0495","page":"assets/objects/expansion_2026_07/MUS2026-029_smvk_1900-03-0495.jpg","credit":"Statens museer for varldskultur / Etnografiska museet (1900.03.0495)","license":"CC BY 4.0"}]},"slug":"mus2026-029-pipil-nahua-pipil"}