{"id":"MUS2026-065","label":"Incised Kanum slat for the sosom feast","people_or_site":"Kanum","country_current":"Indonesia","historic_region":"South Papua (Merauke area)","macroregion":"Oceania / Sahul","local_name":"","source_term":"bull-roarer","source_language":"English","object_description":"Decorated wooden bullroarer of the Kanum, Wereldmuseum / NMVW RV-3070-93.","function_summary":"The Kanum held the sosom feast, at which a fish-shaped bullroarer sounds as the voice of the giant Sosom; the Marind took the feast from them, and the Kanum in turn from the Keraki, whose roarer sosa is likewise a giant's voice.","attestation_type":"museum_specimen","source_key":"wereldmuseum","source_type":"museum_collection","source_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11840/758303","page_or_plate":"RV-3070-93","map_confidence":"high","plot_status":"plot","coordinate_basis":"approximate culture/locality centroid","jade_complex_role":"","blurb":"Swung fast on its cord, this incised wooden slat throws a deep, pulsing roar into the air — the bullroarer's single trick, everywhere a sound made to carry a spirit or a summons past the edge of a village. Its collector labelled it only as a piece of wood \"decorated with motifs.\" The Kanum who made it hunt wallaby, deer and wild boar across the seasonally flooded Wasur savanna of the Merauke borderland. The roarer reached a Dutch museum before 1954, shelved among ritual gear, and Jaap Kunst, following Wirz, says which ritual it belongs to: the sosom feast, at which a fish-shaped bullroarer plays an indispensable part as the voice of the sosom giant — a feast the Marind-anim took from the Kanum, and the Kanum in turn from the Keraki to their east, whose roarer sosa is also a giant's voice.","pull_quote":"Dit hele feest, met inbegrip van de daarbij behorende mythen, moet frappante overeenkomst tonen met de initiatieplechtigheden en sagen der Boekaoea, Jabim en Tami in Oost-Nieuw-Guinea.","pull_quote_translation":"This whole feast, including the myths that belong to it, is said to bear a striking resemblance to the initiation ceremonies and legends of the Bukaua, Jabim and Tami in East New Guinea.","pull_quote_cite":"Jaap Kunst, De inheemse muziek in westelijk Nieuw-Guinea (1950), p. 76, after Wirz","term_gloss":"","cls":"sacred","class_label":"Sacred / spirit","color":"#8A5A2B","is_candidate":false,"flags":["spirit_voice"],"f_jade_complex":false,"f_women_taboo":false,"f_women_special":false,"f_snake":false,"sources":[{"citation":"Wereldmuseum / NMVW, object RV-3070-93, 'Bromhout met motieven versierd'","url":"https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11840/758303"},{"citation":"Jaap Kunst, Music in New Guinea (1967), p. 173 and n. 215, after P. Wirz and F. E. Williams"},{"citation":"Jaap Kunst, De inheemse muziek in westelijk Nieuw-Guinea (1950), p. 76, after Wirz"}],"source_citations":"Wereldmuseum / NMVW, object RV-3070-93, 'Bromhout met motieven versierd'; Jaap Kunst, Music in New Guinea (1967), p. 173 and n. 215, after P. Wirz and F. E. Williams; Jaap Kunst, De inheemse muziek in westelijk Nieuw-Guinea (1950), p. 76, after Wirz","source_display":"Wereldmuseum / NMVW, object RV-3070-93, 'Bromhout met motieven versierd'; Jaap Kunst, Music in New Guinea (1967), p. 173 and n. 215, after P. Wirz and F. E. Williams; Jaap Kunst, De inheemse muziek in westelijk Nieuw-Guinea (1950), p. 76, after Wirz","date_citation_display":"","object_display":"Decorated wooden bullroarer of the Kanum, Wereldmuseum / NMVW RV-3070-93.","function_display":"","confidence_display":"high","attestation_label":"museum specimen","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"kanum","display_name":"Incised Kanum slat for the sosom feast","image":{"full":"assets/objects/museum_harvest/wereldmuseum_55.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/museum_harvest/thumbs/wereldmuseum_55_thumb.jpg","alt":"A long brown wooden Kanum blade with a pointed tip, white geometric bands and a thick cord wrapped around its cross-shaped grip.","credit":"Wereldmuseum / NMVW (acc. RV-3070-93)","license":"","source_page":"https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11840/758303","rehosted":true,"representative":false,"caption":"Kanum bull-roarer — Wereldmuseum / NMVW (RV-3070-93)."},"slug":"mus2026-065-kanum"}