{"id":"MUS2026-181","label":"Oas San healer's bullroarer, Omaheke","people_or_site":"San at Oas (subgroup unrecorded)","country_current":"Namibia","historic_region":"Oas farm / Omaheke sandveld / Kalahari, German South-West Africa","macroregion":"Africa / Southern Africa","local_name":"","source_term":"Schwirrholz","source_language":"German","object_description":"Pointed-oval blade of European crate wood, 30.5 cm, flat and very slightly convex, pierced at the pointed end and threaded with a long European twine cord; the complete rig survives in the museum photograph. Three further Pöch blades from the same 1908 Oas collection event are photographed in Vienna: 85394, 85396 and 85397.","function_summary":"Swung by a healer when a person was ill; the roar was heard as a supernatural being speaking.","attestation_type":"museum_specimen","source_key":"wmw_vo85393_oas_san_schwirrholz","source_type":"museum_collection_record","source_url":"https://www.weltmuseumwien.at/en/objects/thunder-stick-medicine-431470","page_or_plate":"inv. 85393; accession card Post IX 1909, Nr. E 12","map_confidence":"high","plot_status":"plot","coordinate_basis":"GeoNames 3354990: Oas farm, Omaheke Region; the museum geography names Kalahari, Omaheke / Oas, and Pöch used the Oas farm as his first field base in 1908.","jade_complex_role":"","blurb":"When someone fell ill at Oas, a farm deep in the Omaheke sandveld, the healer's answer was sound: he swung a pointed wooden blade on its cord until the wood cried out, and a voice beyond the human joined the cure — a voice the 1909 Vienna card, in stark colonial German, calls Satan. The blade was improvised sacred equipment, cut from a European packing crate, bored at the tip, and strung with trade twine.","pull_quote":"Wenn ein Mensch krank ist, so schwingt der \"Doktor\" das Holz und läßt das Holz ertönen. Dann spricht der Satan.","pull_quote_translation":"When a person is ill, the \"doctor\" swings the wood and makes it sound. Then Satan speaks.","pull_quote_cite":"Weltmuseum Wien accession card, Post IX 1909, inv. 85393","term_gloss":"Schwirrholz: German, 'whirring wood' — the standard museum term for a bullroarer; no San name was recorded for this blade.","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":"Weltmuseum Wien inv. 85393, 'Thunder Stick/ Medicine' (Schwirrholz); geography Namibia / Kalahari, Omaheke / Oas; collector Rudolf Pöch, c. 1908, museum entry 1909 (accession card Post IX 1909, Nr. E 12)","url":"https://www.weltmuseumwien.at/en/objects/thunder-stick-medicine-431470","archive":"https://web.archive.org/web/20261013131004/https://www.weltmuseumwien.at/en/objects/thunder-stick-medicine-431470"}],"source_citations":"Weltmuseum Wien inv. 85393, 'Thunder Stick/ Medicine' (Schwirrholz); geography Namibia / Kalahari, Omaheke / Oas; collector Rudolf Pöch, c. 1908, museum entry 1909 (accession card Post IX 1909, Nr. E 12)","source_display":"Weltmuseum Wien inv. 85393, 'Thunder Stick/ Medicine' (Schwirrholz); geography Namibia / Kalahari, Omaheke / Oas; collector Rudolf Pöch, c. 1908, museum entry 1909 (accession card Post IX 1909, Nr. E 12)","date_citation_display":"","object_display":"Pointed-oval blade of European crate wood, 30.5 cm, flat and very slightly convex, pierced at the pointed end and threaded with a long European twine cord; the complete rig survives in the museum photograph. Three further Pöch blades from the same 1908 Oas collection event are photographed in Vienna: 85394, 85396 and 85397.","function_display":"Swung by a healer when a person was ill; the roar was heard as a supernatural being speaking.","confidence_display":"high","attestation_label":"museum specimen","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"san oas","display_name":"Oas San healer's bullroarer, Omaheke","image":{"full":"assets/objects/MUS2026-181_wmw_85393_oas_bullroarer.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/MUS2026-181_wmw_85393_oas_bullroarer_thumb.jpg","alt":"Oas healer’s weathered wooden bullroarer with several holes through its face and cord attached near the tapered end.","credit":"© KHM-Museumsverband (Weltmuseum Wien), inv. 85393","license":"CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (KHM-Museumsverband / Weltmuseum Wien) — ©KHM-Museumsverband credit required; rehosted low-res","source_page":"https://www.weltmuseumwien.at/en/objects/thunder-stick-medicine-431470","rehosted":true,"representative":false,"caption":"The Oas healer’s corded blade."},"slug":"mus2026-181-san-at-oas-subgroup-unrecorded"}