{"id":"NA-S1952-010","label":"Papago assembly and curing bullroarer","people_or_site":"Papago / Tohono O'odham","country_current":"United States","historic_region":"Southwest","macroregion":"North America","local_name":"Wihoewiketeke / wewegita","source_term":"bullroarer / Schwirrholz","source_language":"German; English; Dutch metadata","object_description":"A 46 cm wooden slat painted reddish-brown on white, preserved with its cord and short whirling handle; collected by H. ten Kate.","function_summary":"A rain-ceremony and assembly instrument also credited with curative power; its hum drove away evil spirits.","attestation_type":"museum_specimen","source_key":"schmeltz1896_papago_rv362_38","source_type":"museum_collection; primary_ethnography; source_catalog","source_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11840/653071","page_or_plate":"Schmeltz 1896:120-121, figs. 23, 23a-b; American Anthropologist 22 (1920):28; Seder 1952:51-54","map_confidence":"medium_high","plot_status":"plot","coordinate_basis":"Representative Tohono O'odham/Papago anchor; Seder gives no exact site.","jade_complex_role":"","blurb":"Reddish-brown designs on a white ground run down this wooden blade — curved cross-stripes on one face, a chain of triangles on the other — and its cord still joins it to the short handle that set it humming. The old label on the Papago object said the sound drove away evil spirits. In the wider Tohono O'odham world the wewegita also gathered people and entered the saguaro-wine ceremony, when the desert's great cactus harvest was fermented and rain was called into the coming season.","pull_quote":"Erzeugt ein summendes Geräusch und wird gebraucht, um böse Geister zu vertreiben.","pull_quote_translation":"It produces a humming sound and is used to drive away evil spirits.","pull_quote_cite":"Museum label, in Schmeltz 1896:121","term_gloss":"Wihoewiketeke: name Schmeltz records for the Papago and Pima museum slats; wewegita: Papago name in the 1920 rain-ceremony account.","cls":"weather","class_label":"Weather / fertility magic","color":"#2F6FA3","is_candidate":false,"flags":["agriculture","weather"],"f_jade_complex":false,"f_women_taboo":false,"f_women_special":false,"f_snake":false,"sources":[{"citation":"Wereldmuseum (NMVW), RV-362-38 (collected by H. ten Kate); J. D. E. Schmeltz, 'Das Schwirrholz,' Verhandlungen des Vereins für naturwissenschaftliche Unterhaltung zu Hamburg 9 (1896), pp. 120-121, figs. 23, 23a-b; American Anthropologist 22 (1920), p. 28; Seder 1952, pp. 51-54","url":"https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11840/653071"}],"source_citations":"Wereldmuseum (NMVW), RV-362-38 (collected by H. ten Kate); J. D. E. Schmeltz, 'Das Schwirrholz,' Verhandlungen des Vereins für naturwissenschaftliche Unterhaltung zu Hamburg 9 (1896), pp. 120-121, figs. 23, 23a-b; American Anthropologist 22 (1920), p. 28; Seder 1952, pp. 51-54","source_display":"Wereldmuseum (NMVW), RV-362-38 (collected by H. ten Kate); J. D. E. Schmeltz, 'Das Schwirrholz,' Verhandlungen des Vereins für naturwissenschaftliche Unterhaltung zu Hamburg 9 (1896), pp. 120-121, figs. 23, 23a-b; American Anthropologist 22 (1920), p. 28; Seder 1952, pp. 51-54","date_citation_display":"","object_display":"A 46 cm wooden slat painted reddish-brown on white, preserved with its cord and short whirling handle; collected by H. ten Kate.","function_display":"A rain-ceremony and assembly instrument also credited with curative power; its hum drove away evil spirits.","confidence_display":"medium to high","attestation_label":"museum specimen","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"papago","display_name":"Papago assembly and curing bullroarer","image":{"full":"assets/objects/expansion_2026_07/NA-S1952-010_wereldmuseum_rv362-38.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/expansion_2026_07/thumbs/NA-S1952-010_wereldmuseum_rv362-38_thumb.jpg","alt":"Tohono O’odham Wihoewiketeke with a painted blade, long fibre cord, and wooden whirling handle.","credit":"Wereldmuseum / NMVW (RV-362-38)","license":"CC BY-SA 4.0","source_page":"https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11840/653071","rehosted":true,"representative":false,"caption":"Tohono O’odham Wihoewiketeke with painted blade, cord, and whirling handle.","additional":[{"full":"assets/objects/NA-S1952-010_khm_uem29633c.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/NA-S1952-010_khm_uem29633c_thumb.jpg","alt":"A Tohono O’odham tapered wooden blade with cotton cord attached near one end.","credit":"Kulturhistorisk museum, Universitetet i Oslo, UEM29633c (coll. Carl Lumholtz)","license":"No open licence stated ('contact owner') — rehosted low-res for non-commercial research","source_page":"https://digitaltmuseum.no/0210213513416","rehosted":true,"representative":false,"caption":"A different Papagueria whirl-stick, one of seven Carl Lumholtz collected — tapered blade on its cotton cord."}],"also":[{"label":"Densmore 1929 Plate 15c: complete Papago Viikita bullroarer rig","page":"assets/objects/expansion_2026_07/NA-S1952-010_densmore1929_plate15c.png","credit":"Frances Densmore, Papago Music, BAE Bulletin 90 (1929), plate 15c","license":"Public domain (United States government work)"}]},"slug":"na-s1952-010-papago-tohono-o-odham"}