{"id":"NADEL1935-001","label":"Vugù-vugù, the sorcerers' killing magic","people_or_site":"Nupe, a men's sorcerer society of northern Nupe","country_current":"Nigeria","historic_region":"Northern Nupe country, Niger State","macroregion":"Africa / West Africa","local_name":"vugù-vugù","source_term":"bullroarer-magic","source_language":"English; Nupe","object_description":"A bullroarer, called vugù-vugù in Nupe; form and material unrecorded.","function_summary":"Bullroarer magic said to give a society of male sorcerers in northern Nupe the power to kill from a distance.","attestation_type":"ethnographic_attestation","source_key":"nadel1935_nupe_witchcraft","source_type":"journal_article","source_url":"https://doi.org/10.2307/3180591","page_or_plate":"p. 427 n. 1; p. 434 n. 1","map_confidence":"low","plot_status":"plot_with_caveat","coordinate_basis":"Broad anchor in northern Nupe country north-west of Bida; Nadel says only that the group 'is said to live in the north of Nupe' and names no village or district. About 0.5 degrees from BLENCHDICT-003's Bida anchor.","jade_complex_role":"","blurb":"In the north of Nupe country lived, it was said, a society of men sorcerers whose witchcraft was as organized, as evil and as certainly deadly as the women's. Nupe witches were believed to kill by slipping the soul out of the body and going about unseen. These men had no need to. Their power lay in a bullroarer magic called vugù-vugù, which let them kill from a distance. The Nupe call the bullroarer a ndăkó, the word for grandfather or ancestor that they give to spirits and to the objects bound to them.","pull_quote":"a specific bullroarer-magic, called in Nupe vugù-vugù, which is said to give the sorcerers power to kill from a distance","pull_quote_translation":"","pull_quote_cite":"S. F. Nadel, 'Witchcraft and Anti-Witchcraft in Nupe Society,' Africa 8 (1935), p. 427 n. 1","term_gloss":"vugù-vugù: the Nupe name for the bullroarer; Nupe also call it a ndăkó, literally 'grandfather' or 'ancestor', their word for spirits and the magical objects linked with them.","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":"S. F. Nadel, 'Witchcraft and Anti-Witchcraft in Nupe Society,' Africa 8(4) (1935), pp. 423-447","url":"https://doi.org/10.2307/3180591"}],"source_citations":"S. F. Nadel, 'Witchcraft and Anti-Witchcraft in Nupe Society,' Africa 8(4) (1935), pp. 423-447","source_display":"S. F. Nadel, 'Witchcraft and Anti-Witchcraft in Nupe Society,' Africa 8(4) (1935), pp. 423-447","date_citation_display":"","object_display":"A bullroarer, called vugù-vugù in Nupe; form and material unrecorded.","function_display":"","confidence_display":"low","attestation_label":"ethnographic attestation","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"nupe","display_name":"Vugù-vugù, the sorcerers' killing magic","image":{"full":"assets/objects/museum_harvest/bm_E_Af1937-0312-70.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/museum_harvest/thumbs/bm_E_Af1937-0312-70_thumb.jpg","alt":"Tapering horn points strung through holes on a fibre strip.","credit":"© The Trustees of the British Museum (E/Af1937-0312-70)","license":"CC BY-NC-SA 4.0","source_page":"https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Af1937-0312-70","rehosted":true,"representative":true,"caption":"Tapering horn points strung through their tips on a fibre strip","pool_id":"auto-museum_harvest--bm_E_Af1937-0312-70","auto_assigned":true,"last_modified":"2026-10-17"},"slug":"nadel1935-001-nupe-a-men-s-sorcerer-society-of-northern-nupe"}