{"id":"NAGA-007","label":"Sema Sumi bird-scarer and doorway-derivative bullroarers","people_or_site":"Sema / Sumi country","country_current":"India","historic_region":"Naga Hills / present Nagaland","macroregion":"South Asia / Northeast India","local_name":"herumu / hewu","source_term":"bull-roarer","source_language":"English","object_description":"Bull-roarer plus painted doorway derivatives, Pitt Rivers Museum. The sounding rigs are PRM 1923.84.909 (vernacular hewu; J. H. Hutton coll.) and 1928.69.321-322 (herumu), preserving blades and complete corded assemblies; 1923.84.908 is a painted doorway ornament of the same form.","function_summary":"Boys' bird-scaring instrument in the fields.","attestation_type":"ethnographic_attestation","source_key":"PRM_1923_SEMA_BULLROARER","source_type":"annual_report","source_url":"https://web.prm.ox.ac.uk/sma/index.php/museum-annual-reports/224-1923-annual-report.html","page_or_plate":"1923 annual report | PRM acc. 1923.84.908/909; 1928.69.321-322","map_confidence":"medium","plot_status":"plot_with_caveat","coordinate_basis":"Broad Sumi/Sema regional anchor; not Oxford","jade_complex_role":"","blurb":"Sümi boys sent the hewu or herumu roaring over cultivated ground to scare birds from the crops — a working instrument of the fields rather than the men's house. Painted derivatives of the same form hung in house doorways — at Mishilimi, Shaw recorded, \"to act as disinfectants in case of illness\", the whirring blade's shape doing protective duty even when it never sounded.","pull_quote":"bull-roarer used by boys for scaring birds from crops","pull_quote_translation":"","pull_quote_cite":"Pitt Rivers Museum Annual Report 1923, Accessions by Donation (presented by J. H. Hutton; Sema)","term_gloss":"herumu / hewu — Sümi (Sema) Naga names for the bull-roarer, recorded on the PRM specimens","cls":"play_practical","class_label":"Play / practical","color":"#24766D","is_candidate":false,"flags":["toy_survival"],"f_jade_complex":false,"f_women_taboo":false,"f_women_special":false,"f_snake":false,"sources":[{"citation":"Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, 1923.84.908 and 1923.84.909, 1928.69.321-322; Pitt Rivers Museum Annual Report 1923; Shaw 1929 (ed. J. H. Hutton), pp. 156-157","url":"https://web.prm.ox.ac.uk/sma/index.php/museum-annual-reports/224-1923-annual-report.html","archive":"https://web.archive.org/web/20240222121741/https://web.prm.ox.ac.uk/sma/index.php/museum-annual-reports/224-1923-annual-report.html"}],"source_citations":"Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, 1923.84.908 and 1923.84.909, 1928.69.321-322; Pitt Rivers Museum Annual Report 1923; Shaw 1929 (ed. J. H. Hutton), pp. 156-157","source_display":"Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, 1923.84.908 and 1923.84.909, 1928.69.321-322; Pitt Rivers Museum Annual Report 1923; Shaw 1929 (ed. J. H. Hutton), pp. 156-157","date_citation_display":"","object_display":"Bull-roarer plus painted doorway derivatives, Pitt Rivers Museum. The sounding rigs are PRM 1923.84.909 (vernacular hewu; J. H. Hutton coll.) and 1928.69.321-322 (herumu), preserving blades and complete corded assemblies; 1923.84.908 is a painted doorway ornament of the same form.","function_display":"Boys' bird-scaring instrument in the fields.","confidence_display":"medium","attestation_label":"ethnographic attestation","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"sema","display_name":"Sema Sumi bird-scarer and doorway-derivative bullroarers","image":{"full":"assets/objects/review_2026_07_15/NAGA-007_prm_1928_69_321.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/review_2026_07_15/thumbs/NAGA-007_prm_1928_69_321_thumb.jpg","credit":"Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford (1928.69.321)","license":"© Pitt Rivers Museum — non-commercial/educational reuse with attribution","source_page":"https://prm.ox.ac.uk/collections-online#/item/prm-object-39622","rehosted":true,"representative":false,"caption":"Complete Sümi herumu rig with blade, cord, and cane handle.","additional":[{"full":"assets/objects/review_2026_07_15/NAGA-007_prm_1923_84_909.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/review_2026_07_15/thumbs/NAGA-007_prm_1923_84_909_thumb.jpg","alt":"Sümi hewu with its string attached, Pitt Rivers Museum 1923.84.909.","credit":"Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford (1923.84.909)","license":"© Pitt Rivers Museum — non-commercial/educational reuse with attribution","source_page":"https://prm.ox.ac.uk/collections-online#/item/prm-object-39621","rehosted":true,"representative":false,"caption":"Sümi hewu with its string attached, Pitt Rivers Museum 1923.84.909."},{"full":"assets/objects/expansion_2026_07/roy1928_naga_bullroarer_plate.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/expansion_2026_07/thumbs/roy1928_naga_bullroarer_plate_thumb.jpg","alt":"Roy’s 1928 plate of six bullroarers used among the Nagas of Assam, including an eleven-inch Sema Naga example.","credit":"S. C. Roy, Oraon Religion and Customs (Ranchi, 1928), plate; specimens supplied by J. H. Hutton; scan archive.org dli.ernet.107911","license":"Public domain","source_page":"https://archive.org/details/dli.ernet.107911","rehosted":true,"representative":true,"caption":"Roy’s 1928 plate of an eleven-inch Sema Naga bullroarer."},{"full":"assets/objects/review_2026_07_15/NAGA-007_prm_1928_69_322.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/review_2026_07_15/thumbs/NAGA-007_prm_1928_69_322_thumb.jpg","alt":"A pointed wooden Sümi Naga herumu blade tied by string to a very long cane handle.","credit":"Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford (1928.69.322)","license":"© Pitt Rivers Museum — non-commercial/educational reuse with attribution","source_page":"https://prm.ox.ac.uk/collections-online#/item/prm-object-39623","rehosted":true,"representative":false,"caption":"Sümi herumu rig with a pointed, incised blade, its cord and long cane handle."}]},"slug":"naga-007-sema-sumi-country"}