{"id":"NAMER-002","label":"Seri hacaaij, songs from the sea","people_or_site":"Comcaac (Seri), Isla Tiburón","country_current":"Mexico","historic_region":"Sonora / Isla Tiburon","macroregion":"North America / Mexico","local_name":"hacaaij","source_term":"Bullroarer","source_language":"English","object_description":"Wood-and-hide bullroarer collected on Isla Tiburón in 1924 by Edward H. Davis; NMAI catalog 12/9728.","function_summary":"A shaman’s instrument, whirled at a cave by a novice doctor at the end of a four-day fast to call the santos; seekers of sea songs also sounded it.","attestation_type":"museum_specimen","source_key":"NMAI_139475","source_type":"museum_collection","source_url":"https://americanindian.si.edu/collections-search/object/NMAI_139475","page_or_plate":"NMAI_139475 / catalog 12/9728 | Griffen 1959 pp.16,50; Moser–Marlett 2005 p.164; Vennum 2000 p.703","map_confidence":"medium","plot_status":"plot_with_caveat","coordinate_basis":"Representative Isla Tiburon island anchor from the catalog place; not an exact findspot.","jade_complex_role":"","blurb":"A four-day fast could end with the sea answering back. In a Seri quest for songs, the seeker painted sea animals on a beach shelter, then went out on the fourth night with a bullroarer. If he succeeded, the animals sang and spoke like little people, teaching songs, the winds’ timing and the fish runs. A would-be shaman made a second summons. After a four-day fast he whirled an ironwood bullroarer on a deer-tendon cord to call the santos, then lay waiting in a cave known to be good for the purpose. If they came, the cave became a beautiful house. The Comcaac call the instrument hacaaij; this carved wooden one came from Isla Tiburón in 1924.","pull_quote":"Collected in 1924 by Edward H. Davis (1862-1951, a rancher and field collector for MAI) during fieldwork sponsored by MAI.","pull_quote_translation":"","pull_quote_cite":"National Museum of the American Indian, Collection History note","term_gloss":"hacaaij: Seri bullroarer used by a shaman; plural hacaailc (Moser and Marlett 2005, p. 164).","cls":"restricted","class_label":"Restricted","color":"#A43C2F","is_candidate":false,"flags":["initiation"],"f_jade_complex":false,"f_women_taboo":false,"f_women_special":false,"f_snake":false,"sources":[{"citation":"National Museum of the American Indian, 12/9728, Comcaac (Seri), Isla Tiburón; collected by Edward H. Davis, 1924.","url":"https://americanindian.si.edu/collections-search/object/NMAI_139475"},{"citation":"William B. Griffen, Notes on Seri Indian Culture, Sonora, Mexico (1959), pp. 16, 50.","url":"https://openlibrary.org/works/OL1871629W/Notes_on_Seri_Indian_culture_Sonora_Mexico?edition=key%3A%2Fbooks%2FOL5815096M"},{"citation":"Mary B. Moser and Stephen A. Marlett, Comcaac quih yaza quih hant ihiip hac (2005), p. 164.","url":"https://lengamer.org/admin/language_folders/seri/user_uploaded_files/links/File/DiccionarioSeri2005.pdf#page=162","archive":"https://web.archive.org/web/20260905150954/https://lengamer.org/admin/language_folders/seri/user_uploaded_files/links/File/DiccionarioSeri2005.pdf#page=162"},{"citation":"Thomas Vennum, “Locating the Seri on the Musical Map of Indian North America,” Journal of the Southwest 42(3) (2000), p. 703.","url":"https://www.jstor.org/stable/40170219","archive":"https://web.archive.org/web/20251012030247/https://www.jstor.org/stable/40170219"}],"source_citations":"National Museum of the American Indian, 12/9728, Comcaac (Seri), Isla Tiburón; collected by Edward H. Davis, 1924.; William B. Griffen, Notes on Seri Indian Culture, Sonora, Mexico (1959), pp. 16, 50.; Mary B. Moser and Stephen A. Marlett, Comcaac quih yaza quih hant ihiip hac (2005), p. 164.; Thomas Vennum, “Locating the Seri on the Musical Map of Indian North America,” Journal of the Southwest 42(3) (2000), p. 703.","source_display":"National Museum of the American Indian, 12/9728, Comcaac (Seri), Isla Tiburón; collected by Edward H. Davis, 1924.; William B. Griffen, Notes on Seri Indian Culture, Sonora, Mexico (1959), pp. 16, 50.; Mary B. Moser and Stephen A. Marlett, Comcaac quih yaza quih hant ihiip hac (2005), p. 164.; Thomas Vennum, “Locating the Seri on the Musical Map of Indian…","date_citation_display":"","object_display":"Wood-and-hide bullroarer collected on Isla Tiburón in 1924 by Edward H. Davis; NMAI catalog 12/9728.","function_display":"A shaman’s instrument, whirled at a cave by a novice doctor at the end of a four-day fast to call the santos; seekers of sea songs also sounded it.","confidence_display":"medium","attestation_label":"museum specimen","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"comcaac","display_name":"Seri hacaaij, songs from the sea","image":{"full":"assets/objects/museum_harvest/nmai_139475.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/museum_harvest/thumbs/nmai_139475_thumb.jpg","alt":"Comcaac (Seri) bullroarer from Isla Tiburón, collected by Edward H. Davis in 1924: a wooden blade with hide cord wound around much of its upper half.","credit":"National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI_139475)","license":"Usage conditions apply; NMAI metadata marked CC0","source_page":"https://americanindian.si.edu/collections-search/object/NMAI_139475","rehosted":true,"representative":false,"caption":"Comcaac (Seri) bullroarer, wood and hide, Isla Tiburón, collected by Edward H. Davis in 1924."},"slug":"namer-002-comcaac-seri-isla-tiburon"}