{"id":"SA-Z1953-034","label":"Carib Wun-wun medicine-man bullroarer","people_or_site":"Carib","country_current":"Suriname; Guyana; French Guiana","historic_region":"Guiana / Circum-Caribbean","macroregion":"South America","local_name":"","source_term":"Schwirrgerät / Schwirrholz / bullroarer","source_language":"German / English extraction","object_description":"","function_summary":"Medicine man whirls Wun-wun at night to repel evil spirits; children forbidden to handle it as plaything","attestation_type":"secondary_catalog","source_key":"zerries1953","source_type":"source_catalog","source_url":"https://etnolinguistica.wdfiles.com/local--files/biblio%3Aahlbrinck-1956-encyclopedie/Ahlbrinck_1956_LEncyclopedieDesCaraibes.pdf","page_or_plate":"Ahlbrinck 1931:405-406 (s.v. puyei sec.42 \"Wun-wun\")","map_confidence":"medium_high","plot_status":"plot","coordinate_basis":"Representative Kalina / Guiana coordinate; exact locality broad.","jade_complex_role":"","blurb":"Among the Carib (Kalina) of the Guianas the bull-roarer is the Wun-wun, an instrument of the puyei or medicine man. The Dutch missionary-ethnographer W. Ahlbrinck, who worked among the Maroni and Cottica Carib, described it plainly: a string to which is tied a foot-long stalk of warimbo, the cane reed. At nightfall, when the puyei means to work his magic, he whirls the warimbo in a circle so that it gives off the roaring buzz that names it -- wun-wun. He does this so that the evil spirit will know of it; the spirit dislikes the noise and flees when it hears it. Boys bold enough to take the instrument up as a plaything are told by the adults that \"this is not done.\"","pull_quote":"When the Piai at nightfall begins with his magical actions he whirls at first the bull-roarer, \"that the evil spirit know it (ahiwano-uhu-tome)\". The evil spirit is said to dislike this noise and to flee from it. When the children want to handle the bull-roarer as a plaything, they are forbidden to do so by the adults.","pull_quote_translation":"","pull_quote_cite":"Zerries 1953:289 (reporting Ahlbrinck 1931:405), \"The Bull-Roarer Among South American Indians,\" Revista do Museu Paulista N.S. VII","term_gloss":"Wun-wun / wun-wun: the Carib (Kalina) name for the bull-roarer, onomatopoeic for the roaring buzz it makes when whirled. puyei (piai, piaiman): the Carib shaman or medicine-man. warimbo (waruma): the Ischnosiphon cane reed split for the blade, also used in Carib basketry.","cls":"restricted","class_label":"Restricted","color":"#A43C2F","is_candidate":false,"flags":["spirit_voice","initiation","toy_survival"],"f_jade_complex":false,"f_women_taboo":false,"f_women_special":false,"f_snake":false,"sources":[{"citation":"W. Ahlbrinck, Encyclopaedie der Karaiben, Verhandelingen der Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen te Amsterdam, Afd. Letterkunde, n.r. 27(1) (1931), pp. 405–406, s.v. puyei, §42 “Wun-wun”"},{"citation":"Otto Zerries, “The Bull-Roarer among South American Indians,” Revista do Museu Paulista, n.s. VII (1953), p. 289, reporting Ahlbrinck (1931), p. 405"}],"source_citations":"W. Ahlbrinck, Encyclopaedie der Karaiben, Verhandelingen der Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen te Amsterdam, Afd. Letterkunde, n.r. 27(1) (1931), pp. 405–406, s.v. puyei, §42 “Wun-wun”; Otto Zerries, “The Bull-Roarer among South American Indians,” Revista do Museu Paulista, n.s. VII (1953), p. 289, reporting Ahlbrinck (1931), p. 405","source_display":"W. Ahlbrinck, Encyclopaedie der Karaiben, Verhandelingen der Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen te Amsterdam, Afd. Letterkunde, n.r. 27(1) (1931), pp. 405–406, s.v. puyei, §42 “Wun-wun”; Otto Zerries, “The Bull-Roarer among South American Indians,” Revista do Museu Paulista, n.s. VII (1953), p. 289, reporting Ahlbrinck (1931), p. 405","date_citation_display":"","object_display":"","function_display":"Medicine man whirls Wun-wun at night to repel evil spirits; children forbidden to handle it as plaything","confidence_display":"medium to high","attestation_label":"secondary catalog","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"carib","display_name":"Carib Wun-wun medicine-man bullroarer","image":{"full":"assets/objects/MUS2026-155_mkb_ivc_16316.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/MUS2026-155_mkb_ivc_16316_thumb.jpg","alt":"The Tiriyó bullroarer: a broad wooden board tapering to a narrowed pierced end, photographed beside a museum label and scale.","credit":"Museum der Kulturen Basel, IVc 16316","license":"CC BY 4.0","source_page":"https://onlinecollection.mkb.ch/?queries=query%3Dsearch%3DInventory%2520number%3DIVc%252016316%26showtype%3Drecord","rehosted":true,"representative":true,"caption":"Tiriyó bullroarer from the Guianas.","pool_id":"caribbean-tiriyo"},"slug":"sa-z1953-034-carib"}