{"id":"SAMER-004","label":"Oayana (Wayana) yolok eu calabash bullroarer","people_or_site":"Oayana (Wayana), Guiana borderlands","country_current":"Suriname; French Guiana; Brazil","historic_region":"Litani, Paloemeu-Tapanahoni, Jari and Paru borderlands","macroregion":"South America / Guianas","local_name":"yolok eu","source_term":"bromslinger (bullroarer, Schwirrholz)","source_language":"Dutch; Oayana/Wayana term","object_description":"Whirled calabash bullroarer: a small calabash with a hole, swung on a cord to make a buzzing tone.","function_summary":"A buzzer whirled on a cord at a death to drive away the yolok, the spirit of the deceased: de Goeje reports, on Ahlbrinck's information, that after a recent death someone at once walked through the village swinging a short piece of wood on a cord to banish the yolok. De Goeje also lists the instrument among the musical instruments of the Oayana.","attestation_type":"ethnographic_attestation","source_key":"DEOAYANA_DEEL100","source_type":"ethnographic_literature","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/in.gov.ignca.33419/33419_djvu.txt","page_or_plate":"deel 100:114-115, §45 no. 4","map_confidence":"medium","plot_status":"plot_with_caveat","coordinate_basis":"Representative Wayana borderlands anchor across the Litani / Paloemeu-Tapanahoni / Jari-Paru region; source is regional.","jade_complex_role":"","blurb":"Among the musical instruments of the Oayana (Wayana) of the Guiana borderlands, C.H. de Goeje recorded a bullroarer that is not a wooden blade but a small calabash pierced with a hole, swung on a cord until it gives off a buzzing tone. He set down its name, yolok eu, glossed \"geest-gefluit,\" spirit-whistle: yolok is one of the Oayana words for the soul, for the spirit of a dead person, and for the unseen spirits of nature, and the same pair of words names thunder, \"yolok eu (geest muziek),\" spirit-music. The instrument also had a use at death. De Goeje reports, on the word of the missionary W. Ahlbrinck, that when a man had recently died someone would at once walk through the village whirling a short piece of wood on a cord to drive the dead man's yolok away.","pull_quote":"toen onlangs een man was gestorven, onmiddellijk iemand door het dorp liep, een kort stuk hout als bromhout (§ 45) aan een koord rondslingerend, ter verdrijving van den yolok.","pull_quote_translation":"when a man had recently died, someone immediately walked through the village, swinging a short piece of wood as a buzzer (§ 45) on a cord, to drive away the yolok [the spirit of the dead].","pull_quote_cite":"C.H. de Goeje, De Oayana-Indianen, BKI deel 100 (1941): 117, § 47","term_gloss":"Yolok is one of the Oayana words for the soul, the spirit of a dead person, the unseen spirits of nature, and the demons a sorcerer sends; de Goeje glosses the compound yolok eu as \"geest-gefluit,\" spirit-whistle, and uses the same words for thunder, \"yolok eu (geest muziek),\" spirit-music.","cls":"sacred","class_label":"Sacred / spirit","color":"#8A5A2B","is_candidate":false,"flags":["spirit_voice","death_rebirth"],"f_jade_complex":false,"f_women_taboo":false,"f_women_special":false,"f_snake":false,"etymology":"The Oayana source glosses yolok eu as geest-gefluit, literally spirit-whistle or spirit-flute, for the bullroarer entry.","literal_gloss":"spirit-whistle / spirit-flute","semantic_cluster":"spirit; sound; instrument_name","etymology_confidence":"high","sources":[{"citation":"C. H. de Goeje, De Oayana-Indianen, Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indie 100 (1941), pp. 114–115, §45 no. 4; p. 117, §47","url":"https://archive.org/stream/in.gov.ignca.33419/33419_djvu.txt"}],"source_citations":"C. H. de Goeje, De Oayana-Indianen, Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indie 100 (1941), pp. 114–115, §45 no. 4; p. 117, §47","source_display":"C. H. de Goeje, De Oayana-Indianen, Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indie 100 (1941), pp. 114–115, §45 no. 4; p. 117, §47","date_citation_display":"","object_display":"Whirled calabash bullroarer: a small calabash with a hole, swung on a cord to make a buzzing tone.","function_display":"A buzzer whirled on a cord at a death to drive away the yolok, the spirit of the deceased: de Goeje reports, on Ahlbrinck's information, that after a recent death someone at once walked through the village swinging a short piece of wood on a cord to banish the yolok. De Goeje also lists the instrument among the musical instruments of the Oayana.","confidence_display":"medium","attestation_label":"ethnographic attestation","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"oayana","display_name":"Oayana (Wayana) yolok eu calabash 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":"auto-MUS2026-155_mkb_ivc_16316"},"slug":"samer-004-oayana-wayana-guiana-borderlands"}