{"id":"SCHEBESTA1933-004","label":"Fomvokai and the pot wife","people_or_site":"Balendu (Lendu) of Geti","country_current":"Democratic Republic of the Congo","historic_region":"Geti, Irumu Territory, Ituri / Belgian Congo","macroregion":"Africa / Central Africa","local_name":"fomvokai / fomvokia","source_term":"Schwirrholz","source_language":"German","object_description":"A bullroarer, paired in ritual with a pot noise-instrument; its form and material are not recorded.","function_summary":"Sounded in initiation and circumcision, alongside a pot noise-instrument, ogobakia, called the bullroarer's wife.","attestation_type":"ethnographic_attestation","source_key":"schebesta1933_balendu_geti_fomvokai","source_type":"primary_ethnography","source_url":"https://www.kaowarsom.be/documents/MEMOIRES_VERHANDELINGEN/Sciences_morales_politique/Hum.Sc.%28IRCB%29_T.II%2C2_SCHEBESTA%20P._Bambuti-pygm%C3%A4en%20vom%20Ituri_1948.pdf","page_or_plate":"Schebesta 1933, printed p. 135 (PDF p. 143); Schebesta 1948, p. 482 (PDF p. 208), p. 497 n. 29","map_confidence":"medium","plot_status":"plot_with_caveat","coordinate_basis":"Geti, Irumu Territory, Ituri — the locality Schebesta names for these Balendu; a town-level anchor, not a village or performance site.","jade_complex_role":"","blurb":"At Geti, initiation and circumcision belonged to a married pair of voices. The bullroarer was fomvokai, also heard as fomvokia, a name built on fomvo, the Geti word for God; beside it sounded a pot noise-instrument, ogobakia, called the bullroarer's wife. Seventy-odd kilometres north, at Kilo, the same people paired the roarer go with a reed-blown pot, glöi, said to be its mother. The instrument, the vessel and the god were held inside one family of names, and the boys were made men to the sound of husband and wife.","pull_quote":"Die Balendu von Geti heißen das Schwirrholz fomvokai oder fomvokia; Gott nennen sie fomvo. Das Topfinstrument heißt ogobakai.","pull_quote_translation":"The Balendu of Geti call the bullroarer fomvokai or fomvokia; God they call fomvo. The pot-instrument is called ogobakai.","pull_quote_cite":"Schebesta 1933:135","term_gloss":"fomvokai (also fomvokia): the Balendu (Lendu) name for the bullroarer at Geti, built on fomvo, their word for God; the pot-instrument of the same locality is ogobakai.","cls":"sacred","class_label":"Sacred / spirit","color":"#8A5A2B","is_candidate":false,"flags":["initiation"],"f_jade_complex":false,"f_women_taboo":false,"f_women_special":false,"f_snake":false,"sources":[{"citation":"Paul Schebesta, \"Religiöse Ideen und Kulte der Ituri-Pygmäen,\" Archiv für Religionswissenschaft 30 (1933), p. 135","url":"https://dlibra.bibliotekaelblaska.pl/Content/56646/PDF/010284-1933.pdf#page=143","archive":"https://web.archive.org/web/20251027173130/https://dlibra.bibliotekaelblaska.pl/Content/56646/PDF/010284-1933.pdf#page=143"},{"citation":"Paul Schebesta, Die Bambuti-Pygmäen vom Ituri, II. Band, II. Teil: Das soziale Leben (Brussels: Institut Royal Colonial Belge, 1948), p. 482","url":"https://www.kaowarsom.be/documents/MEMOIRES_VERHANDELINGEN/Sciences_morales_politique/Hum.Sc.%28IRCB%29_T.II%2C2_SCHEBESTA%20P._Bambuti-pygm%C3%A4en%20vom%20Ituri_1948.pdf"}],"source_citations":"Paul Schebesta, \"Religiöse Ideen und Kulte der Ituri-Pygmäen,\" Archiv für Religionswissenschaft 30 (1933), p. 135; Paul Schebesta, Die Bambuti-Pygmäen vom Ituri, II. Band, II. Teil: Das soziale Leben (Brussels: Institut Royal Colonial Belge, 1948), p. 482","source_display":"Paul Schebesta, \"Religiöse Ideen und Kulte der Ituri-Pygmäen,\" Archiv für Religionswissenschaft 30 (1933), p. 135; Paul Schebesta, Die Bambuti-Pygmäen vom Ituri, II. Band, II. Teil: Das soziale Leben (Brussels: Institut Royal Colonial Belge, 1948), p. 482","date_citation_display":"","object_display":"A bullroarer, paired in ritual with a pot noise-instrument; its form and material are not recorded.","function_display":"","confidence_display":"medium","attestation_label":"ethnographic attestation","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"balendu geti","display_name":"Fomvokai and the pot wife","image":{"full":"assets/objects/SCHEBESTA1933-004_schebesta1933-004-rmca-8515.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/SCHEBESTA1933-004_schebesta1933-004-rmca-8515_thumb.jpg","alt":"A Kereboro bull-roarer rig with a leaf-shaped blade painted in dark bands, a separate long stick, and a connecting cord.","credit":"Collection RMCA / AfricaMuseum, Tervuren, MO.0.0.8515","license":"Rights reserved (© RMCA/AfricaMuseum); rehost proposed for non-commercial research. Museum export explicitly requires contacting repro@africamuseum.be for all permissions; authorization required.","source_page":"https://mimo-international.com/MIMO/doc/IFD/OAI_RMCA_BE_TEN00_MO.0.0.8515/rhombe","rehosted":true,"representative":true,"caption":"Kereboro bullroarer rig, AfricaMuseum, Tervuren."},"slug":"schebesta1933-004-balendu-lendu-of-geti"}