{"id":"SCHWAB1947-002","label":"Vu ni, the devil who roars","people_or_site":"Ge (Dan), Mano-Ge border country, Poro Bush","country_current":"Liberia","historic_region":"Central Province / Nimba (Mano country)","macroregion":"Africa / West Africa","local_name":"vu ni","source_term":"bull-roarer","source_language":"English","object_description":"Not described.","function_summary":"The devil's voice, sounded at night when the Bush pupils walked about, so that everyone could hear and get out of the way.","attestation_type":"ethnographic_attestation","source_key":"schwab1947_liberian_hinterland","source_type":"primary_ethnography","source_url":"https://archive.org/details/tribesofliberian00schw","page_or_plate":"p. 272; glossary s.v. vu ni, Appendix B","map_confidence":"medium","plot_status":"plot_with_caveat","coordinate_basis":"Ganta (Gompa City), Nimba County, Liberia (OSM/Nominatim 7.2334773, -8.9860990). Territory anchor for the named people; not a use site.","jade_complex_role":"","blurb":"Vu ni is a devil of the Ge Poro, and the bull-roarer he uses bears his own name: vu ni is the devil and his voice at once. When the boys of the Bush walk about at night he talks loudly, so that everyone can hear and get out of the way. The uninitiated never see him, nor do the boys themselves until they are ready to come out. From the weight of his duties, Schwab judged him a devil of very high rank.","pull_quote":"Vu ni. This devil \"plays\" only in the Poro Bush. He talks in a heavy voice. He uses a bull-roarer. His only function is frightfulness.","pull_quote_translation":"","pull_quote_cite":"George Schwab, Tribes of the Liberian Hinterland (Peabody Museum Papers 31, 1947), p. 272.","term_gloss":"vu ni (Ge): \"bull-roarer, voice of Bush devil\" — the name of both the devil and his instrument.","cls":"restricted","class_label":"Restricted","color":"#A43C2F","is_candidate":false,"flags":["spirit_voice","initiation","women_taboo"],"f_jade_complex":false,"f_women_taboo":true,"f_women_special":false,"f_snake":false,"sources":[{"citation":"George Schwab, Tribes of the Liberian Hinterland, ed. George W. Harley, Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology 31 (Cambridge, Mass., 1947), p. 272 and glossary s.v. vu ni","url":"https://archive.org/details/tribesofliberian00schw"}],"source_citations":"George Schwab, Tribes of the Liberian Hinterland, ed. George W. Harley, Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology 31 (Cambridge, Mass., 1947), p. 272 and glossary s.v. vu ni","source_display":"George Schwab, Tribes of the Liberian Hinterland, ed. George W. Harley, Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology 31 (Cambridge, Mass., 1947), p. 272 and glossary s.v. vu ni","date_citation_display":"","object_display":"Not described.","function_display":"The devil's voice, sounded at night when the Bush pupils walked about, so that everyone could hear and get out of the way.","confidence_display":"medium","attestation_label":"ethnographic attestation","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"","display_name":"Vu ni, the devil who roars","image":{"full":"assets/objects/MUS2026-033_prm_1933-69-3_hausa.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/MUS2026-033_prm_1933-69-3_hausa_thumb.jpg","alt":"Hausa kura (“hyena”) made from guinea-corn stalk by a man from Katsina, with a short crosspiece and a thick loop of fibre cord near one end.","credit":"Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford (1933.69.3)","license":"© Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford","source_page":"https://prm.ox.ac.uk/collections-online","rehosted":true,"representative":true,"caption":"Hausa kura ('hyena'): bullroarer","pool_id":"auto-MUS2026-033_prm_1933-69-3_hausa","auto_assigned":true},"slug":"schwab1947-002-ge-dan-mano-ge-border-country-poro-bush"}