No. COYOTEMAN1975-001
Concow roarer that brought snow
United States · California, Butte County, Feather River foothills and mountains · North America
Weather / fertility magic
Source term: bullroarer
Concow (Konkow): the Northwestern Maidu of the Feather River foothills, Butte County.
The Concow, the Maidu of the Butte County foothills and mountains above the Feather River, once had a bullroarer that brought snow: whirled, it made the snow fall. By the 1970s it had gone silent, one of the old instruments no longer played, along with the skin drum the Concow stretched between tree branches and the hunting bow tapped with an arrow. Further up in the Sierra the Northern Maidu remembered the bullroarer only as a children's plaything.
a bullroarer, which the Concow used to cause snow to fall
Coyote Man, Songs of the California Indians, vol. 1 (1975), liner notes.
Particulars
- Object
- A bullroarer among the Concow, one of the Maidu instruments no longer played by 1975; its form is not described.
- Function
- Sounded to make snow fall.
Source
Coyote Man (Robert Rathbun), Songs of the California Indians, vol. 1: Concow, Nisenan, Mountain Maidu (Pacific Western Traders, 1975), liner notes