DAZEVEDO1986-001 - ethnographic monograph
Washoe
United States - Lake Tahoe - western Nevada - North America - Great Basin
Sacred / spirit
Thunder-stick
Washoe name recorded in English as 'Thunder-stick' (d'Azevedo 1986:490; Parkman 1993:94).
Among the Washoe of Lake Tahoe and the valleys under the eastern Sierra, the bullroarer was the Thunder-stick, and it belonged to the shaman. He caught the thong in his hand and twirled the painted stick hard through the air until it gave out a whirring, low roar that sounded like thunder — a storm's voice raised in ceremony at arm's length.
'Thunder stick' or bull-roarer, used by shaman in ceremonies. The thong is caught in the hand, and the stick twirled rapidly through the air, causing a whirring or low roar that sounded like thunder. The stick is painted...
Warren L. d'Azevedo, 'Washoe', Handbook of North American Indians 11 (1986), p. 490
- Object
- A painted stick on a thong, twirled rapidly through the air.
- Function
- Shaman's ceremonial instrument; its whirring, low roar sounded like thunder.
- Map confidence
- high - Washoe heartland anchor, Lake Tahoe-Carson Valley.
- Source location
- d'Azevedo 1986, p. 490; Parkman 1993, p. 94