Washoe Thunder-stick

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.

The stick is painted in a zigzag or lightning design, in red and yellow native paints, the yellow made from cattail pollen.

Warren L. d'Azevedo, 'Washoe', Handbook of North American Indians 11 (1986), p. 490

Particulars

Object

A painted stick on a thong, twirled rapidly through the air.

Function

Shaman's ceremonial instrument; its whirring, low roar sounded like thunder.