Mewun Nalawan Ambar secret sound

Source term: bull-roarer

In Mewun the voice of the bullroarer was a secret, and it belonged to one grade: Nalawan Ambar, a rank within the district's Nalawan society. In neighbouring Seniang the secret voices came from hollow wooden cylinders blown through a bamboo tube; in Mewun the whirled blade did the work. The grade lent its name to a disguise as well. Members covered themselves in leaves, carried branches of orange, and beat any women and children they met. The Nalawan held the dead, too: a man's skull was kept until the next Nalawan was performed, and only then carried to his clan's charnel house in a sacred place.

Particulars

Object

A bullroarer whose sound was the secret of one grade of the Mewun Nalawan society; form not recorded.

Function

Its sound was the secret sound belonging to Nalawan Ambar, a grade of the Mewun Nalawan society; members of the grade also went about in a leaf disguise of the same name, beating women and children they met.