The Bullroarer Atlas

DENNETT1910-001 - ethnographic attestation

Bini

Nigeria - Benin Kingdom - later Edo State - West Africa

Restricted

A complete whirling rig collected in Nigeria around 1900 and attributed to the Yoruba: a reddish bevel-edged blade strung by its cord to the...
Representative image. A complete whirling rig collected in Nigeria around 1900 and attributed to the Yoruba: a reddish bevel-edged blade strung by its cord to the whipping-stick that swung it — western neighbours of the Bini, standing in for the Ovia society's oloawon; no Bini instrument has been photographed. © The Trustees of the British Museum (Af1952,07.110) CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Image source
Bullroarer at Iyowa in the Ovia landscape, photographed by N. W. Thomas in 1909–10; not shown during an initiation performance.
Bullroarer at Iyowa in the Ovia landscape, photographed by N. W. Thomas in 1909–10; not shown during an initiation performance. Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge (P.29403.NWT); N. W. Thomas, Iyowa, 1909–10 CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 Image source

Oloawon Ovia / Oloawon Ovato / Usaokwhaiyi / Elimidu English

Oloawon Ovia / Oloawon Ovato / Usaokwhaiyi: Bini names for Oro forms recorded by Dennett; he glosses Oloawon as owner of the turtle or tortoise.

At the Oba of Benin's new-yam meal, the Elimidu voice rose and women shut themselves indoors. The same bullroarer entered Ovia's annual festival and men's initiation, sounding a boundary between the public town and male ritual knowledge.

the bull roarer is certainly used at Ovia’s yearly festival in Benin territory.

R. E. Dennett, Nigerian Studies (1910), p. 39.
Object
No Bini-specific morphology recorded; Dennett explicitly identifies the instrument as a bullroarer.
Function
Ovia annual festival and related Oro events; male initiation; deterrent to women and other outsiders.
Map confidence
medium - Representative Bini core / Benin City anchor; the source names Benin territory, Geduma, and Ugo but no performance site.
Source location
p. 39

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