Jirrbal and Girramay bibu bullroarer

bibu

Source term: bull-roarer

bibu: Jirrbal and Girramay name for the bullroarer. wungumali: the Jirrbal (and Mamu, Ngajan) name for the bullroarer and for the initiation spirit of the same name.

In the rainforest country between the upper Murray River and Cardwell in North Queensland, Jirrbal and Girramay speakers strung a flat blade of carved wood and swung it to a roar they called bibu. The example R. M. W. Dixon collected came from Spider Henry, a Jirrbal man who had cut his from jalŋgi — weeping brown pine. In Jirrbal the instrument has a second name, and it is a spirit's: bayi wungumali, who helps at initiation ceremonies, frightens everyone into scattering, and spears the initiands in their knees. The roarer and the being are one word.

bull-roarer — flat piece of carved wood, with a string attached to the sharp end, whirled around to produce a lo[u]d roaring noise

Dixon 2022:160

Particulars

Object

Flat carved wooden blade with a string attached to the sharp end, whirled to produce a roaring noise. Dixon's field specimen from Jirrbal consultant Spider Henry was made from jalŋgi, weeping brown pine (Podocarpus grayae).

Function

In Jirrbal the bullroarer shares its name with Wungumali, the spirit who helps at initiation ceremonies and spears the initiands in the knees; the Girramay word bibu carries only the mechanics.