No. DRIVER1939-001
Sinkyone wind-control bullroarer
United States · South Fork Eel River · Bull Creek · Garberville region · North America · California
Weather / fertility magic
On the South Fork of the Eel, George Bert told Harold Driver in 1935 that the bullroarer's special power was to raise wind — and that Sinkyone people used it more often to stop wind than to start it. A strip of madroña bark, struck and swung from one hand, was believed to do the same. Bert was eighty-four, born on Bull Creek, and had spent most of his life around Garberville.
Particulars
- Object
- Wooden bullroarer; no dimensions or cord detail recorded.
Source
Harold E. Driver, Culture Element Distributions: X, Northwest California, Anthropological Records 1(6), 1939, p. 398; direct 1935 fieldwork with Sinkyone consultant George Bert