Tsou euvuvu bullroarer warning signal

euvuvu

Source term: Euvuvu (bull-roarer)

vuvu imitates the bullroarer's sound.

Etymology. Cheng parses eu- as inducing wind and vuvu as the sound.

Among the Tsou of the Alishan mountains, a thin bamboo blade tied to a cord and handstick was swung until it revolved around the player, spinning about the cord and periodically reversing its rotation. Its valley-borne drone warned that an enemy was coming, but the euvuvu was also sounded to pray for rain and to scare birds. Later it became a children's plaything and a greeting at the opening of the fona life-bean festival. Its name carries its sound: vuvu, an imitation of the drone.

Euvuvu is the Tsou name for the bullroarer, a previously undocumented instrument. The term is composed of the prefix eu- and the onomatopoeic vuvu, in which vuvu indicates the sound of the bullroarer. It functioned as a signal to inform villagers by means of the echo of valleys that an enemy was coming.

Cheng 2015:120 (§12.6), 'Native Terminology and Classification of Taiwanese Musical Instruments'

Particulars

Object

Tsou euvuvu: a thin bamboo blade tied to a cord and bamboo handstick, revolved around the player while the blade spins about the cord and periodically reverses its axial rotation; Hornbostel-Sachs 412.22.

Function

Valley-echo warning signal; also used to pray for rain and scare birds, later as children's play and at the opening of the fona life-bean festival.