FROELICH1959-001 - ethnographic attestation
Mboum Ngan-Ha circumcision rhombe
Cameroon - Adamaoua - Ngan-Ha - Central Africa
Restricted
Djerr / Sirr / Dirr (wider Mbum) French
Source term: rhombe
rhombe = French bullroarer term; no Mboum object name secured
At Ngan-Ha the bullroarer entered the boys' circumcision at a moment of deliberate terror: as the niadok set it turning, women and the uncircumcised were ordered indoors and told that fe-mbaka, 'the devourer,' was abroad. Among the wider Mbum, Frobenius heard the same instruments called Djerr, Sirr or Dirr, kept in a mountain cave no woman might see; when the whirring rolled in from the bush, women who asked were told it was Djerr the leopard or Mbaga the lion moving among the boys.
le niadok fait tourner le rhombe
the niadok makes the bullroarer turn
Froelich 1959, p. 110
- Object
- Froelich does not describe the Ngan-Ha blade. Wooden forms among the wider Mbum were kept in a mountain cave and learned by initiates (Frobenius 1925). The neighbouring Dii object, Bergen E 7772, is catalogued and shown on its own row AFR-005.
- Function
- Sounded at boys' circumcision: at Ngan-Ha the niadok turned the rhombe while women indoors were told fe-mbaka, 'the devourer,' was present; among the wider Mbum the cave-kept Djerr voiced the leopard, Mbaga the lion.
- Map confidence
- high - Nganha locality anchor
- Source location
- p. 110 | Frobenius 1925:148, 150–151
- Spirit voice
- Initiation rite
- Forbidden to women