GIFFORD1940-001 - ethnographic attestation
The clown announces the gan
United States - White River and Fort Apache country, east-central Arizona - North America - Southwest
Sacred / spirit
Source term: bull-roarer
The clown went first: whirling a bullroarer, he announced that the masked gan impersonators — the Mountain Spirit dancers — were coming, then kept it sounding through the dance itself. The foot-long ash or gaspome blade was always swung in the open, where anyone could watch.
clown whirled bull-roarer to announce masked gan impersonators, after that whirled during dance.
Gifford 1940:152, note to element 2214.
- Object
- Blade of ash or gaspome wood, about 12 by 3 inches, whirled on a cord about three feet long; not made of lightning-struck wood.
- Function
- A clown whirled it to announce the masked gan impersonators, then kept whirling it during the dance; used publicly and in view, not for curing.
- Map confidence
- medium - Whiteriver CDP community anchor — the informant's home base (White River near Fort Apache) and Gifford's interview locality; not a specific dance ground.
- Source location
Page references
pp. 2, 58-59 (elements 2208-2218), 151-152