GIFFORD1940-009 - ethnographic attestation
It came off the string twice
United States - Pinal band country - San Carlos, Arizona - North America
Sacred / spirit
Source term: bull-roarer
Gifford watched this one himself. At a Pinal-band curing performance in the San Carlos Apache country of east-central Arizona, the bullroarer flew off its string — and then, once it had been fetched back and set going again, flew off a second time. Both times spectators went after it and returned it, which tells you how public the curing was and how many people were standing close enough to chase a loose blade. Ten inches by an inch and a half, on three feet of cord. The Pinal band whirled it in dance as well.
SC curing performance witnessed, bull-roarer came off string twice, retrieved by spectators.
Gifford 1940:152, note to element 2214.
- Object
- Wooden blade about 10 by 1.5 inches, whirled on a cord about three feet long.
- Source
- Gifford 1940 SC column and note 2214; Charlie Dustin's Pinal-band list
- Source location
- pp. 2, 58-59, 151-152
- Source confidence
- low to medium Pinal-band birthplace ridge about 12 miles southeast of Miami; curing site not specified.