The Bullroarer Atlas

JENSEN1936-003 - ethnographic attestation

Gedeo (historically Darassa / Darasa)

Gedeo highlands - southern Ethiopia - Africa

Restricted

Representative—not this record’s object: East African corded wooden lath, shown as a regional stand-in; no image of this record’s own object is...
Representative—not this record’s object: East African corded wooden lath, shown as a regional stand-in; no image of this record’s own object is available yet. © The Trustees of the British Museum (E/Af1909-0513-212) CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Image source

emimissa German / Darassa term

Source term: Schwirrholz

emimissa: Darassa/Gedeo bullroarer term; no literal gloss recovered

Among the Gedeo, historically called the Darassa, the emimissa was a cult instrument hidden from women — anxiously hidden, Jensen wrote. Its name survives from a ceremonial life in which the bullroarer's sound belonged to restricted knowledge.

Das Schwirrholz, bei den Darassa noch ein kultisches Werkzeug und vor den Frauen angstlich verborgen ...

The bullroarer, among the Darassa still a cult implement kept anxiously hidden from women ...

Jensen and Wohlenberg 1936:178
Object
Bullroarer identified by instrument class; no material, dimensions, cord, perforation, blade shape, mechanics, handle, or object figure is supplied.
Function
Cult implement carefully hidden from women.
Map confidence
medium - UNESCO Gedeo Cultural Landscape reference area; not claimed as an exact performance site.
Source location
p. 178; glossary p. 575 in original pagination, visible at Google preview PA314

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