The Bullroarer Atlas

No. KASTNER1991-001

Krẽpumkateye seed-wing whirler

Brazil · Maranhão · left bank of the middle Grajaú River · South America

Function not recorded

A long braided cotton cord ending in two dried, wing-shaped fruit husks.
Plate I. Krẽpumkateye poegakyíke: two dried fruit wings on a long braided cord, collected by Nimuendajú 1928–29. Dresden 44588. Image source

poegakyíke

Source term: Schwirrholz aus einer Baumfrucht; zunidor

Nature supplied the blade. Two papery wings of a dried tree fruit are tied to the end of a long braided cord, and the whole thing whirls as a bullroarer, poegakyíke. It comes from the Krẽpumkateye, an Eastern Timbira people who in 1928–29 lived on the left bank of the middle Grajaú River in Maranhão, together with their bows, arrows, ornaments and basketry.

Particulars

Object
Two dried wings of a tree fruit tied to the end of a long braided cord; 137.5 cm overall with cord. Museum für Völkerkunde Dresden 44588.
Function
Not recorded.

Sources

  1. Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Museum für Völkerkunde Dresden, inv. 44588, 'Schwirrholz aus einer Baumfrucht (poegakyíke)' View
  2. Klaus-Peter Kästner, 'As coleções brasileiras do Museu Estatal de Etnologia de Dresden,' Revista do Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia 1 (1991): 147–163, p. 153 View

Part of The Bullroarer Atlas, companion to The Eve Theory of Consciousness.