Furtedjuwi, the roarer women cannot see

Furtedjuwi

Source term: bull-roarer

Swing it on its cord and the wood howls — and among the Kapriman, forest people of the Korewori and Blackwater rivers of the Middle Sepik, that howl is a men's secret no woman may set eyes on. This bullroarer even carries its own name, Furtedjuwi. The Kapriman are known for their paired spirit-masks and spindly hook-figures, yet the rhombe holds the plainest law of the men's house, recorded flatly by the collectors who took it to Paris: women cannot see it.

Les femmes ne peuvent le voir.

Women cannot see it.

Musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac, 71.1961.103.342.1-2

Particulars

Object

Kapriman rhombe from Kambaramba, local name Furtedjuwi (Quai Branly 71.1961.103.342.1-2).

Function

Kept in the Tambaran houses and brought out for the scarification initiation of young boys; women cannot see it.