Kaimari Island Purari spirit-voice bullroarer

Source term: snorrebot of bromhout / bull-roarer

imunu = spirit (Purari)

On Kaimari Island in the Purari Delta, this pointed-oval slab of wood carries a face picked out in lime, its features raised white against dark timber. Men swung it on a cord through the hole at its tip during ritual; the note it threw was heard as a spirit's voice, the same imunu register the Purari swing over dead men and at boys' initiations. Here the spirit gets a carved face.

Het geluid dat wordt voortgebracht is de stem van een geest.

The sound produced is the voice of a spirit.

Wereldmuseum TM-287-17

Particulars

Object

Flat pointed-oval brown wooden slat, about 37 x 7 cm, with a round terminal cord hole and a carved mask or stylized face whose details are filled with lime.

Function

Swung on a cord during rituals; its sound was the voice of a spirit.