Fali Bao Tinguelin Tadogbel funeral and initiation bullroarer

Tadogbel

Source term: Rhombe

Tadogbel: the Fali name for the Bao (Tinguelin) rhombe.

At Bao, the iron Tadogbel sounded at elders' funerals and during initiation. The surviving blade is only eleven centimetres long, a small metal voice set apart from the wooden Uni used by Fali boys elsewhere when the red millet began to ripen. Among the Fali of Bori the roar even named an ancestor. Hidden from women under a heavy slab lay a stone, the grandfather of the rain-priest, honoured with sacrifice; it was called Ō "in memory of the noise of the bull-roarer that is whirled at the time of initiation."

Sert pour les enterrements des vieux et au cours de l'initiation.

Used at elders' funerals and during initiation.

Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, 71.1938.46.677

Particulars

Object

Thin pointed iron blade, 11 x 1.9 x 0.3 cm and 16 g, its broad end drawn into a short neck and lug; no cord survives.