The Bullroarer Atlas

No. MUS2026-338

Ambrym Womel seed-whirler pair

Vanuatu · Fanla, Ambrym · Oceania

Function not recorded

A dark rounded Womel seed-whirler with a drilled hole, attached to a long tangle of plaited fibre cord.
Plate I. One Womel seed-whirler, drilled and strung on plaited fibre (MQB 71.1936.40.51). Image source
An ovoid brown seed pierced by a large opening, with a long twisted fibre cord threaded through it and tangled above.
Plate II. Its mate 71.1936.40.52, the cord threaded through the seed's eye.

Womel

Source term: Aerophone à air ambiant

Womel: local object name recorded at Fanla.

No blade at all: the Womel is a hard seed on a long fibre cord, whirled fast enough that the air around it hums. The pair is recorded from Fanla in north Ambrym and reached Paris out of a 1935–36 collecting run through the northern New Hebrides whose method was simple — the collector announced at each landing that he was buying, islanders decided what to bring him, and the price was settled in Australian shillings.

On le fait tournoyer rapidement.

It is made to whirl rapidly.

MQB 71.1936.40.51–52

Particulars

Object
Two hard seed or cycad bodies, roughly 10–13 cm, each tied to a long fibre cord.
Function
Whirled rapidly on its cord.

Source

MQB 71.1936.40.51–52; seed or cycad bodies roughly 10–13 cm with fibre cords

View the source · archived

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