NA-S1952-003 - secondary catalog
Tewa of San Ildefonso
United States - Pueblo - Southwest - North America
Restricted
Source term: bullroarer
Harrington glosses the regional Tewa bullroarer term as 'wind call'; this is terminology evidence, not proof of wind- or rain-making at San Ildefonso.
Men kept the roar where women could not see it. At San Ildefonso, kivas were roof-entered ritual chambers, not display rooms: a round plaza kiva gathered the men for announcements and held the Tablita dance, while the Summer and Winter moieties kept their own kivas beside rooms for Kosa secret rites and Buffalo dancers. Theodore A. Seder is the one who put the bull-roarer into the published record in 1952, writing that the Tewa of San Ildefonso "used their bull-roarers out of sight, in their kivas, where women could not see them." He gives no specimen, song, society, player, informant, or ceremony name. What remains is the scene: a whirled slat sounded inside the ceremonial chamber, a roar heard but not shown.
- Function
- Bullroarers used out of sight in kivas where women could not see them
- Map confidence
- medium_high - regional_anchor: San Ildefonso Pueblo anchor; Seder gives secrecy context but not full rite detail
- Source location
- 51-54; Harrington 1916, p. 59 (PDF p. 63)
- Forbidden to women
- Weather / fertility magic