The Bullroarer Atlas

NA-S1952-005 - secondary catalog

Zuni

United States - Pueblo - Southwest - North America

Sacred / spirit

Zuni bullroarer 22610, c. 1900, with terminal hole and buckskin/cotton string; Penn Museum.
Zuni bullroarer 22610, c. 1900, with terminal hole and buckskin/cotton string; Penn Museum. Courtesy of the Penn Museum, object 22610 Image source
Zuni bull-roarers (bundle), New Mexico — British Museum, Am1920,1008.20 (collected by Stewart Culin).
Zuni bull-roarers (bundle), New Mexico — British Museum, Am1920,1008.20 (collected by Stewart Culin). © The Trustees of the British Museum, Am1920,1008.20 CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Image source
Reverse view of the same Zuni blade and surviving string assembly, Penn Museum 22610.
Reverse view of the same Zuni blade and surviving string assembly, Penn Museum 22610. Courtesy of the Penn Museum, object 22610 Image source

Nu'nu Nan'ne / thlem-tum-a-nv-nai English

Source term: rhombus / sounding slat

One morning in the early 1880s Frank Cushing heard a deep whirring noise and ran out to find three Bow priests in plumed helmets carrying a ferocious war-god idol down the street, one man twirling a sounding slat behind them, while hundreds of Zuni climbed to the rooftops to bow their heads and scatter prayer-meal. What Cushing was not told, Matilda Coxe Stevenson later set down: the rhombus is whirled 'to create enthusiasm among the u'wannami' — the rain-makers, who pour water through the cloud masks, the clouds themselves being the breath of the gods. The whirler is nearly always a warrior. Bow priests sound it while the War Gods are honored to intercede for rain; a fraternity warrior whirls it before the altar 'calling the clouds to gather quickly'; in the Great Fire Fraternity the warrior sleeps with it beside his head, 'speaking in whispers to his rhombus.' Women were never barred from its sound — at Zuni the roar belongs to rain, not secrecy.

the rhombus is whirled to create enthusiasm among the u'wannami (rain-makers)

Stevenson 1904, The Zuñi Indians, 23rd ARBAE, p. 115 n.
Object
Penn Museum 22610 is a Zuni wooden blade, 18.26 × 1.75 × 0.48 cm, with buckskin and cotton string through a terminal hole.
Function
Whirled by Bow priests and fraternity warriors to summon the u'wannami rain-makers and gather the clouds; sounded in War-God processions, Sha'lako water-fetching, and fraternity rain retreats
Map confidence
medium_high - regional_anchor: Strict bullroarer and related-buzz statements must remain distinguished
Source location
51-54 | Penn Museum 22610

View source Open this point on the interactive map