PNG31 - ethnographic attestation
Karkar Island (incl. Karkar-Takia, Karkar Waskia & Gubardau Takia)
Papua New Guinea - Madang - Oceania - Sahul
Sacred / spirit
Source term: bullroarer / sacred flute / slit-gong flags
Swung in the dark, the bullroarer was one of the secret voices of Karkar's men — sound that Kulbob, the island's creator-hero, was said to have carried along the coast when he handed down his people, their dances, and their men's cult, Barag. Barag's sacred objects were kept from every woman's eyes. Then, in 1921, the Takia villages of the volcanic island's south coast turned Christian all at once: they staged one last Barag, carried the hidden things into the open, and burned them along with the cult house.
- Object
- bullroarer occurrence; bullroarer use; slit-gong occurrence; slit-gong use
- Function
- Gourlay source-catalog row with bullroarer use in PNG/Melanesia.
- Map confidence
- high - geocoded
- Source location
- Table 1, row 31
- Forbidden to women