No. RAY1942-005
Shuswap bull-roarer
Canada · Fraser River · Soda Creek, central British Columbia · North America · Plateau
Play / practical
Source term: bull-roarer
At Soda Creek the Shuswap bullroarer — wooden, of cedar, whirled from the hand — was a child's toy, and that is where it stopped: the weather use was denied outright. From there down the Fraser, through Lillooet and Lower Thompson country, the instrument is a plaything and nothing else, while three hundred miles south the Kittitas and Wenatchi were using it to call the warm wind. One instrument, one region, two entirely different jobs, and the seam runs somewhere in between.
Particulars
- Object
- A wooden blade, of cedar, whirled on a cord held in the hand.
- Function
- A child's toy of cedar; the weather function is explicitly denied.
Source
Verne F. Ray, 'Culture Element Distributions: XXII, Plateau,' Anthropological Records 8:2 (Berkeley, 1942), p. 184, elements 4094-4103