The Bullroarer Atlas

SAMER-004 - ethnographic attestation

Oayana (Wayana), Guiana borderlands

Suriname; French Guiana; Brazil - Litani, Paloemeu-Tapanahoni, Jari and Paru borderlands - South America - Guianas

Sacred / spirit

Von den Steinen's own drawing of a Bororo aigé, a lens-shaped blade swung on a long stick and cord — shown for the general South American form,...
Representative image. Von den Steinen's own drawing of a Bororo aigé, a lens-shaped blade swung on a long stick and cord — shown for the general South American form, not the Oayana/Wayana yolok eu, a small calabash with a hole, swung on a cord to buzz. K. von den Steinen (1894) Public domain

yolok eu Dutch; Oayana/Wayana term

Source term: bromslinger (bullroarer, Schwirrholz)

Yolok is one of the Oayana words for the soul, the spirit of a dead person, the unseen spirits of nature, and the demons a sorcerer sends; de Goeje glosses the compound yolok eu as "geest-gefluit," spirit-whistle, and uses the same words for thunder, "yolok eu (geest muziek)," spirit-music.

Etymology. The Oayana source glosses `yolok eu` as `geest-gefluit`, literally spirit-whistle or spirit-flute, for the bullroarer entry. (high confidence)

Among the musical instruments of the Oayana (Wayana) of the Guiana borderlands, C.H. de Goeje recorded a bullroarer that is not a wooden blade but a small calabash pierced with a hole, swung on a cord until it gives off a buzzing tone. He set down its name, yolok eu, glossed "geest-gefluit," spirit-whistle: yolok is one of the Oayana words for the soul, for the spirit of a dead person, and for the unseen spirits of nature, and the same pair of words names thunder, "yolok eu (geest muziek)," spirit-music. The instrument also had a use at death. De Goeje reports, on the word of the missionary W. Ahlbrinck, that when a man had recently died someone would at once walk through the village whirling a short piece of wood on a cord to drive the dead man's yolok away.

toen onlangs een man was gestorven, onmiddellijk iemand door het dorp liep, een kort stuk hout als bromhout (§ 45) aan een koord rondslingerend, ter verdrijving van den yolok.

when a man had recently died, someone immediately walked through the village, swinging a short piece of wood as a buzzer (§ 45) on a cord, to drive away the yolok [the spirit of the dead].

C.H. de Goeje, De Oayana-Indianen, BKI deel 100 (1941): 117, § 47
Object
Whirled calabash bullroarer: a small calabash with a hole, swung on a cord to make a buzzing tone.
Function
A buzzer whirled on a cord at a death to drive away the yolok, the spirit of the deceased: de Goeje reports, on Ahlbrinck's information, that after a recent death someone at once walked through the village swinging a short piece of wood on a cord to banish the yolok. De Goeje also lists the instrument among the musical instruments of the Oayana.
Map confidence
medium - Representative Wayana borderlands anchor across the Litani / Paloemeu-Tapanahoni / Jari-Paru region; source is regional.
Source location
deel 100:114-115, §45 no. 4

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  • Wajãpi / WayãpiBrazil - Oyapock / Amapá and French Guiana - Function not recorded