The Bullroarer Atlas

SCHEBESTA1921-001 - ethnographic attestation

Sepa (Sepa language)

Papua New Guinea - Sepa village - Bogia District - Madang Province - Oceania - Sahul

Sacred / spirit

Schebesta's 1921/22 page records the bullroarer held in common by each Sepa village; no object image survives.
Schebesta's 1921/22 page records the bullroarer held in common by each Sepa village; no object image survives. Joseph Schebesta, Parak-Institution im Bogia-Distrikt unter den Sepa, Anthropos 16/17 (1921/22), p. 1054 Public domain Image source

Source term: Schwirrholz

lumbeki: umbrella Sepa cult category including masks flutes bullroarers spirits dances and ritual tools; not the bullroarer name

Lumbeki was larger than any one instrument: it gathered masks, flutes, spirits, dances, and ritual tools into a village-wide ceremonial complex. Each Sepa village held one bullroarer in common within that institution.

Jedes Sepadorf besitzt als Gesamtheit einen gemeinsamen Lumbeki, ein Schwirrholz.

Each Sepa village collectively possesses a communal lumbeki: a bullroarer.

Schebesta 1921/22:1054
Object
Communal bullroarer within the lumbeki ceremonial complex; form and material unrecorded.
Function
Held collectively by each Sepa village within the lumbeki complex.
Map confidence
high - Modern Sepa village centroid confirmed by OSM/GeoNames and current government locality schedules; not a performance site.
Source location
printed p. 1054; viewer page 1116

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