STEWART1941-006 - ethnographic attestation
Toe-dokado wimo'to of the Carson Sink
United States - Carson Sink, Carson Lake and the lower Carson River, western Nevada - North America - Great Basin
Weather / fertility magic
wimo'to
Source term: bull-roarer (wimo'to)
Wimo'to / wimoto: the Northern Paiute bullroarer term; the modern dictionary entry for it is recorded in the Fallon dialect, which is this band's speech.
The tule eaters held the Carson Sink, and their roarer worked both sides of the line the eastern bands drew: it was a toy, and it was swung to bring the wind. Their country is also where the only mechanical description in the Northern Paiute lexicon comes from - a flat slat, the string tied at one end, twirled above the head - recorded from Wuzzie George in the Fallon dialect long after Stewart's visit. Neighbouring bands have been quoted on that description for want of one of their own. It was always this band's.
- Object
- A wooden whirrer; not described further.
- Function
- Swung both as a children's toy and to make the wind blow.
- Source
- Omer C. Stewart, Culture Element Distributions: XIV, Northern Paiute, Anthropological Records 4:3 (1941). To column, table p. 401: 1870 bull-roarer +, 1871 whirrer of wood +, 1872 of sheep horn -, 1873 used as toy +, 1874 to make wind blow +. Band, p. 363: the Toe-dokado 'possessed Carson Sink, Carson Lake, and lower Carson River; now found on Stillwater…
- Source location
Page references
Stewart 1941, pp. 363, 401, 403; Liljeblad, Fowler & Powell 2012, p. 670
- Source confidence
- medium to high Carson Sink and lower Carson River, the territory Stewart assigns the band; Stillwater and Fallon lie within it. Not a use site.
- Weather magic
- Toy / secular survival