STEWART1942-006 - primary ethnography
Mowataviwatsiu Ute (Uncompahgre)
United States - Saguache - San Luis Valley, Colorado - North America - Great Basin
Weather / fertility magic
munu'nunöpö English
Source term: Bull-roarer: whirrer of wood
munu'nunöpö: the Möwataviwatsiu term for the bull-roarer in Stewart's comparative vocabulary (shared with one Moache list); no literal gloss is given.
The Mowataviwatsiu ran the bull-roarer in reverse: while Moanunts and Utah Lake whirlers called the wind up, the munu'nunöpö of Saguache was swung to make it stop. These are the people history knows as the Uncompahgre — the name dates from the years when several Ute bands were united under Chief Ouray at Montrose — but their own home ground, Stewart was told, was near Saguache at the head of the San Luis Valley, from which they roamed north and south.
- Object
- Whirrer of wood swung on a string with a wooden handle.
- Function
- Whirled to stop wind.
- Map confidence
- medium - Saguache, Colorado anchor — the home territory Stewart's informants named, from which the band roamed north and south (p. 237); informants were interviewed on the Uintah Reservation after removal.
- Source location
- printed p. 291 (els. 2792, 2795, 2801 +; 2797 toy -); vocabulary p. 352; band p. 237; informants p. 238
- Weather / fertility magic