No. SUBSAH-039
Hidden roarer of the Komo and Nama
Mali · Guinea · Upper Niger between the upper Senegal and the Bani ("Central Mandingo" country) · West Africa
Restricted
Source term: Schwirrholz
Inside the Komo, Nama, and allied societies of the upper Niger, the bullroarer belonged to the guarded machinery of circumcision and masked power. Frobenius’s report is terse but absolute: it was “a sacred, carefully hidden implement.”
Die Beschneidungsfeste selbst spielen die grösste Rolle, sowohl im Wechsel des Jahres, als im Leben der Einzelnen.
The circumcision feasts themselves play the greatest part, both in the turning of the year and in the life of each person.
Frobenius, "Reisebericht," Zeitschrift für Ethnologie 40 (1908), p. 801
Particulars
- Object
- Sacred bullroarer concealed within the Komo/Nama men’s-society complex.
- Function
- Carefully hidden sacred instrument associated with men’s secret societies and the circumcision-festival complex.
Source
L. Frobenius, "Reisebericht," Zeitschrift für Ethnologie 40 (1908): 799-806, at p. 801