The Bullroarer Atlas

WHITE1962-001 - primary ethnography

Zia (Sia) Pueblo / Keresan

United States - Zia Pueblo - Sandoval County - New Mexico - North America - Southwest

Sacred / spirit

White's drawing of the Zia háomomo complete rig: the seven-inch thunder blade, its three-foot cord, and the wooden whirling handle.
White's drawing of the Zia háomomo complete rig: the seven-inch thunder blade, its three-foot cord, and the wooden whirling handle. Leslie A. White, The Pueblo of Sia, BAE Bulletin 184 (1962), fig. 50 Public domain Image source

háomomo English / Eastern Keres name

Source term: bull roarer

háomomo: Zia Pueblo name for the bullroarer; no literal lexical gloss recovered

At Zia Pueblo the háomomo made thunder by hand. Its seven-inch wooden blade was thick through the middle and pared thin at the edges, tied by three feet of stout cord to a wooden handle. Whirled hard, it voiced the storm: Zia informants told Leslie White its noise imitated thunder. These were not general village toys. The Fire, Kapina, and Giant societies each kept one, perhaps the Flint society too, while the Snake society could borrow the Kapinas' instrument.

Bull roarer (háomomo) is a piece of wood about 7 inches long ... It is whirled vigorously ... 'it imitates the sound of thunder.'

White 1962:315
Object
Broad wooden blade about 7 inches long and half an inch thick in the middle but thin at the edges, joined by a stout cord about 3 feet long to a wooden handle; complete rig drawn in fig. 50.
Function
Whirled vigorously to make a noise that imitated thunder; owned by the Fire, Kapina, Giant, and possibly Flint societies, with the Snake society able to use the Kapinas' instrument.
Map confidence
high - U.S. National Park Service exact Zia Pueblo community anchor; not a documented performance site.
Source location
printed p. 315; PDF p. 337; fig. 50

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