932 – Bull-roarer
- Physical description:
- Large bull-roarer made out of dark wood and with interesting gouged fleck decoration.
- Museum classification:
- Working Tools
- Size:
- 390 x 80 x 5 mm
- Information:
The earliest surviving bullroarers also known as wind roarers are from the Ukraine and date to 17,000 BC. The use of bullroarers in shamanic rituals has been recorded on every inhabited continent.
There is a beautiful brightly coloured example in the Children's Museum of Indianapolis. It was used by the Hopi people as part of their Kachina ceremonies, which involve masks embodying the spirit of a deity. Interestingly, these rituals bear a striking resemblance to the Padstow May Day Oss ceremony here in Cornwall. 'Gentian Hill', a novel by Elizabeth Goudge published in 1946, describes a Devon farmworker using a bullroarer to summon spirits.
Scientific evidence suggests that low-frequency infrasound of the kind produced by bullroarers can create disturbing emotions such as sorrow and fear ("Echoes: The Newsletter of the Acoustical Society of America", vol.13, no.4, Fall 2003), and can help to induce trance states.- Resource:
- Object
- Materials:
- Wood
The earliest surviving bullroarers also known as wind roarers are from the Ukraine and date to 17,000 BC. The use of bullroarers in shamanic rituals has been recorded on every inhabited continent.
There is a beautiful brightly coloured example in the Children's Museum of Indianapolis. It was used by the Hopi people as part of their Kachina ceremonies, which involve masks embodying the spirit of a deity. Interestingly, these rituals bear a striking resemblance to the Padstow May Day Oss ceremony here in Cornwall. 'Gentian Hill', a novel by Elizabeth Goudge published in 1946, describes a Devon farmworker using a bullroarer to summon spirits.
Scientific evidence suggests that low-frequency infrasound of the kind produced by bullroarers can create disturbing emotions such as sorrow and fear ("Echoes: The Newsletter of the Acoustical Society of America", vol.13, no.4, Fall 2003), and can help to induce trance states.