Observations placeholder
Reichel-Dolmatoff – The Tukano Indians - The Bull Roarer
Identifier
011607
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
A description of the experience
Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff – Amazonian Cosmos
……among Desana the bull-roarer exists and … is called precisely nura-mee/horsefly. This wooden slat, suspended from a string, is swung rapidly in a circle to make a distinctive noise. It has religious significance as "the voice of the power of the Sun" through which the Creator exhorts society to observe the rules of exogamy. Although the bull-roarer is falling into disuse today, in past times it was a sacred instrument, an object of a ritual commemorative of the chaos.