Folklore; Manners and customs; Mythology; Religion
Here then, in Zuni, we have the bull-roarer again, and once more we find
it employed as a summons to the mysteries. We do not learn, however,
that women in Zuni are forbidden to look upon the bull-roarer. Finally,
the South African evidence, which is supplied by letters from a
correspondent of Mr. Tylor's, proves that in South Africa, too, the bull-
roarer is employed to call the men to the celebration of secret
functions. A minute description of the instrument, and of its magical
power to raise a wind, is given in Theal's 'Kaffir Folklore,' p. 209. The
bull-roarer has not been made a subject of particular research; very
probably later investigations will find it in other parts of the modern
world besides America, Africa, New Zealand, and Australia. I have myself
been fortunate enough to encounter the bull-roarer on the soil of ancient
Greece and in connection with the Dionysiac mysteries. Clemens of
Alexandria, and Arnobius, an early Christian father who follows Clemens,
describe certain toys of the child Dionysus which were used in the
mysteries. Among these are _turbines_, [Greek], and [Greek]. The
ordinary dictionaries interpret all these as whipping-tops, adding that
[Greek] is sometimes 'a magic wheel.' The ancient scholiast on Clemens,
however, writes: 'The [Greek] is a little piece of wood, to which a
string is fastened, and in the mysteries it is whirled round to make a
roaring noise.' {39} Here, in short, we have a brief but complete
description of the bull-roarer of the Australian turndun. No single
point is omitted. The [Greek], like the turndun, is a small object of
wood, it is tied to a string, when whirled round it produces a roaring
noise, and it is used at initiations. This is not the end of the matter.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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