TL;DR
- Bull-roarer ⇄ potion: the stick and thong are soaked in the chant’s medicine bowl before use, literally loading it with herbal/animal “power.”
- Bull-roarer ⇄ snake: in the Big Star Chant it stops being ‘Thunder’ and explicitly stands for Snake-power, the same bundle that handles venom and exorcism.
- Rattlesnake medicine (blood, pulp, soot) appears in the same chant family, used on arrows that share the bull-roarer’s task of driving out evil.
2 | New Links: Potions & Serpents
2.4 The Medicine Aspect – “Charging” the Roarer#
- Preparation step: Franciscan Fathers (1910) describe the tsin ndiʼniʼ placed into the jish bowl, its rawhide thong “soaked with the medicine” while assistants pray over it.
- What’s in the bowl? Blessing-Way recipes mix ground yucca pitch, charcoal from lightning-struck pine, pollen, powdered herbs, even sacred tallow. Each ingredient allies the roarer with wind, fire, and fertility.
- Therapeutic use: once “charged,” the same stick is pressed along the patient’s limbs—front (turquoise eyes) toward the body—to suck out intrusive wind illnesses; afterwards the patient uses it to blow away ashes of the emetic fire.
“The bull-roarer becomes a moving potion—sound for ears, medicine for skin.” —Matthews, Night Chant (1902)
2.5 The Serpent Aspect – Big Star Chant & Rattlesnake Medicine#
| Chantway | What the Roarer Represents | Companion Snake Elements | Primary Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shooting Way | Thunder/Lightning | Arrow bundles tipped with lightning symbols | Reichard 1950 |
| Big Star (Soʼntsojí) Chant | Snake (often glossed “Big Snake” or Naʼashjéʼí Tsohí) | 1. Sand-paintings showing coiled serpent 2. Arrow poison formulas using rattlesnake blood and yucca juice 3. Snake songs that “unsnare” the patient | Kluckhohn-Wyman MSS; Hill 1936; |
Why the swap? Big Star Chant is aimed at “squirming, twisting” ailments—snakebite, stomach cramps, even witch-arrows. By letting the bull-roarer embody the snake, the singer can whirl, press, and finally erase the painted serpent, dramatizing victory over venom. The same logic explains the appearance of arrow poisons made with rattlesnake blood—they hold the danger so the rite can neutralize it.
“Bull-roarer […] Thunder in Shooting, Snake in Big Star Chant—drives off evil.” —Reichard note, quoted by Twin Rocks Trading Post
Rattlesnake Symbolics#
- Navajo classify rattlesnake (naalʼnóʼódí) as a Wind creature; its rattle is miniature thunder, its bite “lightning under the skin.”
- Lightning-felled wood (required for the roarer) and rattlesnake venom both belong to the Fire-Wind domain—substances that burn or sting, then purify.
- Some chanters say the roarer’s Doppler moan echoes the warning buzz of a rattler, another sonic sign that the instrument “speaks snake.”
FAQ#
Q 1. Does every chant dunk the bull-roarer in medicine?
A. No—only those where the stick works therapeutically (Shooting, Big Star, Wind, Blessing). Night-Chant uses it chiefly as a perimeter alarm, so a dry roarer suffices.
Q 2. Are real rattlesnakes ever present during Big Star rites?
A. The live animal is taboo inside the hogan, but dried skin, fangs, or blood may be in a sealed pouch within the bundle; they represent—then confine—the venom.
Footnotes#
Sources#
- Twin Rocks Trading Post. “Navajo Bull Roarer or Groaning Stick.”
- Twin Rocks Trading Post. “Arrows.”
- Archive.org. Navaho Religion, vol II (Reichard, 1950).
- Archive.org. Hill (1936) Navaho Arrow-Poison Formulas (cited line).
- Matthews, W. (1902) Night Chant (full text).