HORN

Object/Artifact

St. Joseph Museums

Name/Title

HORN

Entry/Object ID

414/10427

Description

(ROCK REED-BUCK HORN)/WITH RIDGES

Collection

ETHNOGRAPHIC/AFRICA

Made/Created

Place

Continent

Africa

Ethnography

Cultural Region

Country

Cameroon

Region

West Africa

Continent

Africa

Culture/Tribe

Kamerun

African

Lexicon

Nomenclature 4.0

Nomenclature Secondary Object Term

Horn

Nomenclature Primary Object Term

Device, Sound Signaling

Nomenclature Sub-Class

Sound Communication Devices

Nomenclature Class

Sound Communication T&E

Nomenclature Category

Category 06: Tools & Equipment for Communication

Parts

Count

Material

HORN

Condition

Overall Condition

Good

Research Notes

Research Type

Researcher

Notes

Notes from British Museum: Owimbundu Tribe. Horn of roan antelope. Would have had goat skin wrapped around the mouth of th horn. Goat would have been sacrificed on the day the medicine in the horn was bought. The witchdoctor first puts in oil and fire, the owner of the horn stands on the ash heap before the sun is up, facing east, and says “This day all is ready, let that person count his suns. A day is coming when he will meet with my medicine:. Says this four times facing the sun. Then throws the horn behind him, throws himself on ground in pretended agony. Takes up the horn and bites it. The curse is wrought. When the enemy dies, the man goes with the horn to the witchdoctor, a chicken is killed over the horn so that the blood falls on it. Then the man brings an ox he has inherited from his dead relative and pays the witch doctor, who keeps the horn.