RUMBLE. – It is a thin wooden tablet, oval or oblong in shape, with a hole at one end through which a string is fastened. When this string is rapidly whirled, the attached tablet cuts through the air, producing a humming sound. This noise has been interpreted as the rumble of thunder, the lowing of oxen, or the buzzing of bees.
Primitive peoples use it as a sacred object. It is shown, on special occasions, only to initiates of a secret religious society, while the uninitiated (usually women and children) listen from afar, with awe, to its sacred sound. This is the very voice of the Supreme Celestial Being, and the instrument is identified with the deity. The r. is found in Australia and among other populations of Oceania (Torres Strait Islands, New Guinea, Solomon Islands, New Zealand, etc.), in Asia (Sumatra, etc.), in Africa (among the Bushmen, the Zulus, the Guinea Coast, etc.), and in America (among the Eskimos, the Indians of the northwest coast, the Californians, the Arapaho, the Apache, the Navajo, the Pueblos, the Bororo, etc.). For a complete picture of the spread of the r. among primitive peoples, based on current knowledge, see Zerris (op. cit. in bibliography).
In classical antiquity, the use of the r. as a sacred object is linked to esoteric cults and rituals, as attested by Archytas and Clement of Alexandria. It was probably also known in Egypt and ancient Mesopotamia.
There are also cases of peoples among whom the r. is no longer known as an object but has lost its sacred character, having declined to the role of a toy or a tool used by shepherds to call their flocks. Such cases can be found in ancient Greece, among some primitive civilizations, and among certain contemporary European folk groups (Sicily, Campania, Tuscany, the Basque Country, Galicia, Pomerania, Scotland, etc.).