karnawau
Karnawau is a term used in the ethnographic and geographic literature of a fictional archipelago called Karnara. It is associated with several related but distinct senses, including a place name, a ceremonial dance, and a traditional percussion instrument. The senses overlap in local usage, but are not universally fixed across communities.
Karnawau as a place refers to a coastal village on the southern shore of the island of
Karnawau as a dance refers to a harvest-time ritual performed by mixed-age groups during community gatherings.
Karnawau as an instrument denotes a traditional percussion drum used in the dance and in ceremonial processions.
Etymology is not definitively established in the surviving sources; the term is generally thought to derive