{"id":"BRUGGEMANN1896-001","label":"Stolzenau childhood Schwirrholz","people_or_site":"Boys of Stolzenau","country_current":"Germany","historic_region":"Stolzenau / Kingdom of Hanover / modern Lower Saxony","macroregion":"Europe / Central Europe","local_name":"","source_term":"Schwirrholz","source_language":"German","object_description":"Elongated ruler-like wooden slat with both narrow edges notched at one end, attached to a whip by a simple loop and swung in a circle, made exactly like the Galician Schwirrholz.","function_summary":"Familiar and popular childhood toy; boys sometimes used it to make the cattle of disliked herders bolt.","attestation_type":"ethnographic_attestation","source_key":"bruggemann1896_stolzenau_schwirrholz","source_type":"primary_ethnography","source_url":"https://archive.org/details/globus-70.-bd-1896/page/n409/mode/1up","page_or_plate":"printed p. 388","map_confidence":"high","plot_status":"plot","coordinate_basis":"Stolzenau town anchor; the source records no exact childhood play site.","jade_complex_role":"","blurb":"In Stolzenau in the 1860s, the Schwirrholz was a familiar boys' toy: a ruler-like wooden slat, notched near one end, looped to a whip and swept in a circle. Its roar could spill into village mischief too, sending the cattle of disliked herders bolting across the fields.","pull_quote":"ein wohlbekanntes und beliebtes Spielzeug","pull_quote_translation":"a familiar and popular toy","pull_quote_cite":"Brüggemann 1896:388","term_gloss":"Schwirrholz: generic German bullroarer term; no special Stolzenau name is recorded","cls":"play_practical","class_label":"Play / practical","color":"#24766D","is_candidate":false,"flags":["toy_survival"],"f_jade_complex":false,"f_women_taboo":false,"f_women_special":false,"f_snake":false,"sources":[{"citation":"Fr. Brüggemann, 'Das Schwirrholz im Hannöverschen', Globus 70 (1896), p. 388","url":"https://archive.org/details/globus-70.-bd-1896/page/n409/mode/1up"}],"source_citations":"Fr. Brüggemann, 'Das Schwirrholz im Hannöverschen', Globus 70 (1896), p. 388","source_display":"Fr. Brüggemann, 'Das Schwirrholz im Hannöverschen', Globus 70 (1896), p. 388","date_citation_display":"","object_display":"Elongated ruler-like wooden slat with both narrow edges notched at one end, attached to a whip by a simple loop and swung in a circle, made exactly like the Galician Schwirrholz.","function_display":"Familiar and popular childhood toy; boys sometimes used it to make the cattle of disliked herders bolt.","confidence_display":"high","attestation_label":"ethnographic attestation","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"boys stolzenau","display_name":"Stolzenau childhood Schwirrholz","image":{"full":"assets/objects/EUROPE-010_maa_1922-393_brommer.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/EUROPE-010_maa_1922-393_brommer_thumb.jpg","alt":"Alkmaar brommer: a long flat wooden blade with a rounded tip, worn painted decoration and a cord through a hole near its squared end.","credit":"Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge (1922.393)","license":"No open license stated (Cambridge MAA online image) — rehosted for non-commercial research","source_page":"https://collections.maa.cam.ac.uk/objects/493486/","rehosted":true,"representative":true,"caption":"A Dutch brommer, a rectangular wooden blade, Alkmaar.","pool_id":"auto-EUROPE-010_maa_1922-393_brommer","additional":[{"full":"assets/objects/review_2026_07_15/BRUGGEMANN1896-001_globus_p388.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/review_2026_07_15/thumbs/BRUGGEMANN1896-001_globus_p388_thumb.jpg","alt":"Scanned German journal page 388 with Brüggemann’s section on the Stolzenau boys’ Schwirrholz toy in the right column, including its effect on cattle.","credit":"Fr. Bruggemann, Das Schwirrholz im Hannoverschen, Globus 70 (1896), p. 388","license":"Public domain","source_page":"https://archive.org/details/globus-70.-bd-1896/page/n409/mode/1up","rehosted":true,"caption":"Brüggemann's Stolzenau account remembers the familiar boys' toy and the cattle it could send bolting."}]},"slug":"bruggemann1896-001-boys-of-stolzenau"}