{"id":"SA-Z1953-035","label":"Aruba Island zeeuw toy","people_or_site":"Aruba Island","country_current":"Aruba","historic_region":"Circum-Caribbean","macroregion":"Caribbean / Antilles","local_name":"zeeuw","source_term":"Schwirrgerät / Schwirrholz / bullroarer","source_language":"German; Dutch metadata","object_description":"Wereldmuseum RV-472-10: a roughly worked oval wooden plate fastened to a long cord, collected on Aruba by A. J. van Koolwijk and donated in 1885.","function_summary":"An Aruba children's toy called zeeuw; the exact Leiden/Wereldmuseum specimen and its cord survive.","attestation_type":"museum_specimen","source_key":"schmeltz1896_aruba_zeeuw_rv472_10","source_type":"museum_collection; source_catalog","source_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11840/659964","page_or_plate":"Schmeltz 1896:118, fig. 17; Wereldmuseum RV-472-10","map_confidence":"medium_high","plot_status":"plot","coordinate_basis":"Regional anchor; recorded as a toy only.","jade_complex_role":"","blurb":"The cord is still wound around Aruba's zeeuw, a rough oval blade gathered in the 1880s by the island priest A. J. van Koolwijk. Set loose and swung, it was a children's toy. Yet Schmeltz paused over this modest piece in 1896: the island's Carib population had vanished, leaving a mixed community in its place — and here was the same instrument von den Steinen had just found among the Carib-related Nahukuá of the upper Xingu, a coincidence that seemed to him to invite reflection “in more than one respect.” On Aruba the old whirring form had become simply play, but the object kept its local name.","pull_quote":"ein als Spielzeug dienendes Schwirrholz, Zeeuw genannt, in Form einer ovalen, an einer Schnur befestigten, roh bearbeiteten Holzplatte","pull_quote_translation":"a bullroarer used as a toy, called Zeeuw, in the form of a roughly worked oval wooden plate fastened to a cord","pull_quote_cite":"Schmeltz, ‘Das Schwirrholz’ (1896), p. 118.","term_gloss":"zeeuw: Aruba's name for the whirling toy, a rough oval board on a cord.","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":"Wereldmuseum RV-472-10, collected by A. J. van Koolwijk and donated in 1885; J. D. E. Schmeltz, ‘Das Schwirrholz’ (1896), p. 118, fig. 17","url":"https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11840/659964"}],"source_citations":"Wereldmuseum RV-472-10, collected by A. J. van Koolwijk and donated in 1885; J. D. E. Schmeltz, ‘Das Schwirrholz’ (1896), p. 118, fig. 17","source_display":"Wereldmuseum RV-472-10, collected by A. J. van Koolwijk and donated in 1885; J. D. E. Schmeltz, ‘Das Schwirrholz’ (1896), p. 118, fig. 17","date_citation_display":"","object_display":"Wereldmuseum RV-472-10: a roughly worked oval wooden plate fastened to a long cord, collected on Aruba by A. J. van Koolwijk and donated in 1885.","function_display":"An Aruba children's toy called zeeuw; the exact Leiden/Wereldmuseum specimen and its cord survive.","confidence_display":"medium to high","attestation_label":"museum specimen","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"aruba","display_name":"Aruba Island zeeuw toy","image":{"full":"assets/objects/expansion_2026_07/SA-Z1953-035_wereldmuseum_rv472-10.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/expansion_2026_07/thumbs/SA-Z1953-035_wereldmuseum_rv472-10_thumb.jpg","alt":"The Aruba zeeuw: a long, flat wooden blade with rounded ends, shown horizontally with its cord looped around the blade and wound across its middle.","credit":"Wereldmuseum / NMVW (RV-472-10)","license":"CC BY-SA 4.0","source_page":"https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11840/659964","rehosted":true,"representative":false,"caption":"The Aruba zeeuw itself: a roughly worked oval wooden plate with its long cord still looped and wound around the blade."},"slug":"sa-z1953-035-aruba-island"}