{"id":"SLIWA-001","label":"Bzowica 'airplane game' bullroarer","people_or_site":"Polish children of Bzowica (Bzovytsia), Zboriv district","country_current":"Ukraine","historic_region":"Ternopil oblast / former Tarnopol voivodeship","macroregion":"Europe / Eastern Europe","local_name":"zabawa w samolot","source_term":"","source_language":"Polish","object_description":"Birch board 30-35 x 7-8 x 1.5-2 cm with a hole in the upper end, a cord braided of two or three strands, and a round stick handle; swung around the head, the board spinning on its axis, winding and unwinding the cord.","function_summary":"Children's game of 1942-44: whirled around the head, the board roared like a combustion engine — hence 'the airplane game.'","attestation_type":"ethnographic_attestation","source_key":"sliwa_bzowica_memoir","source_type":"published_account","source_url":"https://www.olejow.pl/readarticle.php?article_id=246","page_or_plate":"olejow.pl article 246","map_confidence":"medium","plot_status":"plot","coordinate_basis":"Approximate Bzovytsia (historical Bzowica) village anchor, Ternopil; OpenStreetMap village node 337547416, with explicit Polish name Bzowica; not an exact collection or play location.","jade_complex_role":"","blurb":"In Bzowica in the Ternopil country, in the middle of the Second World War, children played 'the airplane game.' A birch board the length of a forearm went on a braided cord with a round stick for a handle; swung about the head it spun on its own axis, winding the cord tight and then unwinding the other way, and the sound it tore from the air — the boys said — was the growl of an engine. Over a countryside that had real aircraft in its skies, the oldest toy in the world played at being the newest.","pull_quote":"","pull_quote_translation":"","pull_quote_cite":"","term_gloss":"zabawa w samolot — Polish, 'the airplane game'; the roarer's engine-drone named the play.","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":"Henryk Śliwa, 'Zabawy dzieci w Bzowicy' (olejow.pl, article 246); print version in Barwy Kresów, p. 37","url":"https://www.olejow.pl/readarticle.php?article_id=246","archive":"https://web.archive.org/web/20260606113348/https://www.olejow.pl/readarticle.php?article_id=246"}],"source_citations":"Henryk Śliwa, 'Zabawy dzieci w Bzowicy' (olejow.pl, article 246); print version in Barwy Kresów, p. 37","source_display":"Henryk Śliwa, 'Zabawy dzieci w Bzowicy' (olejow.pl, article 246); print version in Barwy Kresów, p. 37","date_citation_display":"","object_display":"Birch board 30-35 x 7-8 x 1.5-2 cm with a hole in the upper end, a cord braided of two or three strands, and a round stick handle; swung around the head, the board spinning on its axis, winding and unwinding the cord.","function_display":"Children's game of 1942-44: whirled around the head, the board roared like a combustion engine — hence 'the airplane game.'","confidence_display":"medium","attestation_label":"ethnographic attestation","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"polish children","display_name":"Bzowica 'airplane game' bullroarer","image":{"full":"assets/objects/ATL-NMI-001_nmi_f1934_18.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/ATL-NMI-001_nmi_f1934_18_thumb.jpg","alt":"Irish bullroarer from Maynooth: a serrated wooden slat pierced near one end, with its cord attached.","credit":"National Museum of Ireland, Country Life — NMI Collections F:1934.18","license":"© National Museum of Ireland — no open license stated; rehosted low-res for non-commercial research","source_page":"https://web.archive.org/web/20250719085617/https://www.museum.ie/getmedia/d19ce129-4797-45b0-9192-d5a21498b44c/Copy-of-Untitled-Design-(1).jpg?w=2000","rehosted":true,"representative":true,"caption":"A serrated wooden slat pierced near one end for its cord","pool_id":"auto-ATL-NMI-001_nmi_f1934_18","auto_assigned":true},"slug":"sliwa-001-polish-children-of-bzowica-bzovytsia-zboriv-district"}