The Bullroarer Atlas

BONANZINGA2013-001 - ethnographic attestation

Mistretta

Italy - Sicily - Messina Province - Europe - Mediterranean

Sacred / spirit

Representative—not this record’s object: Battaglia’s field drawings of three Italian legni ronzanti from Istria.
Representative—not this record’s object: Battaglia’s field drawings of three Italian legni ronzanti from Istria. R. Battaglia, "Sopravvivenze del rombo nelle Province Venete," Studi e Materiali di Storia delle Religioni 1 (1925), fig. 5 Public domain Image source

lapuni Italian

Source term: rombo / lapuni

lapuni = Sicilian rombo / bullroarer; vientu i Giura is a later Mistretta local remembrance

When Mistretta’s church bells fell silent for Holy Week, adults took up the lapuni: rectangular wooden slats whirled on long cords, their drone compared in Sicily to the hum of a male bee. In neighboring San Fratello, the same lapuni took a different shape: small triangular wooden slats rather than Mistretta’s rectangular blades.

il lapuni venga adoperato anche dagli adulti, durante le cerimonie della Settimana Santa, quando le campane sono legate

the lapuni is used also by adults during Holy Week ceremonies, when the bells are tied

Cocchiara 1938, pp. 127-128, quoted in Bonanzinga 2013
Object
Wooden lapuni: rectangular at Mistretta and triangular in specimens from neighboring San Fratello. Pitrè describes the broader Sicilian form as about 15 × 6–7 cm, with an approximately 80 cm cord fixed to one end and rapidly whirled by hand.
Function
At Mistretta, adults sounded the lapuni during Holy Week when the church bells were tied; no particular use was recorded for the San Fratello specimens.
Map confidence
high - Mistretta town anchor
Source location
Bonanzinga et al. 2013:64; Cocchiara 1938:127-128; Pitrè 1883:415

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