The Bullroarer Atlas

EASTASIA-001 - museum specimen

Tainan, Taiwan

Taiwan - Tainan - East Asia

Play / practical

A smooth wooden paddle called euvuvu among the Tsou of Taiwan, rounded at the end where its cord threads through and tapering to a point at the...
Representative image. A smooth wooden paddle called euvuvu among the Tsou of Taiwan, rounded at the end where its cord threads through and tapering to a point at the other. The Tainan piece documented here is a different, more roughly improvised object, and no photograph of it survives. Lancini Jen-hao Cheng, 'Native Terminology and Classification of Taiwanese Musical Instruments', Ensayos XIX(28), 2015, Fig. 54 Image source

Source term: Bullroarer

A bullroarer cut from cardboard in the shape of a delta-wing aircraft, with a metal bottle cap locked between folded cardboard appendages over the nose and a length of red nylon thread tied near the tip of one wing. Whirled on that thread, it buzzes. It comes from Tainan, on the southwest coast of Taiwan, and is held at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Cambridge under accession 1977.34. The catalog keeps the object and its materials but records no date, no maker, and no findspot.

Cardboard bullroarer, whirling aerophone, in form of delta-wing aircraft, with metal bottle cap locked between folded cardboard cut-out appendages over nose of aircraft. Suspended from length of red nylon thread, attached near tip of one wing.

Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge, acc. 1977.34 (MINIM-UK 41969)
Object
MINIM/MIMO record MINIM-UK:41969, a bullroarer from Tainan, Taiwan; worker notes modern improvised/cardboard morphology.
Function
Whirling aerophone in the form of a toy aircraft; no ceremonial use recorded.
Map confidence
low_medium - Tainan city representative anchor.
Source location
MINIM-UK:41969

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  • SakizayaTaiwan - Guo Fu Community / Hualien City - Play / practical
  • AmisTaiwan - Eastern Taiwan - Play / practical
  • TsouTaiwan - Central Mountain Range / Alishan-Tsou area - Weather / fertility magic