FULLEBORN1906-001 - ethnographic attestation
Wanjika (Unjika highland)
Tanzania - Unjika highland - historic Rukwa district - East Africa
Play / practical
Source term: Schwirr-Instrument
Schwirr-Instrument = Fulleborn's German descriptive term; no Wanjika local name is given.
In an Unjika hut, a flat piece of wood became a rushing children's noisemaker when it was spun rapidly on its cord—a small household toy whose roar filled the air.
Die primitiven “Schwirr-Instrumente”, die ich ein paarmal antraf, sind wohl nur eine Spielerei für Kinder. So fand ich einmal in einer Hütte in Unjika ein flaches Holzstück, welches, an einer Schnur schnell herumgewirbelt, einen sausenden Ton hören liess.
The primitive 'whirring instruments' I encountered a few times are probably only a children's pastime. Once in a hut in Unjika I found a flat piece of wood which, rapidly whirled on a string, made a rushing sound.
Fülleborn, Das Deutsche Njassa- und Ruwuma-Gebiet (1906), p. 237
- Object
- Flat wooden piece on a string, rapidly whirled to make a rushing sound. The same page separately describes the Wakissi two-hole pull-buzzer, which is excluded.
- Function
- Children's noise-game object; no ritual use recorded.
- Map confidence
- high - Sumbawanga, Rukwa Region anchor; Unjika village/highland has no recovered current gazetteer coordinate.
- Source location
- p. 237; Tafel 50 no. 41; Frankfurt canvas 5219393; inventory 8408
- Toy / secular survival