The Bullroarer Atlas

GAZDA1980-001 - ethnographic attestation

Esztelnek Székely surrógtató bullroarer

Romania - Covasna - Esztelnek (Estelnic) - Eastern Europe

Play / practical

Hungarian folk bullroarer rig.
Representative — not this record’s object. · Hungarian folk bullroarer rig. · Public domain Image source

surrógtató / berregtető Hungarian

Source term: Surrógtató (Berregtető)

surrógtató / berregtető = Hungarian names for this sound-making toy.

Smear a thin film of mud along the slat and it droned louder — a trick Esztelnek boys knew for the surrogtató, a lath of wood 35 to 40 centimetres long, pierced at one end and swung on a string until the rushing air made it whirr. Older boys carved them with nothing but a pocketknife and made them for their smaller brothers and sisters. Gazda Klára recorded the whirrer in this Székely village as a plaything known since time out of mind and still in circulation, turned out among the carts, whistles and rattles the children built for themselves.

Surrogó hangja erősebb, ha vékony sárréteget kennek el rajta. Fiúk készítik kisebb fiú- és leánytestvéreiknek.

Its whirring is stronger if a thin layer of mud is smeared on it. Boys make them for their younger brothers and sisters.

Gazda Klára, Gyermekvilág Esztelneken (1980), item 392, p. 237
Object
A 35-40 cm slat pierced at one end, tied to string, and whirled through the air.
Function
Children's toy
Map confidence
high - Estelnic municipal centre
Source location
Page references

item 392 / Fig. 57; printed p. 237

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