The Bullroarer Atlas

JENSEN1936-002 - ethnographic attestation

Kusume (Kusuma / Kusumi; historically Gato)

Gatoland - southern Ethiopia - Africa

Play / practical

Representative—not this record’s object: East African corded wooden lath, shown as a regional stand-in; no image of this record’s own object is...
Representative—not this record’s object: East African corded wooden lath, shown as a regional stand-in; no image of this record’s own object is available yet. © The Trustees of the British Museum (E/Af1909-0513-212) CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Image source

Source term: Schwirrholz

No Gato/Kusume bullroarer name is recorded

Among the Gato, or Kusume, children carried the bullroarer into the fields to drive birds from the crops. The roaring blade was both toy and practical guardian of the ripening harvest.

Das Schwirrholz ... ist hier ein Kinderspielzeug, das dazu dient, die Vogel von den Feldern zu vertreiben.

The bullroarer is here a children's toy used to drive birds from the fields.

Jensen and Wohlenberg 1936:178
Object
Bullroarer identified by instrument class; no material, dimensions, cord, perforation, blade shape, mechanics, handle, or object figure is supplied.
Function
Children used it as a toy to drive birds from cultivated fields.
Map confidence
medium - Present Gato locality/Kusume-area anchor; not a household, field, or object findspot.
Source location
p. 178

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